@IACSman
Yes, I did come across those lines like a year ago but it didn't directly answer why all freighters over 94m LOA have a free fall lifeboat & those under - not. Take the odd 93m Hartman M2 Runner OCEANIC & 95m Intersee's ZARA for example.

It's always good to have the right tools to hand Jens. I was looking for an online photo which might have confirmed Karen Danielsen's lifeboat from new. Sadly nothing, but old-fashioned books often have the answer :-)
Brgds
Phil

Phil, I'm no lifeboat expert either, but when I came across the photo comments I remembered that I had read about a Sietas vessel to have been the first.
So I took the book and and started searching the ships Sietas built in 1983 (keeping Peter's comment in mind) thinking this might be of help here.

Brgds
Jens

Well done Jens!

Looks like I was wrong and the lifeboat was fitted from new

Brgds
Phil

Hi Folks, according to Detlefsen's "Die Typschiffe der SietasWerft - Register der Trockenfrachter" the first German ship ever to be equipped with a free fall lifeboat was Robert, Sietas type 111, IMO 8324751, yard no. 941.

See http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1901181

She was launched on October 24, 1983, and delivered to shipping company Hein Georg Vöge at Drochtersen, Germany, on December 30, 1983...

Cheers, Jens

Schat-Harding were producing freefalls in the 70s as I remember.
Off the top of my head, the oldest vessel I can remember with a freefall was the chemical tanker 'Heinrich Essberger', built in 1986 and also from Siestas.

Thanks Peter. Developed in 1983, but I wonder how long it took for the first new ship to be fitted with one of their free fall lifeboats?

I'm afraid that lifeboat arrangements aren't my forte, Denis. However, I imagine the free fall lifeboat to be a retrofit. I don't recall seeing them on newbuilds before the 1990s.

Brgds
Phil

If you look up on SOLAS, Chapter III, Regulation 31, Section III(Cargo Ships), you will see rule 1.1.1 which says: (Cargo ships shall carry); one or more totally enclosed lifeboats....on each side of the ship.
However, if you look on point 1.2, you will see that Cargo Ships, in lieu of meeting the requirement of paragraph 1.1, cargo ships may carry one or more free fall lifeboats. If Cargo ships(except tankers) are below 85 meters, they m a y carry rafts only. :-)

Or maybe Phil English... I'm always eager to learn something new!

Probably the best way is to ask Jj Sietas Schiffswerft Hamburg,, maybe Jens knows the appropriate answer for this concerned ship also; :D

If memory serves, if a vessel is under 100 metres then you have the choice of either fitting a lifeboat(s) or going for extra liferaft provision.
I'd imagine much of the decision comes down to the intended trading pattern of the vessel and trading area.

Why won't a some 30m sailing ship have a free-fall lifeboat then?
I mean it's necessary to have that lifeboat if she's a tanker, but this is the first time I see that lifeboat on a usual 89m freighter. All such have just a MOB boat & 2-3 liferafts.

Is there any rule that says that below a certain lenght she can't have a free-fall lifeboat? :-)

Why at 89m length she already has a free-fall lifeboat when I notice that many 89m freighters have none & have it only when they're over like 94m LOA?