IMO 2026 amendments: how the new regulations affect ship supply operations

Baltona Shipchandlers supplies provisions, technical stores, cleaning chemicals and safety related consumables to vessels calling at ports across the Baltic, the North Sea and Benelux.

Most managers read the 2026 amendment package as a bridge, engine room and training matter, and that reading misses the part that arrives on a pallet.

Three of the 2026 changes decide what may legally sit in a store or a fire locker, and a surveyor checks exactly that at the next survey.

What changed at the IMO in 2026?

The 2026 package is unusual because several conventions changed at the same date, which removed the usual gap between a safety amendment and its environmental counterpart.

According to the International Maritime Organization, amendments across the STCW, SOLAS and MARPOL Conventions entered into force on 1 January 2026, covering crew conduct, fire safety, mandatory reporting and cargo documentation.

Two further environmental changes followed later in the year, so a compliance plan built only around January misses part of the picture.

Which STCW amendment applies to every crew?

The training amendment reaches every seafarer, and it is the only 2026 change that touches the whole manning table rather than a ship type.

Resolution MSC.560(108) amended the STCW Convention and Table A-VI/1-4 of the STCW Code with effect from 1 January 2026, introducing mandatory training on the prevention of violence, bullying and harassment, including sexual harassment, and on the response mechanisms available on board.

Several administrations, including the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the Polish maritime administration and the Norwegian Maritime Authority, confirmed transitional arrangements under which holders of valid personal safety and social responsibility certificates add the new component at their next refresher cycle.

Supply staff boarding a vessel fall under the same conduct expectations as any other visitor, which several operators now write directly into their supplier instructions.

What changed in fire safety and fire-fighting media?

The fire safety amendments produced the single most practical consequence of the whole package for anyone who orders stores.

Amendments to SOLAS chapter II-2 and to the 1994 and 2000 High Speed Craft Codes prohibit the use or storage of fire-extinguishing media containing perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, with the threshold set at 10 mg/kg, equivalent to 0.001 percent by weight.

Ships with a keel laid on or after 1 January 2026 comply from delivery, and existing ships comply no later than the first survey on or after 1 January 2026, with the attending surveyor verifying that the foams on board are PFOS free.

Resolutions MSC.550(108) and MSC.555(108) tightened fire detection, video monitoring and fixed water-based extinguishing arrangements for vehicle spaces, ro-ro spaces and weather decks used for vehicles, applying to ships constructed on or after 1 January 2026 and retrospectively to existing ro-ro passenger ships not later than the first survey on or after 1 January 2028.

Fire safety already produces more port state control findings than any other category, which is why a foam drum with the wrong certificate turns into a detainable item faster than most managers expect.

Which MARPOL and cargo changes matter in 2026?

The environmental changes affect voyage planning first and documentation second, and both feed back into where and when a vessel takes stores.

Amendments to MARPOL Protocol I and to SOLAS regulations V/31 and V/32 made reporting of containers lost overboard mandatory from 1 January 2026.

Resolution MEPC.392(82) designated the Canadian Arctic and the Norwegian Sea as Emission Control Areas with effect from 1 March 2026, and the 0.10 percent sulphur limit applies in those areas from 1 March 2027 after a twelve month grace period.

The Marine Environment Protection Committee adopted the North-East Atlantic Emission Control Area through Resolution MEPC.407(84) in 2026, with entry into force on 1 September 2027 and the fuel requirements taking effect the following year.

Amendment 42-24 to the IMDG Code became mandatory on 1 January 2026, which changes the paperwork attached to every consignment of packaged dangerous goods delivered to a vessel.

SOLAS regulation II-2/4.2.1 now requires a declaration signed by the fuel supplier’s representative confirming a suitable flashpoint before bunkering, a documentation duty that mirrors what suppliers of chemicals for ship supply have provided for years.

How do the 2026 amendments affect ship supply operations?

Three of the changes convert directly into order lines, delivery notes and supplier declarations, and the rest change the route rather than the store.

The PFOS prohibition removes an entire product group from the market, because foam concentrates that were acceptable in 2025 cannot be delivered to a vessel that has to demonstrate compliance at its next safety equipment survey.

A replacement foam order now requires a manufacturer declaration stating the PFOS content, and a delivery without that document leaves the vessel with a drum it cannot prove anything about.

Legacy foam removed from the ship becomes waste subject to national environmental rules, so the disposal route belongs in the order conversation rather than in a separate discussion three months later.

The IMDG amendment affects every consignment of cleaning agents, tank cleaners and technical chemicals, where the correct UN number, packing group, labelling and segregation data decide whether the terminal accepts the delivery at all.

Safety data sheets accompany those consignments as a matter of routine, and the practical difference in 2026 lies in the version of the sheet rather than in its presence, a point examined in our article on the safe supply of cleaning agents and technical chemicals for ships.

The new Emission Control Areas change bunkering patterns and voyage plans in northern waters, and vessels that adjust their rotation frequently move their provisioning call to a different port in the same voyage.

The training amendment produces no order line at all, and it still reaches the supply chain through conduct expectations for external personnel working on board during a delivery.

How does Baltona support compliance in daily supply?

A supplier cannot certify a vessel’s compliance, and the honest description of the role is narrower: the supplier delivers goods that carry the documentation the surveyor asks for.

Documentation quality is the part of ship supply that decides whether a delivery survives an inspection, which is why the management system and the audits behind it belong on the table before the first order, and both appear on the page listing our certificates and quality standards.

Chemical consignments leave the warehouse with current safety data sheets and classification data matched to the delivered product, not to a similar product from the same range.

Provisions travel with traceability records covering origin, batch and temperature, an area described in more detail in the article on food safety standards in ship supply.

Technical orders reference maker, model and part number, because a survey relevant item accepted without its certificate creates a finding regardless of its physical condition, as covered in the overview of technical equipment for ships.

Environmental reporting obligations increasingly reach suppliers as well as operators, and the approach we take is set out on the page describing our ESG commitments.

Vessels running fixed rotations gain the most from a single documentation standard across calls, which the network of ports served by Baltona makes possible within one voyage.

Enquiries about specific 2026 requirements and the documents that accompany a delivery go to the order desk through the contact page.

Checklist for ship managers

Ten checks cover the supply side of the 2026 package, and each one belongs to a person rather than to a policy.

1. Confirm that every fire-fighting foam and extinguishing medium on board carries a manufacturer declaration of PFOS content below 10 mg/kg.
2. Book the replacement of non compliant foam before the first safety equipment survey rather than during it.
3. Agree the disposal route for legacy foam with the supplier and the port reception facility in the same order.
4. Verify that the safety data sheets held on board match the IMDG Amendment 42-24 classification of the delivered chemicals.
5. Check that the chemical inventory on board reflects what was actually delivered, including part deliveries and substitutions.
6. Record the STCW training status of every crew member against the violence and harassment competence, with the refresher cycle dates.
7. Add the conduct expectations for visiting supply personnel to the vessel’s standing instructions.
8. Review the voyage plan against the Canadian Arctic and Norwegian Sea Emission Control Areas and confirm where stores will be taken.
9. Confirm that the bunker delivery note procedure includes the flashpoint declaration signed by the supplier’s representative.
10. Keep signed delivery notes for survey relevant items in the same file as the corresponding maker certificates.

Managers running several vessels usually find the gaps in items one and four, because both depend on documents held by a supplier rather than on equipment held on board.

Frequently asked questions

Sources used for the regulatory facts

• IMO press briefing, rules in force from 1 January 2026 (STCW, SOLAS, MARPOL, STCW-F)
• Resolution MSC.560(108), STCW Code Table A-VI/1-4
• Resolutions MSC.550(108) and MSC.555(108), SOLAS II-2/20 and FSS Code
• SOLAS chapter II-2 and HSC Codes, PFOS prohibition, DNV and Bureau Veritas statutory notes
• Resolution MEPC.392(82), Canadian Arctic and Norwegian Sea ECAs
• Resolution MEPC.407(84), North-East Atlantic ECA
• IMDG Code Amendment 42-24