Ship Sanitations

All Vessels on international voyages need a ship sanitation exemption certificate (SSEC) to demonstrate compliance with maritime and quarantine rules specified in article 9 of the international health regulations 2005 issued by the World Health Organisation. If may be required for permission to enter some ports.

Ship sanitation control exemption certificates/ ship sanitation control certificates are issued by the port health authority to identify and record all areas of a ship-borne public health risk, together with any required control measures to be applied. The certificates are valid for six months period and can be renewed at any port authorised by the World Health Organisation to issues renewals.

See listed of authorised Ports- IHR POE List (who.int)

What documentation do you require?

It is essential that the port health authority is presented with relevant documentation to assist with the completion of the ship’s sanitation inspection. The documents that should be presented includes:

• A copy of the previous ship’s sanitation certificate
• Maritime Declaration of health (if applicable) _ provide in advance
• The last set of microbiological water results
• Medical log
• Garbage log
• Food safety management system (temperature records, cleaning schedules)
• Ballast Log

This information should be made available during the inspection

Once an agreed time and date have been confirmed an officer will attend and carry out a ship sanitation inspection, during the visit it will be expected that various areas of the vessel will be inspected, these may include:

• Galley
• Crew and Passengers accommodation
• Stores
• Waste storage
• Hospital
• Swimming pool/ spas
• Ballast water
• Childcare facilities
• Cargo hold
• Engine room
• Sewage
• Potable Water

The charge regime for ship sanitation certificates is based upon the gross tonnage of the vessel and number of passengers.

Current charges are listed on our Port Health charges page.

Extra charges may be added for cost such as launch hire (at the discretion of the port operator/ harbour master), out-of-hours duties or re inspections of the ships due to controlled measures.

Ship sanitation certificates are valid for six months. This period may be extended by one month if the inspection or control measures required cannot be accomplished at the port. An extension allows a ship to reach a port at which the inspection and necessary controlled measures can be performed, without the necessity to travel with an expired certificate.

An extension may be granted up to 30 days before the expiry date of the existing ship sanitation certificate. However, the ship sanitation certificate cannot be extended for longer than 30 days after the expiry date of the certificate.

We can take water samples for bacteriological testing including analysis for E. coil, coliforms, Aerobic colony counts or legionella on request. These are currently limited to visits on Monday to Thursday. A laboratory report will be provided when available.

A charge is made for this service. Please refer to our Port Health charges page.

Please enquire about availability by filling out this online form; Ship Sanitation (dover.gov.uk)