SAR Cooperation Plan on Passenger Ships
Knowing who to call in an emergency is not enough: the cooperation plan with search and rescue services must be built together with those services, kept up to date and exercised. The Regulation sets no frequency: the twelve months come from the guidelines, and they are a ceiling with a presumption of compliance, not an annual obligation.
Operational Explanation
SOLAS Regulation V/7.3 requires every passenger ship subject to SOLAS Chapter I (in practice, every passenger ship engaged on international voyages) to have on board a cooperation plan with the search and rescue services appropriate for the area in which it operates, to be activated in the event of an emergency.
The plan is not a generic document: it must be developed in cooperation between the ship, the Company (as defined by SOLAS IX/1) and the competent search and rescue services, per MSC.1/Circ.1079/Rev.1. It must provide for periodic exercises to verify its effectiveness, at a frequency not exceeding once every twelve months, and must be kept up to date through the review and audit process required by the Safety Management System (SMS) under the ISM Code.
Regulatory Reference
SOLAS Regulation V/7.3: obligation for a cooperation plan with search and rescue services for every passenger ship subject to Chapter I; MSC.1/Circ.1079/Rev.1: guidelines for preparing the plan, developed in cooperation between the ship, the Company and SAR services; periodic exercises, whose frequency the Regulation does not fix: the guidelines state that a ship should not be required to exercise the plan more than once every 12 months (§9.3) and that a ship having exercised within the last twelve months should be deemed to have fulfilled the requirement (§9.6). These are a ceiling and a presumption of compliance, not an annual frequency obligation; frequency and type depend on the operating area and on available SAR resources, and full-scale, coordination or communications-only exercises are all acceptable. Participation in an actual SAR incident counts as an exercise; integration into the SMS review and audit process under the ISM Code.
The plan presupposes an obligation that is not confined to passenger ships. It is SOLAS Regulation V/33, Distress situations: obligations and procedures. Paragraph 1 binds the master of any ship at sea who is in a position to provide assistance, on receiving information from any source that persons are in distress, “to proceed with all speed to their assistance”. If the ship is unable, or if in the special circumstances of the case this is unreasonable or unnecessary, the master enters the reason in the log-book and informs the appropriate search and rescue service. Resolution MSC.153(78), in force since 1 July 2006, added at the end of the paragraph the sentence that defines its moral and legal perimeter: “This obligation to provide assistance applies regardless of the nationality or status of such persons or the circumstances in which they are found”.
Paragraph 2 gives the master of the ship in distress, or the search and rescue service, the right to requisition one or more of the ships that answered, and imposes on the requisitioned masters the duty to comply. Paragraphs 3 and 4 say when the obligation ends: on learning that other ships have been requisitioned and are complying, or on being informed that assistance is no longer necessary. Outside those two cases, the obligation stands.
The same MSC.153(78) inserted paragraph 1-1, the decisive provision for anyone who embarks survivors: Contracting Governments shall coordinate and cooperate so that masters providing assistance are released from their obligations “with minimum further deviation from the ships' intended voyage”, and the Government responsible for the search and rescue region concerned bears primary responsibility for ensuring that survivors are “disembarked from the assisting ship and delivered to a place of safety”, as soon as reasonably practicable. And paragraph 6, added by the same resolution, is the rule of conduct: “Masters of ships who have embarked persons in distress at sea shall treat them with humanity, within the capabilities and limitations of the ship”.
Scope of Application
Every passenger ship subject to SOLAS Chapter I, engaged on international voyages.
Procedure / How to Complete It
- Develop the SAR cooperation plan in coordination with the Company and the competent search and rescue services for the ship's operating area, per MSC.1/Circ.1079/Rev.1.
- Keep the plan up to date, with periodic review integrated into the audit cycle of the Safety Management System (SMS) required by the ISM Code.
- Conduct periodic exercises to test the plan's effectiveness. The interval is not fixed by the Regulation: the guidelines set a ceiling — the ship should not be required to exercise the plan more than once every twelve months — and a presumption of compliance for those who have done so within the last twelve months. Frequency and type are chosen according to the operating area and the SAR resources available.
- Ensure the crew knows the plan's content and their own roles in the event of activation, not just its formal existence on board.
- Verify the plan's consistency with any changes in the ship's operating area or route over time.
Practical Example
Example: a passenger ship changing its usual operating area coordinates with the Company an update to its SAR cooperation plan, including the search and rescue services of the new area, and schedules an exercise within the following 12 months to verify its practical effectiveness.
What Typically Goes Wrong
Common Mistakes Mistake Library
| Mistake | Consequence | How to avoid it |
|---|---|---|
| SAR cooperation plan developed only once and never updated afterward | Plan no longer consistent with the actual operating area or the SAR services actually available | Integrate periodic review of the SAR plan into the Safety Management System audit cycle |
| The §9.3 ceiling read as an obligation to exercise the plan every twelve months | A frequency no provision imposes gets scheduled, and what actually matters does not: an exercise calibrated on the operating area and on the SAR resources actually available. §9.3 says the ship shall not be required to exercise the plan more than once every twelve months: it is a limit on what may be asked of her, not a frequency owed | Schedule SAR plan exercises within the twelve months that carry the presumption of compliance, tracking them in the SMS calendar and formally recording them with the other participants |
What the PSCO Checks
Operational Tips
- Integrate the SAR plan review into the ISM audit cycle: that way it does not depend on the memory of a single person on board.
- Schedule SAR plan exercises in the annual calendar together with the other required drills, not separately.
- Update the plan whenever the ship's operating area or usual route changes significantly.
Preparation checklist
Educational checklist. This summary supports learning and preparation only. It does not replace the vessel’s approved procedures, manuals, statutory documents, company SMS, or applicable official requirements. Completing it demonstrates neither compliance nor readiness for an inspection: it shows that a list has been read, not that the ship is in order. Always verify the current documents carried on board.
- SAR cooperation plan developed with the Company and the competent search and rescue services
- Plan updated and integrated into the Safety Management System review/audit cycle
- Plan exercise scheduled on a stated criterion (operating area, available SAR resources), in the knowledge that §9.3 is a ceiling and §9.6 a presumption of compliance, not an obligation of frequency
- Crew informed on the plan's content and their own roles in the event of activation
- Plan's consistency verified against the ship's current operating area
FAQ
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Last substantive revision of this page: 19 August 2026 · page fingerprint 81e6fe8453bd