S.I. No. 508/2024 - Merchant Shipping (Load Lines) (Exemption) Order 2024

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 8th October, 2024.

I, EAMON RYAN, Minister for Transport, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 19 (2) of the Merchant Shipping (Load Lines) Act 1968 (No. 17 of 1968) (as adapted by the Transport, Tourism and Sport (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order 2020 ( S.I. No. 351 of 2020 )), and having regard to the International Convention on Load Lines signed in London on the 5th day of April 1966, as amended by the Protocol of 1988, hereby make the following order:

1. This Order may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Load Lines) (Exemption) Order 2024.

2. In this Order—

“Act” means the Merchant Shipping (Load Lines) Act 1968 (No. 17 of 1968);

“rescue boat” means a vessel maintained, and operating for the sole purpose of maritime search and rescue of persons or vessels in distress and being a declared asset to the Irish Coast Guard under the National Search and Rescue (SAR) Plan and operating pursuant to the Irish Coast Guard Rescue Boat Operational Guidelines 2024 made on 31 July 2024 and for the ‘public good’, either on a voluntary or professional basis or both, but not on a commercial basis and not engaging in trade, and being used for such purposes.

3. (1) The following ships and vessels under eighty tons register engaged solely in the coastal trade are exempt from the provisions of the Act while not carrying cargo, namely:

(a) tugs and salvage ships;

(b) ships engaged in the surveying of harbours or the approaches thereto;

(c) hopper barges and dredgers;

(d) ships which are pilot boats within the meaning of section 38 of the Pilotage Act 1913;

(e) subject to paragraph (2), ships in respect of which a passenger ship’s certificate or a passenger ship safety certificate has been issued for voyages solely within the State and which states the limits beyond which the passenger ship may not ply, provided it operates solely within those limits;

(f) subject to paragraph (2), vessels in respect of which passenger boat licences specifying the limits beyond which the vessel shall not ply are in force and which operate solely within those limits.

(2) Ships and vessels mentioned in subparagraphs (e) and (f) of paragraph (1) shall be exempt from the provisions of the Act while carrying cargo provided that the passenger ship certificate, passenger ship safety certificate or passenger boat licence has been issued on the basis of provisions which fully authorise the carriage of cargo and the exemption conferred by this paragraph shall be conditional on full compliance with these provisions.

4. Rescue boats are exempt from the provisions of the Act.

5. The following are revoked:

(a) the Merchant Shipping (Load Lines) (Exemption) Order 2002 (S. I. No. 416 of 2002);

(b) the Merchant Shipping (Load Lines) (Exemption) (Amendment) Order 2003 (S. I. No. 190 of 2003).

GIVEN under the Official Seal

3 October, 2024.

EAMON RYAN,

Minister for Transport.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation)

This Order exempts from the provisions of the Merchant Shipping (Load Lines) Act 1968 certain classes of vessels under 80 tons register engaged solely in the coastal trade. It retains the ships within the scope of the previous such Order, but also now includes an exemption for rescue boats which are declared assets of the Irish Coast Guard under the National Search and Rescue (SAR) Plan.