1 In SOLAS and other mandatory IMO instruments
the following provision applies: ’If a ship at the time when a certificate expires is not in a
port in which it is to be surveyed, the Administration may extend the period of validity of a
certificate but this extension shall be granted only for the purpose of allowing the ship to
complete its voyage to the port in which it is to be surveyed, and then only in cases where it
appears proper and reasonable to do so. No certificate shall be extended for a period longer
than three months, and a ship to which an extension is granted shall not, on its arrival in the
port in which is to be surveyed, be entitled by virtue of such extension to leave that port
without having a new certificate.’
2 If a ship is in
a port where the required survey cannot be completed, and where the Convention allows the
Administration to extend the certificate when it is proper and reasonable to do so, the
Administration should be guided by the following:
.1 an additional survey,
equivalent to at least the same scope of an annual survey required by the relevant
certificate(s) should be carried out;
.2 the renewal
survey should be progressed to the maximum extent possible;
.3 in cases where a dry docking is required, but cannot be carried out, an underwater
inspection of the ship’s bottom should be carried out;
.4 in cases where an underwater inspection is not possible (e.g. poor water
visibility, draft restrictions, excessive current, refusal by the port Authority), an internal
inspection of the ship’s bottom structure, to the maximum extent practicable, should be carried
out;
.5 the ship should be allowed to sail directly
to a named final agreed cargo discharge port and then directly to a named agreed port to
complete the survey and/or dry docking;
.6 the
extension period should be for the minimum amount of time needed to complete the survey and/or
dry docking under the relevant certificate(s);
.7
the condition of the ship found by the surveys indicated above should be considered in
determining the duration, distance and operational restrictions, if any, of the voyage needed
to complete the survey and/or dry docking; and
.8
the extension period of the relevant statutory certificate(s) should not exceed the period of
validity of the certificate which may be issued to document compliance with the structural,
mechanical and electrical requirements of the recognized classification society.