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Continuous Synopsis Record (CSR)

The Continuous Synopsis Record (CSR) provides the history of a ship from its initial commissioning to its final decommissioning. It records ship related data such as name, owner, bareboat charterer and changes thereof to make them traceable.

On board of any ship engaged on international voyages and subject to part A of chapter I of the SOLAS Convention the original of the Continuous Synopsis Record must be kept and made available for inspection at all times. Sanctions may be imposed on ships not meeting this obligation. The CSR will be re-issued upon any change of its content or of the ship’s flag within three months from the date of the change.

Issuance of a CSR

A CSR must be applied for at the BSH, if:

  • the ship has been registered in the German shipping register,
  • the ship changes to a bareboat register or returns from there, or
  • the ship changes to the register of a foreign flag or returns from there, or
  • the content of the CSR is changed.

The following documents are to be submitted:

  • Application for the issuance of a CSR including attachment; you can e-mail this application form via maritime.security@bsh.de to the BSH without a signature,
  • A copy of the extract from the shipping register, and
  • Copies of all previously issued CSRs for the ship, including the closing-CSR of the former flag.

Change of entries in the CSR

Amendments to the CSR, made by the ship’s master or company to reflect changes of e.g. the ship’s flag, name, port of registry, owner and company (ISM) must be documented in an amendment sheet. This amendment sheet is part of the CSR documents and the administration must be informed accordingly.

Please note:
Any changes must be reflected in an amendment sheet signed by the master or the company. This amendment sheet provisionally replaces the original CSR until this is re-issued within a maximum period of three months.
The BSH strongly recommends to keep the amendment sheets permanently on board of the ship for possible inspections.

For further information please refer to:

Please note also the requirements of the law of the flag and the notice regarding company and registered owners identity numbers further below.