Merchant Shipping Act · 1985 Revised Edition · Part V · Safety
231. Submersion of load lines
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Where a Singapore ship is marked with load lines in accordance with the regulations made under section 236, the ship shall not be so loaded that —
if the ship is in salt water and has no list, the appropriate load line on each side of the ship is submerged; or
in any other case, the appropriate load line on each side of the ship would be submerged if the ship were in salt water and had no list.
If any ship is loaded in contravention of subsection (1), the owner or master of the ship shall, subject to subsection (5), be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction —
ship
“ship” includes every description of vessel used in navigation not propelled by oars;
to a fine not exceeding $2,000; and
to such additional fine, not exceeding an amount calculated in accordance with subsection (3), as the court thinks fit to impose, having regard to the extent to which the earning capacity of the ship was increased by reason of the contravention.
Any additional fine imposed under subsection (2)(b) shall not exceed $2,000 for every 25 millimetres, and for any part of 25 millimetres over and above 25 millimetres or a complete multiple of 25 millimetres, by which —
in a case falling within subsection (1)(a), the appropriate load line on each side of the ship was submerged; or
in a case falling within subsection (1)(b), the appropriate load line on each side of the ship would have been submerged as therein mentioned,and, if the amount by which that load line was or would have been submerged was less than 25 millimetres, any such additional fine shall not exceed $2,000.
If the master of a ship takes the ship to sea when she is loaded in contravention of subsection (1), or if any other person, having reason to believe that the ship is so loaded, sends or is a party to sending her to sea, then, without prejudice to any fine to which he may be liable in respect of any offence under subsection (2), he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000.
master
“master” includes every person, except a pilot, having command or charge of any ship;
Where a person is charged with an offence under subsection (2), it shall be a defence to prove that the contravention was due solely to deviation or delay and that the deviation or delay was caused solely by stress of weather or other circumstances which neither the master nor the owner nor the charterer, if any, could have prevented or forestalled.
owner
“owner”, used in relation to goods, means every person who is for the time being entitled, either as owner or agent for the owner, to the possession of the goods, subject in the case of a lien, if any, to that lien;
Without prejudice to any proceedings under subsections (2) to (5), any ship which is loaded in contravention of subsection (1) may be detained by the Director until that ship ceases to be so loaded.
Director
“Director” means the Director of Marine appointed under section 6 and includes the Deputy Director of Marine appointed under that section;
For the purposes of the application of this section to a ship in any circumstances prescribed by regulations made under section 236, “the appropriate load line” means the load line which, in accordance with those regulations, indicates the maximum depth to which the ship may be loaded in salt water in those circumstances.[251