IMO Mandates New Safety Standards for Pilot Ladders Starting 2028

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) will introduce new safety requirements for pilot transfer arrangements starting January 1, 2028. The amendments to the SOLAS Convention, adopted by the IMO in June 2025 through the revised Regulation V/23 and the new Performance Standards MSC.572(110) and MSC.576(110), include mandatory standards for design, manufacture, installation, inspection, and maintenance that could require adaptations to equipment currently used aboard vessels.

The measures respond to problems detected in pilot ladders, securing points, and access systems between pilot boats and ships' decks. The International Maritime Pilots' Association (IMPA) 2026 safety campaign compiled 4,051 observations across 34 countries and recorded a 13% non-compliance rate, a slight improvement over the previous year, though without significant change in the historical trend. More than half of the deficiencies involved pilot ladders themselves, with poorly rigged retrieval lines, inadequately secured ladders, and missing lifebuoys among the most frequent failures.

Port State Control records confirm this trend: according to a Tokyo MOU safety bulletin published in August 2025, deficiencies related to these arrangements rose from 197 in 2020 to 523 in 2024, while associated vessel detentions increased from one to twelve over the same period.

The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) investigated several incidents linked to these maneuvers. In one case, a pilot fell about three meters onto a pilot boat and suffered a fractured ankle, with deficiencies identified in the handrail design. In October 2025, a bulk carrier's boatswain died after falling overboard while the crew was rigging a pilot ladder; the investigation found that the davit used was not in proper condition and that the crew was manually hoisting and lowering the equipment near an unprotected deck edge, without appropriate personal protective equipment.

The new provisions establish that arrangements installed from January 1, 2028 onward must comply with the design, manufacture, construction, securing, and installation requirements. Existing installations on SOLAS-regulated vessels must be brought into compliance at the first survey after January 1, 2029, while for non-SOLAS vessels the deadline extends to the first survey after January 1, 2030. Requirements for inspection, storage, maintenance, replacement, and crew familiarization will apply from 2028 regardless of installation date, and older systems—particularly those predating the 2012 SOLAS amendments—may require structural modifications.

Given these deadlines, it is recommended that fleet operators assess existing installations to identify compliance gaps and plan modifications, coordinating them where possible with already scheduled repairs or dry-dockings. It is also suggested that safety management systems and planned maintenance programs be reviewed, crews be trained, and structural work be coordinated with classification societies and flag states.