Week 38 2026: Flag State Security Bulletins, Free-Fall Lifeboat Flags, and Engineering Loss-Prevention Lessons

Flag State Regulations and Guidance

• The Bahamas — BMA Safety Alert 26-02 on collision avoidance in Chinese waters, following a run of reported close-quarters incidents.
• Bermuda — Bermuda Guidance Notice 2026-08 clarifying LRIT and EPIRB carriage and testing requirements.
• Cyprus — Circular 20/2026 on EU Implementing Regulation 2026/1434, covering design, construction, performance and testing standards for marine equipment.
• Liberia — two security updates: Marine Security Bulletin 34/2026 on a vessel attack in the Black Sea, and Marine Advisory 21/2026 calling for enhanced due diligence on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
• UK — MIN 738 (M+F), a direction issued under Section 8(4) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995.

Class Society and P&I Club Guidance Worth Flagging

• Gard published four items this week, two worth a closer look: “Preventing auxiliary engine overspeed” and “Loss of bridge control: Calling on back-up modes” — both practical, decision-point-driven guidance rather than pure statistics.
• The Swedish Club flagged fluorspar cargo liquefaction risk — a reminder that Group A cargo hazards aren't limited to the commodities that make headlines most often.
• UK P&I released “Lessons Learnt: High-Pressure System Failure”, a loss-prevention case study on engineering system integrity.
• ABS issued a Regulatory News item on a free-fall lifeboat passage width issue, and Lloyd's Register issued a product safety notice for Nishi-F FF-65 freefall lifeboat models — two independent free-fall lifeboat flags in the same week worth cross-checking against your own vessel's equipment list.

Recent Accident Reports Published This Week

Two investigation reports published this week get the full incident-review treatment elsewhere on Crew Connect this week: the MSIU's report into the fatal fall aboard HSC Your Magic at Marsa, Malta, and the NTSB's report into Belle Mer's anchor strike on a subsea cable near Ketchikan, Alaska.

Test Your Knowledge

Think you've got this covered? Put it to the test in Crew Connect's free Knowledge Checker — try a quick safety round and see how you score.

Related Reading

• Your Magic: The Hatch Nobody Guarded
• Belle Mer: How an Oversized Drag Circle Missed a Dragging Anchor
• Federal Indiana: The Space Nobody Classified as Dangerous