Is Pains Wessex 9507550 a red distress rocket?

No. On the maker’s website 9507550 is the Parachute Illuminating Rocket Mk8, a white flare. The red Para Red Rocket Mk8A is order code 9506720. Ask for the red Mk8A by name.

How long do Pains Wessex parachute rockets last?

The Mk8A’s MED certificate sets an expiry date of at most 48 months from manufacture, marked on the rocket. Do not use a rocket after its expiry date.

Safety Equipment · Rocket Parachute Flares

PARAREDROCKET MK8A PAINSWESSEX, 9507550 SOLAS/MED APPROVED 330311

Pains Wessex Para Red Rocket Mk8A, SOLAS/MED: the order-code mix-up in the IMPA name, 48-month expiry, MED/1.8 certificate, UN 0505 shipping and specs.

Post a requirement — free Become a supplier

What it is

The Para Red Rocket Mk8A is Pains Wessex’s SOLAS rocket parachute flare, the red distress rocket kept on the bridge and in survival craft. Fired by its pull-wire igniter, it climbs to 300 m and ejects a red flare on a parachute that burns for at least 40 seconds at 30,000 cd. The maker gives a length of 295 mm, a weight of 235 g and a net explosive content of 84 g.^[1]

The Comet red parachute signal rocket (IMPA 331361) is the same design. A Lloyd’s Register type approval covers both the Pains Wessex Mk8A and the Comet 9163100 as one product to one drawing, made by Wescom Signal & Rescue Germany in Bremerhaven.^[4]

How to specify and order it

Watch the maker’s number. The IMPA name quotes 9507550, but on the Pains Wessex website 9507550 is the order code of the Parachute Illuminating Rocket Mk8: a white flare of 90,000 cd for 30 seconds, for collision warning and search-and-rescue lighting, not a distress signal. The red Mk8A is order code 9506720. Write “red parachute distress rocket Mk8A, SOLAS/MED” on the requisition and reject a white illuminating rocket.^[1]^[2]

Ask for the date of manufacture and the expiry date of the batch on the quotation. The MED type-examination certificate for the Mk8A requires the date of manufacture (month and year) and an expiry date of at most 48 months to be marked from the factory. A rocket that has sat in a warehouse has less of those 48 months left, so compare bids on remaining life.^[3]

The rocket ships as dangerous goods: UN 0505, “Signals, distress, ship”, class 1.4G. The maker packs up to 56 in a metal tin inside a fibreboard box. Give the supplier the port and delivery date early, and ask whether they will take back expired rockets.^[1]

Rules and approvals

The Mk8A holds EC type-examination (Module B) certificate 425007-00 from BG Verkehr, notified body 0736, as item MED/1.8 parachute signal rocket. The certificate was issued 26 December 2022, expires 25 December 2027, and is valid only with a Module D quality system. It names the intended use as lifeboats, rescue boats and liferafts under SOLAS III/6 and III/34 and the LSA Code. The maker’s page also lists USCG, UK and other national approvals.^[3]^[1]

The LSA Code sets the performance: a rocket that reaches at least 300 m fired vertically and ejects a bright red parachute flare of at least 30,000 cd average, burning at least 40 s and falling at no more than 5 m/s. Life-saving appliances that deteriorate with age must be marked with their age or the date by which they must be replaced.^[6]

As a pyrotechnic article the rocket also has an EU Declaration of Conformity under Directive 2013/29/EU. Wescom Signal & Rescue Germany issues one declaration, titled 9163100 / 9506720, for the Comet and Pains Wessex red parachute signal rockets.^[5]

Questions buyers ask

Is Pains Wessex 9507550 a red distress rocket?: No. On the maker’s website 9507550 is the Parachute Illuminating Rocket Mk8, a white flare. The red Para Red Rocket Mk8A is order code 9506720. Ask for the red Mk8A by name.
How long do Pains Wessex parachute rockets last?: The Mk8A’s MED certificate sets an expiry date of at most 48 months from manufacture, marked on the rocket. Do not use a rocket after its expiry date.

Sources

No prices: offers come from suppliers at the port.

Published by Sherif Awad, founder of GeoMarineHub — in ship supply since 1990, a family business since 1981 (45 years). Last checked 2026-10-10.

Specification · IMPA 330311

Read off the catalogue name · priced per piece

IMPA code: 330311
Unit: PCS
Standard: SOLAS

Post it in a requirement →How ship supply works →

Also in Rocket Parachute Flares

330354	PARACHUTE ROCKET KM55, 6PCS/SET KOA	SET
330355	PARACHUTE ROCKET KM55, 4PCS/SET KOA	SET
330356	PARACHUTE ROCKET KM55, 2PCS/SET KOA	SET
330357	PARACHUTE ROCKET KM59, KOA MED APPROVED	PCS
330376	PARACHUTE DISTRESS ROCKET, KOKUSAI KP-16 2PCS/SET	SET
330377	PARACHUTE DISTRESS ROCKET, KOKUSAI KP-16 4PCS/SET	SET
330378	PARACHUTE DISTRESS ROCKET, KOKUSAI KP-16 6PCS/SET	SET
331311	PARACHUTE ROCKET RED IKAROS, NAMMO LIAB	PCS
331312	PARACHUTE ROCKET RED K-31, KORYO PYROTECHNICS	PCS
331361	RED PARACHUTE SIGNAL ROCKET, COMET 9163100 SOLAS/MED	PCS

Buying guide and everything in Rocket Parachute Flares →

Requests by e-mail · no account needed

E-mail the requisition for IMPA 330311

No account needed. Send the code, the quantity and the port of call — or the whole requisition as it left your desk — and verified suppliers at the port price it, sealed, on the same thread.

supply@geomarinehub.com

How it works, and what we can read →

01
Send
Excel, PDF or typed into the mail — whatever your system produced.
02
Receipt
Within minutes, naming what we read and anything we could not.
03
Offers
Priced by verified suppliers at the port, back on the same thread.

Most requested sections

All catalogue sections →