S.I. No. 273/2025 - Merchant Shipping (Light Dues) Order 2025

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 27th June, 2025.

I, DARRAGH O’BRIEN, Minster for Transport, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 2 of the Merchant Shipping (Light Dues) Act 1983 (No. 18 of 1983) hereby order as follows:

1. (1) This Order may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Light Dues) Order 2025.

(2) This Order shall be deemed to have come into operation on 1 April 2025.

2. Subject to Article 3, the Second Schedule to the Merchant Shipping (Mercantile Marine Fund) Act 1898 (1898, c.44) is amended by the substitution of the following for paragraph 1 of Part I:

“Payments per voyage

1. (1) A ship, other than if liable to periodical payments under paragraph 2, shall, subject to subparagraph (2), be liable to a charge for each voyage of 78 cent per ton, subject to a minimum charge of €75 or a maximum charge of €39,000 for the voyage.

(2) Where a ship has paid dues under subparagraph (1) in respect of a voyage it shall not be required to pay dues in respect of any subsequent voyage in any period of one month commencing with the last preceding relevant date.

(3) For the purpose of subparagraph (2) the relevant date (other than before 1 April 2025) means the date on which a ship arrives at a port or place on a voyage in respect of which light dues were paid or payable.

(4) In any year commencing on 1 April a ship shall not be required to make payments on account of light dues for more than 9 voyages in total in that year.

(5) A voyage of a ship shall be reckoned from port to port and a voyage which begins and ends at the same port without a call being made at any other port shall count as a single voyage.

(6) A dues payment on account of light dues made under subparagraph (1) in any year shall not entitle the ship to—

(a) any exemption from dues in accordance with subparagraph (2), or

(b) any limitation of liability for dues in accordance with subparagraph (4) beyond 30 April in the following year.”.

3. The amendment, by Article 2, of subparagraph (1) of paragraph 1 of Part 1 of the Second Schedule to the Merchant Shipping (Mercantile Marine Fund) Act 1898 (1898, c.44) shall only apply to a ship that arrives at a port or place on and from 1 July 2025 on a voyage in respect of which light dues were paid or are payable.

GIVEN under my Official Seal,

24 June, 2025.

DARRAGH O’BRIEN,

Minister for Transport.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

This Order increases the level of light dues levied on Merchant Shipping collected from vessels calling to ports within the State from 60 cent to 78 cent per ton from 1 July 2025 and increases the tonnage ceiling from 40,000 net registered tonnage (NRT) to 50,000 NRT. The maximum number of voyages for which dues may be levied remains at 9 voyages in any one year.