Merchant Shipping (Load Lines) Act 1967

Subdivision load lines and deck cargo U.K.

23 Subdivision load lines. U.K.

(1) Where in pursuance of any rules for the time being in force under section 1 of the M1 Merchant Shipping (Safety Convention) Act 1949 a passenger steamer to which this Act applies, being a ship registered in the United Kingdom, is marked with subdivision load lines, and the lowest of those lines is lower than the line which, apart from this subsection, would be the appropriate load line for the purposes of section 4 of this Act, the said section 4 shall have effect as if that subdivision load line were the appropriate load line for the purposes of that section.

(2) Where in pursuance of any such rules, or in pursuance of the Convention referred to in that Act as the Safety Convention or any law of any country made for the purpose of giving effect to that Convention, a passenger steamer to which this Act applies, not being a ship registered in the United Kingdom, is marked with subdivision load lines, and the lowest of those load lines is lower than the line which, apart from this subsection, would be the appropriate load line for the purpose of section 14 of this Act, that section shall have effect as if that subdivision load line were the appropriate load line for the purposes of that section.

(3) In this section “passenger steamer” has the meaning assigned to it by section 26 of the M2 Merchant Shipping (Safety Convention) Act 1949.

Marginal Citations

M1 1949 c. 43.

M2 1949 c. 43.

24 Deck cargo. U.K.

(1) The Board of Trade shall make regulations (in this section referred to as “the deck cargo regulations”) prescribing requirements to be complied with where cargo is carried in any uncovered space on the deck of a ship to which this Act applies; and different requirements may be so prescribed in relation to different descriptions of ships, different descriptions of cargo, different voyages or classes of voyages, different seasons of the year or any other different circumstances.

(2) If the load line rules provide (either generally or in particular cases or classes of cases) for assigning special freeboards to ships which are to have effect only where a cargo of timber is so carried, then (without prejudice to the generality of the preceding subsection) the deck cargo regulations may prescribe special requirements to be complied with in circumstances where any such special freeboard has effect.

(3) In prescribing any such special requirements as are mentioned in the last preceding subsection, the Board of Trade shall have regard in particular to the provisions of Chapter IV of the Convention of 1966.

(4) If any provisions of the deck cargo regulations are contravened—

(a) in the case of a ship registered in the United Kingdom, or

(b) in the case of any other ship while the ship is within any port in the United Kingdom,

the master of the ship shall (subject to the next following subsection) be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000.

(5) Where a person is charged with an offence under the last preceding subsection, it shall be a defence to prove that the contravention was due solely to deviation or delay and that the deviation or delay was caused solely by stress of weather or other circumstances which neither the master not the owner nor the charterer (if any) could have prevented or forestalled.

(6) For the purpose of securing compliance with the deck cargo regulations, any person authorised in that behalf by the Board of Trade may inspect any ship to which this Act applies which is carrying cargo in any uncovered space on her deck; . . . F1

Textual Amendments

F1 Words repealed by Merchant Shipping Act 1979 (c. 39), Sch. 7 Pt. II

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 24(4) amended by Merchant Shipping Act 1979 (c. 39, SIF 111), s. 43(2), Sch. 6 Pt. V and Criminal Justice Act 1982 (c. 48, SIF 39:1), s. 49(1)