Merchant Shipping Act 1995

95 Power to detain dangerously unsafe ship

(1) Where a ship in a port in the United Kingdom appears to a relevant inspector to be a dangerously unsafe ship the ship may be detained.

(2) The power of detention conferred by subsection (1) above is exercisable in relation to foreign ships as well as United Kingdom ships.

(3) The officer detaining the ship shall serve on the master of the ship a detention notice which shall—

(a) state that the relevant inspector is of the opinion that the ship is a dangerously unsafe ship;

(b) specify the matters which, in the relevant inspector’s opinion, make the ship a dangerously unsafe ship; and

(c) prohibit the ship from going to sea until it is released by a competent authority.

(4) In the case of a ship which is not a British ship the officer detaining the ship shall cause a copy of the detention notice to be sent as soon as practicable to the nearest consular officer for the country to which the ship belongs.

(5) In this section—

• “competent authority” means any officer mentioned in section 284(1); and

• “relevant inspector” means any person mentioned in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of section 258(1).