The Solomon Islands Maritime and Safety Administration said to this end it would get tough this year on the types of ships that will be brought into the country.
A spokesman for the agency Derek Saru said shipping companies had converted old fishing vessels into cargo and passenger vessels, but many of them were not seaworthy.
Last year, a shipping company bought a 50-year old boat in Tonga but it failed to make it to Solomon Islands after it ran aground in Fiji.
