Merchant Shipping (Safety and Load Line Conventions) Act 1932

CHAPTER II CONSTRUCTION.

ARTICLE 4. Application.

1 This Chapter, except where it is otherwise expressly provided, applies to new passenger ships engaged on international voyages.

2 A new passenger ship is a ship the keel of which is laid on or after the 1st July, 1931, or a ship which is converted to passenger service on or after that date, all other passenger ships being described as existing passenger ships.

3 Each Administration may, if it considers that the route and the conditions of the voyage are such as to render the application of the requirements of this Chapter unreasonable or unnecessary, exempt from the requirements of this Chapter individual ships or classes of ships belonging to its country which, in the course of their voyage, do not proceed more than 20 miles from the nearest land.

4 In the case of a passenger ship which, in the course of its voyage, does not proceed more than 200 miles from the nearest land, the Administration of the country to which the ship belongs may allow relaxations from such of the requirements of Regulations IX, X, XV and XIX as may be proved to the satisfaction of the Administration to be neither reasonable nor practicable.

5 In the case of existing passenger ships engaged on international voyages which do not already comply with the provisions of this Chapter relating to new passenger ships, the arrangements on each ship shall be considered by the Administration of the country to which the ship belongs, with a view to improvements being made to provide increased safety where practicable and reasonable.

6 In the case of passenger ships engaged on international voyages which are employed in the carriage of large numbers of unborthed passengers in special trades, such, for example, as the pilgrim trade, an Administration, if satisfied that it is impracticable to enforce compliance with the requirements of this Chapter, may exempt such ships, when they belong to its country, from those requirements on the following conditions:—

(a) That the fullest provision which the circumstances of the trade will permit shall be made in the matter of construction:

(b) That steps shall be taken to formulate general rules which shall be applicable to the particular circumstances of these trades. Such rules shall be formulated in concert with such other Contracting Governments, if any, as may be directly interested in the carriage of such passengers.

7 This Chapter does not apply to ships which are not mechanically propelled or to wooden ships of primitive build, such as dhows, junks, &c.

ARTICLE 5 Watertight Subdivision of Ships.

1 Ships shall be as efficiently subdivided as is possible having regard to the nature of the service for which they are intended. The requirements respecting subdivision are given in the following Articles and in the Regulations.

2 The degree of subdivision provided for by these requirements varies with the length of the ship and with the service, in such manner that the highest degree of subdivision corresponds with the ships of greatest length primarily engaged in the carriage of passengers.

3 Regulations I to V indicate the method to be followed in order to determine the degree of subdivision applicable to a ship.

4 In order that the required degree of subdivision shall be maintained, a loadline corresponding to the approved subdivision draft shall be assigned and marked on the ship's sides. A ship having spaces which are specially adapted for the accommodation of passengers and the carriage of cargo alternatively may, if the owners desire, have one or more additional loadlines assigned and marked to correspond with the subdivision drafts which the Administration may approve for the alternative service conditions. The freeboard corresponding to each approved subdivision loadline, and the conditions of service for which it is approved, shall be clearly indicated on the Safety Certificate. Subdivision loadlines shall be marked and recorded in the manner provided in Regulation VII.

ARTICLE 6 Peak and Machinery Space Bulkheads, Shaft Tunnels, &c.

All ships shall be fitted with watertight forward and after peak bulkheads and with watertight bulkheads at the extremities of the machinery space, and, in screw ships, with watertight shaft tunnels or equivalent subdivision in accordance with the provisions of Regulation VI.

ARTICLE 7 Construction, Testing, &c.

Regulations VHI to XIII and XV to XXI prescribe rules for—

(a) the construction and testing of subdivision bulkheads, inner bottoms, watertight decks, trunks, ventilators, fire-resisting bulkheads, &c.;

(b) the conditions governing openings in bulkheads, in the ship's sides and in the weather deck, and the character and use of means which shall be provided for closing these openings;

(c) the tests and the periodical inspections and operation of the means of closing openings in bulkheads and in the ship's side;

(d) exits from watertight compartments;

(e) pumping arrangements; and

(f) power for going astern and auxiliary steering apparatus.

ARTICLE 8 Stability Test.

Every new passenger ship shall be inclined upon its completion and the elements of its stability determined. The operating personnel shall be supplied with such information on this subject as is necessary to permit efficient handling of the ship.

ARTICLE 9 Entries in the Official Log Book.

A record of the closing and opening of watertight doors, &c, and of all inspections and drills, shall be entered in the official log book as required by Regulation XIV.

ARTICLE 10 Initial and Subsequent Surveys of Ships.

The general principles which shall govern the survey of ships, whether new or existing, as regards hull, main and auxiliary boilers and machinery, and equipments, are stated in Regulation XXII. Each Contracting Government undertakes—

(1) to draw up detailed regulations in accordance with these general principles, or to bring its existing regulations into agreement with these principles;

(2) to secure that these regulations shall be enforced.

The detailed regulations referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be in all respects such as to secure that, from the point of view of safety of life, the ship is fit for the service for which it is intended.