Merchant Shipping (Load Lines) Act, 1968
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Provisions as to inspection. |
18.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this section, a ship surveyor or engineer surveyor may inspect any ship to which this Act applies, not being a registered ship, while the ship is within any port in the State; and for the purposes of any such inspection any such surveyor shall have all the powers of an inspector under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894 . | |
(2) Any such surveyor may go on board any ship to which section 13 of this Act applies, while the ship is within any port in the State, for the purpose of demanding production of any International Load Line Certificate (1966) or Irish load line certificate for the time being in force in respect of the ship. | ||
(3) If on any such demand a valid Convention certificate is produced to the surveyor in respect of the ship, the powers of the surveyor under subsection (1) of this section shall be limited to seeing— | ||
(a) that the ship is not loaded beyond the limits allowed by the certificate; | ||
(b) that lines are marked on the ship in the positions of the load lines specified in the certificate; | ||
(c) that no material alterations have taken place in the hull or superstructures of the ship which affect the position in which any of those lines ought to be marked; and | ||
(d) that the fittings and appliances for the protection of openings, the guard rails, the freeing ports and the means of access to the crew's quarters have been maintained on the ship in as effective a condition as they were in when the certificate was issued. | ||
(4) If on an inspection of a ship under this section the ship is found to have been so materially altered in respect of the matters referred to in paragraph (c) or paragraph (d) of the last preceding subsection that the ship is manifestly unfit to proceed to sea without danger to human life, then— | ||
(a) if the ship is an Irish ship, she shall be deemed to be unsafe for the purposes of section 459 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894 , or | ||
(b) if the ship is a foreign ship, section 462 of that Act shall have effect in relation to the ship as if she were unsafe by reason of one of the matters specified in that section. | ||
(5) Where a ship is detained under the provisions of that Act as applied by the last preceding subsection, the Minister shall order the ship to be released as soon as he is satisfied that the ship is fit to proceed to sea without danger to human life. |