IMCA updates its eCMID vessel inspection templates

Published 5 February 2025

This announcement is being sent as an advance email notification to the eCMID user community – this news post will be updated once complete.

IMCA is publishing updates to its eCMID System vessel inspection templates on Friday 7 February 2025 from around 16:00 UTC. There will be some system downtime during the update process, during which inspection template downloads will be unavailable for several hours.

If you are undertaking an inspection in the coming days, please ensure you have downloaded all relevant vessel inspection templates into the eCMID Inspection App before Friday 7 February.

IMCA has updated its vessel inspection templates following significant work by the cross-industry eCMID Committee, in consultation with the user community.

The new versions have been retitled to standardise IMCA eCMID branding and to prepare for future expansion. The templates are now:

IMCA M149 Issue 14 – eCMID Vessel Inspection (≥500gt) – formerly the Common Marine Inspection Document
IMCA M189 Issue 7 – eCMID Small Vessel Inspection (<500gt) – formerly known as eMISW, applicable to small workboats and other vessels.

An updated IMCA M167 Rev. 5 – Guidance on the IMCA eCMID System – is also available, detailing the latest changes to procedures and guidance. Review copies of the new templates and the updated guidance are available via www.ecmid.com.

What’s new?

Vessel particulars – We have improved the app and website interfaces to make it easier to record good quality data. A new ‘not applicable’ option makes clear that an item has been reviewed, where previously this would have been indicated by leaving the field blank.
Required supplements – Vessel operators can now mandate the completion of relevant supplements, such as DP or heavy lift, which will then link to the relevant inspector accreditation requirements.
Risk categorisation – Our cross-industry eCMID Committee has identified those questions associated with the greatest safety risks. Where a finding is recorded, these will now be automatically categorised, listed first in the report, without risking the objectivity of accredited inspectors (AVIs). They will also be available for reporting via the analytics hub on an industry- or fleet-wide basis. This will identify findings requiring the most urgent and important action, whether by the vessel operator or by the wider industry through IMCA and its committees. This is present in the new M149, with a similar categorisation planned for the next issue of M189.
Inspector guidance – The instructions for inspectors have been fully revised to more clearly identify what should be assessed, considered, captured via photograph, and included as comments.
Reader notes – The PDF inspection report will now include simplified reader notes, summarising what has been assessed by the inspector without including unnecessary details.
Closing meetings – Guidance on holding and recording closing meetings between the inspector and the vessel master and other senior crew was updated in 2023. We have now improved the inspection app interface to further assist in completing this important element.

Every revision of the inspection templates also incorporates the latest regulatory and technological changes, and responds to feedback from the user community.

The eCMID inspection app and database website have both been updated to facilitate these changes as part of our ongoing improvement plan, which is funded by users’ upload fees. While some final changes are deployed, users will still see some references to eMISW for a short period. Inspector accreditation marked ‘General’ for M149 and ‘eMISW’ for M189 remains valid.

New requirement for vessel operators

Vessel operators are strongly encouraged to fully complete the vessel particulars data via the ‘vessel setup’ screens in the database. Where this is done, the inspector needs to spend less time gathering and recording these details – where they only need to verify the information presented, they can spend more time assessing critical elements of the safety management system and its use in practice.

From 1 May 2025, a new finding will be recorded in inspection reports where this data has not been pre-populated by the vessel operator. Vessel operators should therefore ensure that their vessel data is complete, then kept up to date.

Future plans

Work is currently underway to apply eCMID principles to other inspection types developed by IMCA committees. An updated IMCA R006 – ROV Audit Guidance – has been transformed into an eCMID format, with a new inspector accreditation scheme in development. IMCA’s MASS (marine autonomous surface ships) committee is also developing templates for the inspection of USVs (unmanned surface vehicles) and their remote operations centres (ROCs/RCCs). Further details will be shared with the eCMID community in due course.

The eCMID IT platform will also see continuing development this year as upload fees continue to be reinvested, with plans for cybersecurity enhancements and potential API access to selected eCMID data currently under review.

IMCA and the eCMID committee remain keen to receive user feedback on the new templates, platform improvements and other ideas to help shape the system’s development.