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Rigging Equipment & General Deck Items · Embarkation Ladders

LADDER EMBARKATION, WITH FURTHER DETAIL 232052

IMPA 232052 is an embarkation ladder made to the ship: the details to send, how it differs from a pilot ladder, and remotely located survival craft.

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What it is

IMPA 232052 is an embarkation ladder ordered "with further detail", supplied as a set. It is the only code in its group, so the code itself fixes nothing about length, steps or ropes. Everything the maker needs travels in the requisition text.

The ladder lets people climb down the ship’s side into survival craft once they are afloat. SOLAS III/11.7 requires one at each embarkation station, or at every two adjacent stations, for survival craft launched down the ship’s side. Even where approved devices replace the ladders, at least one embarkation ladder is kept on each side of the ship.[1]

How to specify and order it

Send, for each station: the height from the deck to the waterline in the lightest seagoing condition, allowing for trim of up to 10° and a list of up to 20° either way, and the resulting length or number of steps. Send the side-rope material and the approval the flag requires. The ladder must reach the water in one length.[1]

Do not substitute a pilot ladder. The two are built to different rules. Embarkation ladder steps are at least 480 mm long and spaced 300–380 mm apart, with side ropes of manila at least 65 mm in circumference. A pilot ladder has at least 400 mm between the side ropes and steps spaced 310–350 mm apart.[2][3]

Say whether the ladder serves a remotely located survival craft, such as a liferaft stowed forward. Lloyd’s Register reports that port state control deficiencies about these stations, especially ladder length, have increased. IMO MSC.1/Circ.1243 calls for an embarkation ladder or another means of controlled descent to the water. Knotted ropes are prohibited at such stations on new ships contracted for construction on or after 1 July 2008.[1]

Rules and approvals

The ladder is built to LSA Code 6.1.6: hardwood steps free of knots, or an equivalent material, with a non-slip surface, secured so they stay horizontal. Side ropes are continuous with no joints below the top step, and the rope ends are secured against unravelling. Handholds give safe passage from the deck to the head of the ladder.[2]

ISO 5489 is the ISO standard for the embarkation ladders that merchant ships carry under SOLAS chapter III, to let people climb down the ship’s side to survival craft on the water. ISO 5489:2024, the fourth edition, was published in January 2024 and replaced the 2008 edition, which is withdrawn. A maker quoting ISO 5489 should state the edition.[4]

Questions buyers ask

What details does a supplier need for IMPA 232052?
For each station: the deck-to-waterline height in the lightest seagoing condition, allowing for 10° trim and 20° list, the length or number of steps, the side-rope material, and the approval the flag requires.
Can a pilot ladder be used as an embarkation ladder?
No. They are built to different rules for step length, step spacing and side ropes.

Sources

  1. Lloyd’s Register Class News 11/2013: remotely located survival craft and embarkation ladder length, quoting SOLAS regulation III/11.7
  2. IMO Resolution MSC.48(66): International Life-Saving Appliance (LSA) Code, paragraph 6.1.6 Embarkation ladders
  3. IMO Resolution A.1045(27): Pilot transfer arrangements (adopted 30 November 2011)
  4. ISO 5489:2024 Ships and marine technology — Embarkation ladders (ISO catalogue page: edition, scope, and the edition it replaces)

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Published by Sherif Awad, founder of GeoMarineHub — in ship supply since 1990, a family business since 1981 (45 years). Last checked .

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