Harbours Act 1964

20 Orders for establishing schemes for control of movement of ships in harbours

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, there may, in relation to a harbour which is being improved, maintained or managed by a harbour authority in the exercise and performance of statutory powers and duties or in relation to two or more adjacent harbours each of which is being so improved, maintained or managed, be established by an order (in this Act referred to as a " control of movement order ") made by the Minister a scheme for securing, so far as is practicable, the safe and uninterrupted movement of ships in the harbour or harbours and the approaches thereto.

(2) A control of movement order shall not be made in relation to a harbour or harbours or the approaches thereto by the Minister except upon written application in that behalf made to him by the harbour authority or authorities by whom the harbour or harbours in question is or are being improved, maintained or managed.

(3) A control of movement order may contain provision for all or any of the following matters, that is to say.—

(a) constituting or specifying the body or bodies by whom the scheme established by the order is to be administered;

(b) designating, or providing for designating, areas, routes or channels within the harbour or harbours to which the said scheme relates and the approaches thereto which (subject to any directions to the contrary given under a provision of the order having effect by virtue of the next following paragraph) ships, or ships of a particular class or description, are to use, or refrain from using, for movement or anchoring at all times, at specified times or in specified circumstances ;

(c) empowering such person as may be specified in the order to give directions for securing that ships within the harbour or harbours to which the scheme relates or the approaches thereto move only at specified times or during specified periods and to or from specified places, through specified areas, along specified routes or through specified channels;

(d) empowering such person as may be specified in the order, in a case in which it appears to him expedient so to do by reason of restriction of visibility by the weather or by the presence of dust or smoke, to prohibit a ship from entering the harbour (or, as the case may be, both or one of the harbours) unless the ship is fitted with such equipment as may be so specified, being—

(i) radio navigational aids (as defined by section 36 of the Merchant Shipping (Safety Convention) Act 1949) of a kind conforming to requirements or standards laid down or recommended by or under any international convention to which the United Kingdom is a party or to standards that have been recommended by any international conference and to which Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom have signified their approval; or

(ii) apparatus of such a kind as aforesaid for transmitting information from the ship or receiving information transmitted thereto;

(e) specifying (unless the said scheme is expressed by the order to have effect at all times) the times at which, the periods during which and the circumstances in which it is to be put into effect;

(f) specifying the kind of equipment by means of which the said scheme is to be put into effect, and prohibiting the use of equipment as a means of putting the said scheme into effect unless it is of a type approved by the Minister;

(g) specifying the place at which the equipment by means of which the said scheme is to be put into effect is to be installed, if it is to be installed on land, or, if it is to be installed in a ship or vehicle, the place at which the ship or vehicle is to be moored or stationed ;

(h) prohibiting the use of equipment by means of which the said scheme is put into effect except by persons possessing such qualifications as may be specified in the order;

(i) providing (subject to subsection (4) below) for the punishment—

(i) of persons who fail to comply with directions given under a provision of the order having effect by virtue of paragraph (c) above; and

(ii) in the event of failures, in the case of ships, to comply with a provision of the order having effect by virtue of paragraph (b) above or of contraventions, in the case of ships, of prohibitions imposed under a provision of the order having effect by virtue of paragraph (d) above, of the masters of the ships;

by the infliction, upon their conviction, of such penalties as may be specified in the order;

(j) authorising—

(i) in a case where the said scheme relates to a single harbour, or to two or more harbours both, or all, of which are being improved, maintained or managed by one harbour authority, the authority by whom that harbour is, or those harbours are, being improved, maintained or managed ;

(ii) in a case where that scheme relates to two or more harbours both, or all, of which are not being improved, maintained or managed by one harbour authority, such of the harbour authorities who between them are engaged in improving, maintaining or managing the harbours as may be specified in the scheme;

to acquire compulsorily any land described in the order which is required as a site for any equipment by means of which that scheme will fall to be put into effect;

(k) making such provision as appears to the Minister requisite or expedient for rendering of full effect a provision of the scheme having effect by virtue of the last foregoing paragraph and any consequential or incidental provisions appearing to him to be requisite or expedient for the purposes of the scheme.

(4) The provisions of a control of movement order having effect by virtue of subsection (3)(i) above shall not be so framed as to permit—

(a) on summary conviction of a person of an offence consisting in a failure to comply with any such direction as is mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) thereof or on summary conviction of the master of a ship by reason of such a failure or contravention as is mentioned in sub-paragraph (ii) thereof, of the infliction on him of a penalty other than a fine or of the infliction on him of a fine exceeding £100 ;

(b) on conviction on indictment of a person of such an offence or of the master of a ship by reason of such a failure or contravention.—

(i) of the infliction on him of imprisonment, except in a case where the offence was committed recklessly or wilfully or, as the case may be, the failure or contravention was reckless or wilful; or

(ii) in the said excepted case, of the infliction on him of imprisonment (whether in addition to, or in substitution for, a fine) for a term exceeding six months.

(5) Where a control of movement order includes provision for the compulsory acquisition of land, there must, in the case of each parcel of land proposed to be acquired compulsorily, be annexed to the order a large-scale map on which the boundaries of that parcel are plainly delineated.

(6) Schedule 5 to this Act shall have effect with respect to the procedure for making control of movement orders.

(7) The power conferred by this section on the Minister to make a control of movement order shall include power by order to vary or revoke such an order upon an application's being made to him so to do by the harbour authority or authorities by whom the harbour or harbours to which the scheme established by the original order relates are being improved, maintained or managed; and Schedule 5 to this Act shall, with requisite modifications, have effect with respect to the procedure for making an order by virtue of this subsection as it has effect with respect to the procedure for making a control of movement order.

(8) The Minister shall not make an order under this section including provision authorising the compulsory acquisition of land unless it also includes provision for the payment of compensation in respect of the acquisition.

(9) References in this section to the master of a ship shall—

(a) except in the case of a seaplane or hover vehicle, be construed as including a reference to any other person (except a pilot) having command or charge of the ship ;

(b) in the said excepted case, be construed as referring to the person having command or charge of the seaplane or vehicle.