The IMO Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) has adopted the following amendment to SOLAS regulation II-2/10 regarding fire fighters’ communication:

For ships constructed on or after 1 July 2014, a minimum of two two-way portable radiotelephone apparatus for each fire party for fire-fighter’s communication shall be carried on board. Those two-way portable radiotelephone apparatus shall be of an explosion-proof type or intrinsically safe. Ships constructed before 1 July 2014 shall comply with the requirements of this paragraph not later than the first survey after 1 July 2018

For ships constructed on or after 1 July 2014

Vessels constructed from July 1st 2014 have already implemented the requirement. With a present average of approximately 2,000 newbuildings per year only a minor amount of the total world fleet of SOLAS vessels are already fulfilling the requirement. The requirement for fire fighter radios is approximately 6,000 to 8,000 units annually for newbuildings.

Ships constructed before 1 July 2014

The amount of vessels constructed before 1 July 2014 (the existing fleet) is approximately 89,000 vessels of which approximately 60,000 – 65,000 are covered by the SOLAS regulation and therefore by Regulation 10.10.4 Other non-SOLAS vessels are expected to implement Regulation 10.10.4 although the amount of such vessels is difficult to estimate since some of these will implement Regulation 10.10.4 on the owner’s voluntary decision. The requirement for fire-fighter radios until final implementation date on 1 July 2018 is approximately 260,000 to 300,000 units over a period of less than 3 years from now, which will pose an exorbitant requirement for timely delivery prior to survey of the vessels trading worldwide.

 Credits to IMO