Merchant Shipping (Civil Liability and Compensation for Oil Pollution) Act 1998 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 2 · Liability for Oil Pollution
13. Compulsory insurance against liability for oil pollution
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Subsection (2) applies to any ship carrying in bulk as cargo more than 2,000 tons of oil.
The ship must not enter or leave any port in Singapore or enter or leave any offshore terminal in the territorial sea of Singapore and must not, if it is a Singapore ship, enter or leave any port in any other country or any offshore terminal in the territorial sea of any other country, unless there is in force a certificate complying with subsection (3) and showing that there is in force in respect of the ship a contract of insurance or other security satisfying the requirements of Article VII of the Liability Convention.
port
“port” has the meaning given by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore Act 1996;
The certificate must be —
if the ship is a Singapore ship — a certificate issued by the Director;
if the ship is registered in a Liability Convention country other than Singapore — a certificate issued by or under the authority of the government of that other Liability Convention country; and
if the ship is registered in a country which is not a Liability Convention country — a certificate issued by the Director or by or under the authority of the government of any Liability Convention country other than Singapore.
The Authority may, with the approval of the Minister, by regulations provide that certificates in respect of ships registered in any country or any specified country which is not a Liability Convention country are, in such circumstances as may be specified in the regulations, recognised for the purposes of subsection (3)(c) if the certificates are issued by or under the authority of the government of the country designated in the regulations in that behalf; and the country that may be so designated may be either or both of the following:
the country in which the ship is registered;
any country specified in the regulations for the purposes of this subsection.
Any certificate required by this section to be in force in respect of a ship must be carried in the ship and must, on demand, be produced by the master to any officer of the Authority and, if the ship is a Singapore ship, to any consular officer within the meaning of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995.
master
“master” includes every person, except a pilot, having command or charge of a ship;
If a ship enters or leaves, or attempts to enter or leave a port or the territorial sea in contravention of subsection (2), the master or the owner of the ship shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1 million.
owner
“owner”, in relation to a ship, means the person registered as the owner of the ship, or, in the absence of registration, the person owning the ship, except that, in relation to a ship owned by a State which is operated by a person registered in that State as the ship’s operator, it means the person registered as its operator;
If a ship fails to carry, or the master of a ship fails to produce, a certificate as required under subsection (5), the master of the ship shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $20,000.
If a ship attempts to leave a port in, or the territorial sea of, Singapore in contravention of this section, the ship may be detained by the Director or the officers of the Authority or any police officer or any commissioned officer on full pay in the Singapore Armed Forces.
Director
“Director” means the Director of Marine appointed under section 4 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 and includes the Deputy Director of Marine appointed under that section;
Section 209 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 applies, with the necessary modifications, to the detention of a ship under this Act.
In subsection (2), “offshore terminal” has the meaning given by the Liability Convention.
Liability Convention
“Liability Convention” means the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage 1992;