Archives

An offshore personnel transfer basket (also called a man basket) should get a visual check before every transfer and a thorough examination by a competent person at least every six months. Six months is the UK legal interval for equipment that lifts people, which Billy Pugh and Safe Transfer also use. On top of that come the manufacturer’s workshop inspections, fixed replacement dates for slings, compensators and nets, and a written record for each basket.

Key takeaways

A personnel transfer basket gets a visual check before every transfer and a thorough examination by a competent person at least every six months.
UK lifting law (LOLER) sets six months for equipment that lifts people, against 12 months for equipment that lifts only loads.
Safe Transfer baskets need an annual workshop inspection and a five-year recertification with load test and NDT. The Billy Pugh X-904 is refurbished every two years and replaced after 8 years in the field.
Some parts are replaced by date: Safe Transfer compensators every 12 months and lifting slings at least every five years.
Manufacturers limit workshop-level refurbishment and recertification to repair shops they approve, so check the manual before booking.

On this page11

How often does a personnel transfer basket need to be inspected?

A personnel transfer basket is inspected at four levels. The deck crew checks it visually before every lift. A competent person examines it thoroughly at least every six months. It goes to a workshop at the interval its manufacturer sets, annually, every two years or every five years depending on the model. And it gets an extra examination after any damage, alteration or repair. The manual for your model sets the exact numbers.

The UK Health and Safety Executive states that lifting equipment must be thoroughly examined every 12 months, “or every 6 months if the equipment is used to lift people” (HSE, LOLER guidance). That is UK law (LOLER), not Malaysian law, but offshore guidance such as the Marine Transfer Forum’s names LOLER among the regulations for maintaining lifting equipment.

Check	When	Who does it	What it covers
Pre-use visual check	Before every transfer	Platform supervisor, watch keeper or deck crew	Frame, nets and rope sections, fenders, sling, compensator, master link, closing straps
Thorough examination	At least every 6 months	A competent person (Safe Transfer requires one independent of line management)	The whole basket, the lifting sling and the compensator, logged with any defects
Annual workshop inspection	Every 12 months (Safe Transfer 1145-4-N)	A repair shop approved by Safe Transfer or by DNV GL	All parts of the basket and lifting sling, with worn parts replaced
Refurbishment or recertification	Every 2 years (Billy Pugh X-904); every 5 years with load test and NDT (Safe Transfer)	Whoever the manufacturer names	Strip-down, new certified parts, new certificate or nameplate stamp
Extra examination	After damage, alteration or repair of a stress-bearing part	Per the manufacturer and the operator’s lifting procedure	Return to service only once the basket passes

Sources for the table: Safe Transfer 1145-4-N guidelines, Billy Pugh X-904 product information and HSE.

What is checked before every transfer?

The pre-use check is a quick visual inspection that confirms the basket, lifting sling and compensator are “fit and safe for use”, in the words of Safe Transfer’s guidelines. It is done before each transfer by the platform supervisor or watch keeper, who signs the checklist. If any listed part shows visible damage, the basket may not carry people until that part is repaired or replaced.

Safe Transfer’s daily checklist for its 1145-4-N sit-down basket has ten points (Safe Transfer):

the steel frame, for bends and cracks
the bumper fender
the oval top fenders and round top buoy
the lifting sling, compensator, master link and pad eyes
all four rope sections
the guide ropes and weak links
the closing straps across the exits, which must work
the side protection
each seat, seatbelt and pedestal
the buoyancy tank

What does the six-monthly thorough examination involve?

The six-monthly thorough examination is a detailed inspection of the whole basket and its lifting gear by a competent person. It is recorded in a log together with any defects found. Safe Transfer describes the competent person as someone with the practical and theoretical knowledge and experience to examine the equipment, who is independent of the line management responsible for it. That person can be in-house, such as HSE staff.

An IMCA safety flash from 2015 shows what a weak examination can miss (IMCA Safety Flash 11/15). During a six-monthly on-board lifting inspection, a chain link on the main sling of an empty personnel basket snapped as the crane took the load. Nobody was hurt. The investigation found that:

water trapped inside the plastic sling cover had sped up corrosion, and the inspector never removed the cover
the inspection contractor was not accredited by the basket’s manufacturer and used a procedure written for steel work baskets
the last load test was 18 months old, when the manufacturer recommended one every six months

The lesson from the IMCA incident is that a thorough examination of a transfer basket must follow that model’s own manual, with covers off and the rigging fully seen.

What does routine maintenance of a transfer basket involve?

Routine maintenance keeps a personnel transfer basket clean, dry and complete between examinations. That means washing off salt and dirt, drying the rigging and storing it out of the weather, tightening or replacing rope sections and nets, and replacing damaged fenders, buoyancy, seats, belts and fasteners. It is planned work that follows the manufacturer’s schedule for that model.

“Personnel transfer appliances and arrangements shall be kept clean, properly maintained and regularly inspected to ensure that they are safe to use.”
International Maritime Organization, IP Code, Part III, regulation 2.1.1 (MSC.527(106))

Safe Transfer’s annual workshop inspection, done by an approved repair shop, shows what that maintenance covers in practice (Safe Transfer 1145-4-N):

Clean the basket with a high-pressure cleaner and repaint the floor-plate markings if needed.
Replace the top fenders and the top buoy.
Check the top net and side net, and repair or replace them if damaged.
Check the rope sections for cuts, tighten them with the turnbuckle, and replace them if damaged.
Check the guide ropes and weak links, and the entrance rope, and replace them if damaged.
Check the bottom fender, bottom frame, bolts and nuts, and replace any that are damaged.
Check the seats, pedestals, seatbelts, head protection, closing straps and buoyancy, and replace anything damaged.

The lifting rigging deserves the most care. The Marine Transfer Forum’s best-practice guidance states: “The wire rope lifting assembly (rigging) is considered the most critical component on the carrier.” It advises storing rigging clean and dry, removing sling covers where condensation could build up, and discarding any sling that fails inspection (Marine Transfer Forum, Offshore Personnel Transfer by Crane, Rev 0). For a vessel that keeps its own basket, the West of England P&I Club advises building the manufacturer’s inspection and maintenance routines “into the SMS and Planned Maintenance System (PMS) as appropriate” (West P&I, Transfers by personnel basket).

Which basket parts are replaced on a fixed schedule?

Some parts of a transfer basket are replaced by date, whatever they look like. Safe Transfer requires the compensator on its 1145-4-N basket to be replaced every 12 months and a new certified lifting sling to be fitted at least every five years. Billy Pugh recommends replacing X-800 series personnel nets every year when they are used daily, for example on a jack-up drilling rig, and every other year where use is lighter.

Basket	Item	Manufacturer’s interval
Safe Transfer 1145-4-N	Compensator	Replace every 12 months
Safe Transfer 1145-4-N	Complete certified lifting sling	Replace at least every 5 years
Billy Pugh X-904	Whole unit	Refurbish every 2 years; replace after 8 years in the field (new plus 3 refurbishments)
Billy Pugh X-800 series net	Whole net	Replace annually with daily use, every other year otherwise; valid 2 years from In Service Date

Billy Pugh states that X-904 units “need to be refurbished every two years unless they are damaged or do not pass the Daily or 6 Month inspection with a lifespan of 8 years total on the aluminum center section”, and recommends replacing them after 8 years in the field, which is new plus three refurbishments (Billy Pugh X-904). The X-800 net is not designed to be refurbished at all (Billy Pugh X-800 series).

Who is allowed to refurbish or recertify a transfer basket?

The basket’s manufacturer decides who may do its workshop-level work, so read the manual before you book. Safe Transfer states that its annual inspections and five-year recertifications must be done by a repair shop approved by Safe Transfer or by DNV GL. Billy Pugh says that, for safety reasons, it has certified refurbishment companies around the world, and it sends X-904 refurbishment to them.

Safe Transfer’s five-year recertification also includes a load test and non-destructive testing (NDT) to the basket’s type approval, under DNVGL-ST-0378 or NORSOK R-002 (Safe Transfer). Billy Pugh takes the opposite view for its own products: it does not recommend load testing its personnel nets and baskets because each individual part is certified (Billy Pugh). A basket owner should therefore follow the rule written for that exact model, not a general habit.

Before any workshop takes a basket for refurbishment or recertification, ask for the manufacturer’s written approval for that model and check it against the manufacturer’s own published list.

Which rules and guidance set the inspection interval?

No single rule sets the interval everywhere. The Marine Transfer Forum says personnel transfer equipment should be inspected and maintained according to the manufacturer’s recommendations, local regulations and the owner’s policies. A basket may count as lifting equipment, life-saving equipment, or both. For work in Malaysian waters, ask the operator for its lifting procedure and contract requirements at the start, then follow the strictest of those, the manual and any flag-state rule.

For vessels that fall under it, the IMO’s code for ships carrying industrial personnel (the IP Code), adopted in November 2022, requires personnel transfer arrangements to be clean, properly maintained, regularly inspected and permanently marked (IMO MSC.527(106)).

What records should be kept for each transfer basket?

Every personnel transfer basket should carry a permanent identification and have its own file covering use, inspection and maintenance. The IP Code requires each transfer appliance to be marked for survey, inspection and record-keeping. Safe Transfer requires six-monthly examinations to be logged with the defects found. Billy Pugh dates its inspections and replacements from each unit’s In Service Date.

A complete basket file usually holds:

the asset identification, data plate details and In Service Date (Billy Pugh counts it from the day the unit comes out of its packaging)
the certificate of conformity and the latest recertification certificate or nameplate stamp
signed pre-use checklists and every six-monthly examination report
sling and compensator certificates, with their replacement due dates
a repair history, including every part replaced and who replaced it

A complete basket file lets an operator, a client or an inspector see the basket’s status in minutes, and it is the first document anyone will ask for if something goes wrong.

How can Era Harvest help with transfer basket inspection and maintenance?

Era Harvest Supply & Engineering, based in Bintulu, Sarawak, supplies, rents, inspects, maintains and refurbishes personnel transfer baskets for marine and offshore operators. It has held a Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd contract for the supply, rental and maintenance of offshore personnel transfer baskets since 2023, running to 2026. A rental basket keeps transfers going while your own basket is away at its manufacturer’s workshop.

To scope inspection, maintenance or refurbishment, send the basket make and model, the asset identification, photographs of its current condition, and the last inspection report. Because manufacturers reserve some workshop work for repair shops they approve, we will tell you which work we can carry out on that model and which its manufacturer reserves for its own approved workshops. Details of each service are on our personnel transfer basket service page, and short-term hire is covered under equipment rental in Bintulu. For the slings, shackles and rigging that go with a basket, see our lifting gear testing and inspection service, the lifting and rigging products we supply and the guide to how often lifting slings need inspection and recertification in Malaysia. More guides are in our offshore supply resources.

Call the Bintulu office on 086-313311, WhatsApp 017-351 0071, or email inquiry@eraharvest.com.

Sources

Ship operators at Bintulu keep garbage on board, sorted into MARPOL Annex V categories, and deliver it ashore to a port reception facility. The master should send Bintulu Port Authority’s waste-delivery notification at least 24 hours before arrival, the garbage leaves the ship in bags or a lifted skip, and the delivery is logged in the Garbage Record Book, with the receipt kept for two years.

Key takeaways

MARPOL Annex V generally prohibits discharging garbage into the sea; plastics, cooking oil and incinerator ash may never go overboard (IMO).
Bintulu Port Authority’s waste-delivery form should reach the designated authority at least 24 hours before arrival and declares garbage by type in cubic metres.
After delivery, the master should get a Waste Delivery Receipt; ships that carry a Garbage Record Book keep it with the book for two years (IMO; Ships Classification Malaysia).
Apart from ground food waste, garbage from a platform more than 12 nautical miles from land, or from a ship within 500 metres of one, may not go into the sea (IMO).
Under section 29 of the Environmental Quality Act 1974, discharging wastes into Malaysian waters without a licence, in breach of conditions set under section 21, carries a fine of RM50,000 to RM10 million, up to five years’ jail, or both.

On this page9

What rules apply to vessel garbage at Bintulu Port?

Two main layers of rules apply to vessel garbage at Bintulu Port. Internationally, MARPOL Annex V, in force since 31 December 1988 and revised from 1 January 2013, generally prohibits discharging garbage into the sea. Nationally, Malaysia’s Environmental Quality Act 1974 makes unlicensed discharge of wastes into Malaysian waters, in breach of set conditions, an offence. On top of both, Bintulu Port Authority’s waste-delivery form, organised around the MARPOL annexes, sets the local notice procedure.

In the International Maritime Organization (IMO) summary of Annex V, garbage “includes all kinds of food, domestic and operational waste, all plastics, cargo residues, incinerator ashes, cooking oil, fishing gear, and animal carcasses generated during the normal operation of the ship and liable to be disposed of continuously or periodically”.

Under section 29 of the Environmental Quality Act 1974 (Act 127), discharging wastes into Malaysian waters, unless licensed, in breach of the acceptable conditions set under section 21, carries a fine of not less than RM50,000 and up to RM10 million, imprisonment of up to five years, or both. Oil is covered separately by section 27, where the minimum fine rises to RM100,000.

Can a ship discharge any garbage at sea off Sarawak?

Almost nothing can go overboard off Sarawak. MARPOL Annex V allows only food waste, some cargo residues, harmless cleaning agents and animal carcasses to be discharged, each under stated conditions. Plastics, cooking oil, incinerator ash, packing material and ordinary refuse may never be discharged. A vessel alongside at Bintulu is inside 3 nautical miles of land, so apart from washwater carrying only harmless cleaning agents or additives, all garbage stays on board for delivery ashore.

The waters off Sarawak are not among the eight Annex V special areas that IMO lists (the Mediterranean, Baltic, Black Sea, Red Sea, Gulfs, North Sea, Wider Caribbean and Antarctic), so the general rules apply. Offshore supply vessels face a stricter rule: IMO’s simplified overview of the Annex V discharge provisions treats a ship alongside or within 500 metres of an offshore platform more than 12 nautical miles from land the same as the platform itself.

Garbage type	All other ships, outside special areas	Offshore platform more than 12 nm from land, or a ship within 500 m of it
Food waste ground to pass a 25 mm screen	More than 3 nm from nearest land, en route	Permitted
Food waste not ground	More than 12 nm from nearest land, en route	Prohibited
Cargo residues not harmful to the marine environment, not in washwater	More than 12 nm from nearest land, en route	Prohibited
Cleaning agents and additives in cargo hold washwater, not harmful to the marine environment	Permitted	Prohibited
Cleaning agents and additives in deck and external surfaces washwater, not harmful to the marine environment	Permitted	Prohibited
Animal carcasses	En route, as far from land as possible; should be more than 100 nm	Prohibited
Plastics, synthetic ropes, fishing gear, cooking oil, incinerator ash, packing material, paper, rags, glass, metal, bottles, crockery	Prohibited	Prohibited

IMO’s table is a summary, and the Annex text prevails. One IMO footnote matters in practice: when garbage is mixed with or contaminated by another harmful substance, the more stringent requirement applies. In practice, that is a good reason to keep oil-soaked rags out of the ordinary garbage bags.

What must a master do before arriving at Bintulu Port?

Before arriving at Bintulu Port, the master, or someone acting for the master, completes Bintulu Port Authority’s notification form for waste delivery and sends it to the designated authority at least 24 hours ahead, or on leaving the previous port if the voyage is shorter than 24 hours. The form declares the garbage on board by type and volume, and what will stay on board.

The Bintulu Port Authority waste-delivery notification form asks for garbage in cubic metres across seven Annex V lines, from plastic to “other wastes”. The form has a field (2.9) for a person submitting it other than the master, for example an agent acting for the master. The form goes to the designated authority and does not itself name a collector, so the ship or its agent books one. The sequence:

Sort on board. Keep plastics, food waste, domestic waste, cooking oil, incinerator ash, operational waste, fishing gear and e-waste apart, following the Garbage Record Book categories, and keep any cargo residues or animal carcasses separate as well.
Fill in the form. Give ship particulars, arrival and departure times, the last port where waste was delivered and the date of that delivery.
Declare quantities. Enter cubic metres for plastic; floating dunnage, lining or packing; paper, rags, glass, metal, bottles and crockery; cargo residues; food waste; incinerator ash; and other wastes.
State what stays on board. Either tick the box confirming all waste is being delivered, or give storage capacity, the amount retained and the next port of delivery.
Send it at least 24 hours before arrival and keep a copy with the Garbage Record Book, as the form requires.
Book the collection. The master or the ship’s agent books a shore collector, such as a vessel waste collection service, giving the berth, time window, volumes and whether a skip is needed on deck or on the quay.

The Bintulu Port Authority form still uses the older garbage lines, so domestic waste, cooking oil, operational waste, animal carcasses, fishing gear and e-waste have no line of their own; the natural place for them is “Other wastes (specify)”. The form is IMO’s Advance Notification Form (ANF) in an older layout; the current IMO version in MEPC.1/Circ.834/Rev.1 uses the same eleven garbage categories as the Waste Delivery Receipt. The form also states that it “shall be retained on board the vessel along with the appropriate Oil RB, Cargo RB or Garbage RB”, which makes the notice part of the ship’s own garbage paper trail.

How is garbage handed over to the port reception facility and recorded?

At handover to the port reception facility, the garbage is lifted off the ship and the facility’s representative should give the master a Waste Delivery Receipt in IMO’s standard format, listing each category and the cubic metres received. The ship then records the delivery in its Garbage Record Book with the date, time, facility, category and estimated volume, and keeps the receipt with the book for two years.

IMO’s consolidated guidance for port reception facility providers and users (MEPC.1/Circ.834/Rev.1) sets out the receipt. Its standard Waste Delivery Receipt lists eleven garbage categories, from plastics, food wastes and domestic wastes to e-waste and two classes of cargo residue, and ends with the facility’s signature and company stamp. The guidance puts the master’s side plainly:

“Following delivery, the master should request a Waste Delivery Receipt to document the type and quantity of MARPOL wastes/residues actually received by the facility.”
IMO, MEPC.1/Circ.834/Rev.1

Under MARPOL Annex V, ships of 100 gross tonnage and above, ships certified to carry 15 or more persons on voyages to another Party’s ports or offshore terminals, and every fixed or floating platform must keep a Garbage Record Book. The 100 gross tonnage threshold came in with IMO resolution MEPC.360(79), in force from 1 May 2024, according to the IMO amendment table. Before that, the line sat at 400 gross tonnage, the figure Ships Classification Malaysia’s circular 06/2018 gave Malaysian owners. Ships between 100 and 400 gross tonnage, unless certified to carry 15 or more persons on voyages to another Party’s ports or offshore terminals, have needed a Garbage Record Book only since 1 May 2024.

The same Ships Classification Malaysia circular states that record books “along with the receipts obtained from reception facilities are to be retained for two (2) years from the date of last entry”. A ship not required to carry a Garbage Record Book makes the entry in its official log book instead. Annex V also requires placards on disposal rules on every ship of 12 metres or more in length, and a garbage management plan on every ship of 100 gross tonnage and above, every ship certified to carry 15 or more persons, and every fixed or floating platform.

Which vessel wastes need a different disposal route?

Garbage is only one of the vessel waste streams on Bintulu Port Authority’s notification form. The same form lists oily bilge water, sludge and tank washings under MARPOL Annex I, noxious liquid substances under Annex II, sewage under Annex IV, and ozone-depleting substances and exhaust-gas-cleaning residues under Annex VI. Each of those streams follows its own rules and needs a handler qualified for that specific waste.

On land, Malaysia controls scheduled wastes under a separate part of the Environmental Quality Act 1974, Part IVA. Bintulu Port Holdings’ subsidiary Borneo Oil & Gas Supply Base describes itself as a transit centre for offshore scheduled waste on its waste storage and disposal page. The practical rule for a ship’s crew is simple: keep oily rags, used filters, chemical containers and anything else contaminated out of the garbage bags.

Era Harvest Supply & Engineering’s vessel garbage collection service covers commercial and industrial garbage. For oily waste, sewage or scheduled waste, book a contractor licensed for that specific stream.

How many offshore vessels call at Bintulu Port, and why does the 500 m rule matter?

Offshore vessels made more than half of the vessel calls at Bintulu Port Holdings’ two ports, Bintulu Port and Samalaju Industrial Port, in 2025: 4,098 of 7,717 calls, or 53.10%. That matters because, apart from ground food waste, MARPOL Annex V bars garbage discharge by a ship within 500 metres of an offshore platform more than 12 nautical miles from land, so garbage generated during offshore work has to be brought back for delivery ashore.

The figures come from Bintulu Port Holdings’ fourth-quarter 2025 operational results. Total calls were down 3.85% from 8,026 in 2024, and the other calls were 3,153 non-LNG and 466 LNG vessel calls. The company attributed the full-year fall to reduced base support vessel activities and a slight dip in LNG vessel calls at Bintulu Port. Offshore vessel calls fell 10.37%, from 4,572. In the fourth quarter alone, total vessel calls rose 6.81% year on year, from 1,894 to 2,023, on “higher methanol vessel calls and base support vessel activities”.

What should you give a contractor to get vessel waste collected in Bintulu?

A waste contractor needs five things to quote and schedule a vessel garbage collection in Bintulu: the waste types by Annex V category, the estimated volume in cubic metres, the vessel name and berth or supply-base location, the collection window, and whether skips should sit on deck or on the quay. Most of those figures already appear on the Bintulu Port Authority notification form.

Charges depend on volume, waste category and whether a skip is hired, so send the figures from the notification form when asking for a quote.

Era Harvest Supply & Engineering Sdn Bhd, incorporated in 2014 and based in Bintulu, provides rubbish disposal for vessels and lists a 2024 to 2028 contract with Petra Marine Sdn Bhd for commercial and industrial waste disposal for vessels, described on the Petra Marine vessel waste project page and listed with Era Harvest’s other named contracts. Rubbish skids and waste bins are part of Era Harvest’s equipment rental fleet, alongside gensets, air compressors and open top baskets.

To arrange a collection, send the vessel, location, waste types and volumes on WhatsApp at 017-351 0071, call 086-313311 or email inquiry@eraharvest.com.