Merchant Shipping (Load Lines) Act, 1968

Compliance with load line rules by registered ships.

4.—(1) Subject to any exemption conferred by or under this Act, a ship to which this Act applies, being a registered ship, shall not proceed or attempt to proceed to sea unless—

(a) the ship has been surveyed in accordance with the load line rules;

(b) the ship is marked with a deck-line and with load lines in accordance with those rules;

(c) the ship complies with the conditions of assignment; and

(d) the information required by those rules to be provided as mentioned in section 3 (4) of this Act is provided for the guidance of the master of the ship in the manner determined in accordance with the rules.

(2) If any ship proceeds or attempts to proceed to sea in contravention of the preceding subsection, the owner or master of the ship shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds and on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding two hundred pounds.

(3) Any ship which in contravention of subsection (1) of this section attempts to proceed to sea without being surveyed and marked as mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) of that subsection may be detained until she has been so surveyed and marked.

(4) Any such ship as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section which does not comply with the conditions of assignment shall be deemed to be unsafe for the purposes of section 459 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894 .