A modern Safety Management System template that auto-fills the AMSA Marine Order 504 and Maritime NZ Part 19 sections from your vessel details. No Word documents to wrestle with. Built by a working captain.
Start your SMS — freeA vessel SMS template is a pre-built Safety Management System document containing every mandatory section required by the maritime authority that regulates your vessel. In Australia that's AMSA's Marine Order 504; in New Zealand it's Maritime NZ's Maritime Rule Part 19 (MOSS).
A good template gives you the structure — all the sections, headings, and prompts in the right order — so you only need to fill in details specific to your vessel and operation. A great template goes one step further: it auto-populates those vessel-specific details everywhere they appear in the document, so you don't enter the same hull number nine times.
Most "vessel SMS templates" online are a single big Word or PDF file. They work, but they cost you hours of admin every time something changes. Here's the practical difference:
| Capability | Word/PDF template | Vessel SMS Builder |
|---|---|---|
| Free to start | Yes | Yes |
| Auto-fills vessel details across sections | No | Yes |
| Survey-ready PDF export | Yes | Yes |
| Photo uploads tied to safety items | No | Yes |
| QR codes for crew to view SMS on phone | No | Yes |
| Update once, reflects everywhere | No | Yes |
| Tracks Marine Order 504 amendments | No | Yes |
| Multi-vessel management | No | Yes |
Every Domestic Commercial Vessel — passenger, charter, fishing, hire-and-drive, work — needs an SMS that meets Marine Order 504. The new June 2025 rules add fatigue, drug & alcohol, assembly station, and stability sections that every template must now cover.
Anyone running a maritime transport operation in NZ waters needs a template that meets Maritime Rule Part 19. In New Zealand the document is formally called a Maritime Transport Operator Plan (MTOP), and a Maritime Transport Operator Certificate (MTOC) is issued by Maritime NZ once your safety system is approved. See our dedicated MTOP guide →
For AMSA Marine Order 504 (Australia), your SMS template must cover, at minimum:
For Maritime NZ Part 19 (New Zealand), additional content is set out in the Rule itself — including documented safety procedures, hazard registers, and the Maritime Transport Operator Plan. See the full SMS guide →
Yes — you can build a complete, survey-ready SMS for one vessel without paying anything. Paid plans only kick in if you need multiple vessels, ownership transfers, or premium tools like AI photo filing.
Yes. AMSA publishes its own free SMS templates and explicitly states templates are a legitimate starting point. The non-negotiable is that what is written matches what actually happens on board.
Every SMS must be tailored to the vessel and operation. A template gets you 80% of the way; the remaining 20% is operational detail only you can write — your specific weather limits, your crew training routine, your maintenance regime. Vessel SMS Builder gives you editable text everywhere those details belong.
Yes. The builder includes an import wizard that reads existing SMS documents (Word, PDF) and pulls out vessel details, crew lists, and equipment so you don't start from scratch.
AMSA's template is a Word document — excellent as a reference, but every change is manual and the file lives wherever you last saved it. Vessel SMS Builder is the same content as a living document: auto-fills, exports a survey-ready PDF, tracks the June 2025 changes, and gives crew QR-code access on their phones.
Start with the right structure. Fill in your vessel details once. Export a survey-ready PDF when you're done.
Start free — no credit card