Draft Merchant Shipping (Safety Management) Rules, 2026
- Suraksha Marine
- May 20
- 9 min read
What India’s evolving safety-management framework means for shipping, domestic vessels, and offshore-support operations
India’s draft Merchant Shipping (Safety Management) Rules, 2026 deserve close attention from vessel operators, ship managers, offshore-support companies, auditors, and training-focused stakeholders. Issued under section 130 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 2025, the draft rules are designed to operationalize Part VI of the new Act and align Indian safety-management obligations with the International Safety Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and Pollution Prevention, commonly known as the ISM Code.
That matters because safety management is no longer being framed simply as a shipboard good practice. In the draft rules, it sits at the center of how companies are expected to structure authority, assign responsibilities, document procedures, prepare for emergencies, conduct audits, and demonstrate compliance. For an industry that lives with high-consequence risk—collision, fire, grounding, pollution, machinery failures, marine transfer hazards, and offshore logistics pressure—that is a significant signal.
For Suraksha Marine’s readers, the draft is especially relevant because the rules extend beyond international deep-sea ships and explicitly address domestic vessels, mobile offshore drilling units, and companies operating in India’s coastal waters. In other words, this is not only a blue-water compliance topic. It speaks directly to the wider marine and offshore ecosystem that supports India’s energy, shipping, and coastal operations.
Why these rules matter now
The draft rules are part of a broader maritime law transition following the Merchant Shipping Act, 2025, which came into force on 15 March 2026 for notified provisions and replaced the older Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 framework. The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and the Directorate General of Shipping have been publishing draft subordinate rules to support implementation of the new Act, and a PIB statement confirmed that multiple technical committees and stakeholder consultations were set up for this rule-making exercise.
That larger legislative backdrop is important. It means the Safety Management Rules are not an isolated policy document. They form part of a wider effort to modernize India’s maritime governance architecture across safety, navigation, security, labour, certification, and port-state responsibilities.
From an operational perspective, the draft rules also reflect the reality that shipping risk is managed through systems, not isolated acts of seamanship. The document repeatedly emphasizes structured management, documented responsibilities, internal audits, emergency preparedness, corrective action, and management review. That is the language of modern maritime assurance.
Which ships and companies the draft covers
The draft rules apply to Indian ships and Indian shipping companies operating several important categories of vessels. These include passenger ships of any size, passenger high-speed craft, oil tankers, chemical tankers, gas carriers, bulk carriers, high-speed cargo craft of 500 gross tonnage or more, other cargo vessels of 500 gross tonnage or more, mobile offshore drilling units of 500 gross tonnage or more, and Indian domestic vessels of 500 gross tonnage or more.
That coverage is particularly relevant to offshore stakeholders because mobile offshore drilling units are named directly in the application section. The rules also provide a domestic-track compliance structure through the Domestic Document of Compliance and Ship Safety Certificate for vessels operating exclusively within India’s coastal waters. That is a notable feature because it recognizes that domestic and coastal operations still require formal safety-management discipline, even where the vessel profile differs from internationally trading ships.
For vessel managers and offshore-support operators, this is one of the most practical takeaways: the draft does not treat safety management as something reserved only for international flagship fleets. It brings structure to domestic and near-shore activity as well.
What the rules require companies to do
At the heart of the draft is a clear obligation: every company must establish, implement, and maintain a Safety Management System, or SMS, in accordance with the ISM Code. The SMS must be documented in a Safety Management Manual or manuals approved by the Director General and must support core objectives such as safety of life, prevention of injury or loss of life, avoidance of environmental and property damage, and continual improvement of safety-management skills.
The rules also require companies to ensure they have enough authority, resources, and shore-based support to maintain the SMS effectively. That includes providing the personnel, equipment, procedures, and financial resources needed for safe operation and pollution prevention. In other words, the draft places safety-management responsibility not only on the master and crew, but clearly on the company and owner structure ashore.
This is one of the strongest aspects of the draft. It recognizes a truth the maritime and offshore world has learned repeatedly through incident history: unsafe operations are often symptoms of weak systems, unclear authority, poor reporting culture, or inadequate shore support—not only individual mistakes at sea.
The key elements of the Safety Management System
The draft rules spell out what the SMS must contain. Every company’s system must include a policy committing the company to safe operations, human safety, environmental protection, risk safeguards, and emergency preparedness. It must also define clear lines of responsibility, authority, and communication between shore and ship personnel, including identification of the Designated Person Ashore, or DPA.
The SMS must also include:
Procedures for reporting accidents, hazardous occurrences, near misses, and non-conformities.
Procedures for corrective and preventive action.
Internal audit and management-review mechanisms.
Emergency-preparedness procedures, drills, exercises, and contingency plans for events such as fire, collision, and grounding.
Documentation and record-keeping requirements through manuals, instructions, procedures, and records.
A compliance-verification program covering international conventions, national laws, regulations, and class rules.
This is where the draft becomes highly industry-specific in a useful way. It does not merely say “have a safety system.” It identifies the management architecture that regulators expect companies to maintain and prove through records and audits.
The importance of the Designated Person Ashore
One of the most operationally important parts of the draft concerns the Designated Person Ashore. Every company must nominate a DPA responsible for ensuring safe operation and serving as the link between ship and shore management. The DPA must have direct access to the highest level of management and be given adequate authority, resources, and support.
The draft goes further by requiring an Alternate DPA who can take over when the primary DPA is absent or unavailable. Companies must notify the Director General of the names and contact details of both, and these individuals must not be burdened with other duties that conflict with their safety and pollution-prevention responsibilities.
That is a practical and important provision. In many organizations, safety roles become diluted by competing administrative duties. The draft makes it harder to treat the DPA as a nominal appointment. Instead, it reinforces that the role must be functionally capable, visible, and connected to real decision-making.
For marine companies, this has direct training and competency implications. A DPA cannot be effective in a weak reporting culture or inside an organization that treats audits as compliance theatre. The role only works when safety-management knowledge is supported across the operation.
Certification structure under the draft
The draft lays out a multi-layer certification framework.
A Document of Compliance (DOC) is issued to the company after initial verification that its SMS meets Code requirements, and it is valid for five years, subject to annual verification. The DOC can be expanded to additional vessel types if the company demonstrates capability for those types.
A Safety Management Certificate (SMC) is issued to an individual vessel after verification that the company’s system is established and functioning effectively on board for at least three months, and it is also valid for five years, subject to at least one intermediate verification.
For vessels operating exclusively in India’s coastal waters, the draft creates a Domestic Document of Compliance (DDOC) for companies and a Ship Safety Certificate (SSC) for domestic vessels in lieu of the international-style SMC route.
This is one of the most useful adaptations in the draft because it creates a structured compliance framework for domestic-vessel management without simply copying the international pathway unchanged.
There are also interim certificates to facilitate initial implementation for new companies, newly delivered vessels, newly acquired vessel types, or changes of flag, with time-limited validity and defined follow-up conditions.
Audit discipline is central
If there is one message the draft repeats clearly, it is this: safety management must be auditable.
Companies must carry out internal SMS audits at intervals not exceeding 12 months, although in exceptional cases this can be extended by up to 3 months. External audits and verifications are to be conducted by the Directorate General or recognized organizations authorized by the Director General, using qualified and trained auditors.
A company holding a DOC must undergo annual external audits, and vessels holding SMCs must undergo periodic external audits to confirm that shipboard implementation remains effective. All findings, non-conformities, corrective actions, and supporting records must be documented and retained.
That matters because the draft is not just about initial certification. It is about continued compliance. For many companies, that is where the real work begins. It is relatively easy to prepare for a first audit. It is much harder to sustain reporting quality, management review, corrective action, drill discipline, and objective evidence over time.
What counts as a serious compliance failure
The draft defines major non-conformity as a deviation posing serious threat to personnel safety, vessel safety, or the environment, or showing lack of effective systematic implementation of a Code requirement. That is a strong definition because it focuses not only on immediate hazard but also on systemic failure.
The rules state clearly that no DOC, DDOC, or related vessel certificate should be issued, endorsed, or renewed until major non-conformities are fully rectified and verified. The Director General may also order additional audits or surveys where there is evidence of serious non-compliance or following a major incident.
This is operationally significant. It means non-conformity management will become more than a close-out formality. Companies will need documented root-cause thinking, timely corrective action, and confidence that their SMS is actually functioning in the field.
Suspension, withdrawal, and enforcement powers
The draft gives the Director General strong authority to suspend or withdraw company and vessel certificates for non-compliance. Grounds include failure to complete corrective action, failure to request periodical verification, failure to implement Code amendments, evidence of major non-conformity, and failure to notify substantial modifications to the SMS.
It also states that a vessel certificate may be declared invalid for similar reasons and that associated SMCs and SSCs cease to be valid if the corresponding DOC or DDOC is withdrawn. In addition to penalties under the Act, the draft explicitly allows enforcement steps such as detention of the vessel to prevent a non-compliant vessel from sailing.
This is where the business implications become clear. Safety management is not being treated only as an HSE concern. It is directly tied to operational continuity, certificate validity, and commercial ability to sail.
Why this matters for offshore-support stakeholders
For offshore-support operators, especially those managing domestic or coastal vessels, the draft has practical implications beyond traditional merchant shipping. The Merchant Shipping Act, 2025 defines “port” broadly enough to include offshore facilities and terminals, and “vessel” broadly enough to include mobile offshore drilling units and multiple marine craft categories. That means the safety-management culture these rules promote will increasingly matter across the wider offshore chain, not just conventional cargo routes.
Offshore-support work already operates in a high-consequence environment: marine transfer, standby response, platform support, coastal logistics, technical operations, emergency mobilization, and crew movement all demand clear procedures, competent personnel, and dependable reporting systems. The draft rules reinforce those needs through formal SMS expectations, emergency drills, audit discipline, and shore-to-ship accountability.
For companies servicing offshore oil and gas, ports, coastal operations, and marine energy projects, the message is straightforward: the quality of your safety-management system will increasingly shape your compliance credibility.
Where training enters the picture
Although the draft is a regulatory document, its successful implementation depends heavily on people. The rules require qualified, trained, and familiar masters and crew; internal audits; emergency drills; corrective actions; and documented compliance with procedures. Those outcomes do not appear automatically because a manual exists.
This is where Suraksha Marine becomes relevant, around offshore safety and technical training across emergency response, helicopter safety, gas safety, boat-transfer safety, and OPITO-approved pathways including BOSIET, HUET, FOET, OERTM, Basic H2S, and Travel Safely by Boat. While these draft rules are shipping-focused rather than course-specific, the operational competencies they emphasize—emergency preparedness, procedural discipline, drills, role clarity, and incident response—are exactly the kind of capabilities strong training ecosystems help reinforce.
For marine and offshore employers, that is the more strategic point. Regulations set the standard, but competence is what makes the standard usable. A company with a neat SMS manual and a poorly prepared workforce is still exposed. A company that invests in readiness is more likely to meet both the spirit and the letter of the rules.
What companies should be doing now
Even though the rules are still in draft form, operators and managers should already be reading them as a preparation document rather than waiting for final notification. The immediate practical questions are not complicated:
Does the company’s current SMS align clearly with the ISM Code structure described in the draft?
Are internal audits actually being completed on schedule and closed out with evidence?
Is the DPA role strong, active, and properly supported?
Are emergency drills and contingency planning documented, practiced, and reviewed?
Are domestic-vessel operations ready for DDOC and SSC style compliance if applicable?
Is the company prepared for stronger enforcement if non-conformities remain unresolved?
These are not theoretical governance questions. They are the types of questions auditors and authorities will eventually turn into findings, endorsements, or operational restrictions.
As India’s maritime framework modernizes under the Merchant Shipping Act, 2025 and associated draft rules, operators will need people who can perform inside structured systems, not just work around them.
Suraksha Marine’s broader training portfolio and offshore-safety positioning make it well suited to support that conversation—especially for organizations operating at the overlap of shipping, offshore support, and energy logistics.
Training Inquiries:
Email: surakshaweb@gmail.com
Phone: +91 99873 00771 / +91 98192 12260
Website: www.surakshaweb.com
Comments