Passenger Ships

According to the Swedish Ship Safety Act (2003:364) all vessels carrying more than twelve passengers are considered passenger ships.
Every person onboard is considered as a passenger except the ship’s master, other onboard personnel, others who are onboard to perform work for the vessel or while performing official duties related to the vessel or the activity pursued with the vessel, salvagers or salvager’s assistants who are onboard the ship being brought in after an acccident at sea, people being taken into port after having been saved at sea and children under the age of one year.

Note that even recreational craft that carry more than twelve passengers are considered as a passenger ship under the law.

All Swedish passenger ships must have a Passenger Ship Certificate upon which the highest permitted number of passengers is stated. The vessel must also have Minimum Safe Manning as established by the Swedish Maritime Administration.

In addition to the regulations applicable to all vessel categories, higher standards are usually set for passenger ships with regard to the vessel’s capacity to survive damage, preventive fire protection, evacuation and life-saving.

Passengar ships engaged on international voyages

The International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) contains special safety provisions for passenger ships and applies to all passenger ships on international voyages regardless of vessel size.

Council Directive 98/18/EC introduced common safety provisions for passenger ships engaged on national voyages within Community countries in sea areas A-D. The provisions apply to all newly constructed passenger ships as of 1 July 1998 and passenger ships built before that date which are over 24 m long, after a phase-in period up to between 2006 and 2010 depending on year of construction.

There are no common EU provisions for passenger ships in sea area E; each country issues national regulations. The same applies to vessels not built of steel or comparable materials, high speed craft and original historical passenger ships.