A shipboard procedure should never be a generic document downloaded the night before an audit. Yet that is the daily reality across much of the fleet: SOPs copied from one vessel to the next, outdated regulatory references, responsibilities that do not match the actual manning of the boat. Cursorio has chosen to tackle the problem head-on: its Shipboard Procedures tool is live, free and open to everyone — captains, officers, owners, clients or not.
The principle fits in one sentence: 39 pre-filled procedures, editable section by section, producing a PDF ready to drop into the vessel’s SMS. No sign-up, no email, and the tool works offline after the first visit — at anchor with no signal, it still responds. It is available in four languages: English, French, Italian and Spanish.
The 39 operations that actually matter on board
The catalogue covers six families of operations: deck and exterior, helicopter, engineering and technical, interior and guests, navigation and operations, emergencies and drills. It includes the high-risk classics — bunkering, hot work, enclosed space entry, energy isolation (LOTO) — as well as operations specific to yachting: tender and toy launching, guest watersports, beach club, helicopter operations, fireworks.
Each template follows the structure an ISM auditor expects to find: purpose, scope, references, responsibilities by role, precautions and PPE, a three-phase sequence (before, during, after the operation), emergency response and associated records. The title block is already in place: prepared by the Master, approved by the DPA, revision number, review date.
Above all, the 39 templates mirror exactly the 39 operations of our 5×5 risk assessment tool: same identifiers, aligned permits and thresholds, cross-links between the two tools. One operation = one risk assessment + one procedure. That is how an SMS is built.
Written by a mariner, maintained like an SMS
These templates do not come from an anonymous document bank: the tool was designed by Cursorio’s founder, a Master Mariner (unlimited STCW II/2 certificate) working as an outsourced DPA, and every template is built on references currently in force: the COSWP in its current (2026) edition, elements 7 and 8 of the ISM Code, ISGOTT for bunkering. A detail auditors will appreciate: enclosed space entry cites IMO resolution MSC.581(110), adopted in June 2025 and effective since 3 December 2025 — not the superseded A.1050(27) still found in many SMS manuals.
The tool is also honest about its limits, because that is the only defensible position in maritime safety: a template is a starting point. Every section must be adapted to the vessel’s specifics — that is precisely what the editor is for — and every PDF reminds the reader that responsibility for the final procedure rests with the Master.
Free, local, offline — by design
No data leaves the device: procedures are kept in a local register, exportable as JSON to archive, switch devices or hand over to the DPA. No account, no data collection, no email required to download the PDF. For a document describing a vessel’s operational vulnerabilities, this is not a footnote: the confidentiality of the boat is a matter of security as much as discretion.
Why give this away? Because it is the most honest showcase of our trade. The public tools display the level of rigour we apply to vessels under Cursorio management — whose crews benefit from full support: an SMS maintained and revised continuously, registers shared with the DPA, lessons learned pooled across vessels, and a 24/7 duty line. A manager that deliberately caps its fleet can afford to publish its standards; it is in fact the best selling point we know.
What comes next
A third tool is already announced on the Tools page: a guided diagnosis of your vessel’s risk profile (flag, class, ISM, crew, insurance). In the meantime, open a procedure, adapt it to your boat, get it signed — and if you want to discuss what your full SMS would look like in our hands, contact is direct.
Sources
- Code of Safe Working Practices for Merchant Seafarers — 2026 edition — Maritime and Coastguard Agency, 20 March 2026
- ISM Code — International Maritime Organization
- Shipboard Procedures and Risk Assessment — free Cursorio tools