CSS Code: Cargo Stowage and Securing

The Code of Safe Practice for Cargo Stowage and Securing was adopted by IMO Assembly resolution A.714(17) in November 1991, on approval by the Maritime Safety Committee at its 58th session in May 1990. It is recommendatory in origin but acquires mandatory effect for particular cargoes through SOLAS chapters VI and VII, which is a distinction that decides what a port state officer can require.

The full article will trace the amendment chain, which is unusually long and runs through a series of MSC circulars rather than resolutions, and will identify what the current consolidated edition contains: the annexes covering specific cargo types, the guidance on safe working conditions for securing containers on deck, the Cargo Securing Manual guidelines, and the appendices on road vehicle securing and on the elements of the securing calculation.

It will set out the calculation method the code provides for securing arrangements, the ship-specific Cargo Securing Manual that implements it, and the boundary between the code’s scope and that of the lashing and securing equipment standards. It will also flag the circular numbering that is routinely confused in secondary sources.