The 104th session of the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC 104) was held from 4 to 8 October 2021 by video conference due to the pandemic of COVID-19. Since the minutes, resolutions and circulars of the meeting were recently released from the IMO, a summary of the decisions taken at MSC 104 is provided as below for your information.

1. Adopted mandatory requirements
Mandatory requirements were adopted at MSC 104 as follows:

(1) Amendments to 1988 LL Protocol and IGC Code (See attachment 1, 2)
Amendments to 1988 LL Protocol regulation 27(13)(a) with the relevant parts of IGC Code were adopted, in order to clarify the condition of watertight doors on cargo ships to be considered for stability criteria at any stage of flooding.

Applied: on or after 1 January 2024

2. Ad hoc midterm amendment cycle for SOLAS and the associated Codes
Amendments to SOLAS normally enter into force every four years. SOLAS also stipulates that the minimum period between adoption and entry into force of amendments is 18 months. Therefore, amendments adopted less than 18 months before the end of a four-year cycle of entry into force should enter into force at the end of the next four-year cycle.
The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed finalization of draft amendments for approval and adoption, the entry into force of which had originally been planned within the current four-year cycle, i.e. by 1 January 2024.
Considering above circumstances, the Committee endorsed ad hoc midterm amendment cycle with an entry into force date of 1 January 2026 for the draft amendments to SOLAS adopted before 1 July 2024.

(To be continued)