S.I. No. 208/1968 - Merchant Shipping (Load Lines) (Length of Ship) Regulations, 1968.

S.I. No. 208 of 1968.

MERCHANT SHIPPING (LOAD LINES) (LENGTH OF SHIP) REGULATIONS, 1968.

I, ERSKINE H. CHILDERS, Minister for Transport and Power, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 1 (6) of the Merchant Shipping (Load Lines) Act, 1968 (No. 17 of 1968), hereby make the following regulations:—

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Load Lines) (Length of Ship) Regulations, 1968.

(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on the 4th day of October, 1968.

2. (1) In these Regulations—

"the Act" means the Merchant Shipping (Load Lines) Act, 1968 (No. 17 of 1968);

"moulded depth" means in relation to a ship the vertical distance measured from the top of the keel to the top of the freeboard deck beam at side: Provided that—

(a) in the case of a wood or composite ship, it shall be measured from the lower edge of the keel rabbet,

(b) in case the form at the lower part of the midship section of the ship is of a hollow character, or in case thick garboards are fitted, it shall be measured from the point where the line of the flat of the bottom continued inwards cuts and side of the keel,

(c) in the case of a ship having rounded gunwales, it shall be measured to the point of intersection of the molded lines of the deck and side shell plating, the lines extending as though the gunwale were of angular design, and

(d) in case the freeboard deck is stepped and the raised part of the deck extends over the point at which the moulded depth is to be determined, it shall be measured to a line of reference extending from the lower part of the deck along a line parallel to the raised part of the deck;

the expression "freeboard deck" having for the purposes of this definition the meaning assigned to it by the Merchant Shipping (Load Line) Rules, 1968 ( S.I. No. 205 of 1968 );

"rake of keel" means the inclination of the keel to a horizontal baseline.

3. (1) For the purposes of the Act the length of a ship shall be the greater of the following distances :—

(a) the distance between the fore side of the stem and the axis of the rudder stock; or

(b) a distance measured from the fore side of the stem, being 96 per cent of the distance between that point and the aft side of the stern,

the said points and measurements being taken respectively at and along the waterline defined in the following paragraph.

(2) The waterline referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be at 85 per cent of the least moulded depth of the ship. In the case of a ship having a rake of keel the waterline shall be parallel to the designed waterline.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 30th day of September, 1968.

ERSKINE H. CHILDERS,

Minister for Transport and Power.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations set out the method of determining the length of a ship for the purposes of the Merchant Shipping (Load Lines) Act, 1968 .