Section 374: Inspection and control of foreign ships belonging to countries to which Load Line

374. Inspection and control of foreign ships belonging to countries to which Load Line Convention applies.—(1) Any surveyor authorised in this behalf by the Federal Government may, at any reasonable time, go on board any ship other than a Pakistani ship carrying cargo or passengers and belonging to a country to which the Load Line Convention applies, when such ship is within any port or place in Pakistan, for the purpose of demanding the production of any load line certificate, or, as the case may be, international load line exemption certificate for the time being in force in respect of the ship: Provided that such ship is an existing ship of one hundred and fifty tons gross or more or a new ship of twenty-four meters or more in length. (2) If a valid international load line certificate is produced to the surveyor on such demand, the surveyor’s powers of inspecting the ship with respect to load line shall be limited to seeing— (a) that the ship is not loaded beyond the limits allowed by the certificate; (b) that the position of the load lines on the ship corresponds with the position specified in the certificate; (c) that no material alterations have taken place in the hull or superstructure of the ship which affect the position of the load lines; and (d) that the fittings and appliances for the protection of openings, the guard rails, the freeing ports and the means of access to the crews quarters have been maintained on the ship in as effective a condition as they were in when the certificate was issued. (3) If a valid international load line exemption certificate is produced to the surveyor on demand made under sub-section (1), the surveyor’s powers of inspecting the ship with respect to load lines shall be limited to seeing that the conditions stipulated in the certificate are complied with. (4) If it is found on any such inspection that the ship is loaded beyond the limits allowed by the certificate, the ship may be detained and the provisions of section 400 shall apply. (5) If it is found on any such inspection that the load lines on the ship are not in the position specified in the certificate, the ship may be detained until the matter has been rectified to the satisfaction of the surveyor. (6) If it is found on any such inspection that the ship has been so materially altered in respect of the matters referred to in clauses (c) and (d) of sub-section (2) or, as the case may be, sub-section (3) that the ship is manifestly unfit to proceed to sea without danger to human life, the ship shall be deemed to be unsafe for the purpose of section 400: Provided that where the ship has been detained, the Federal Government shall order the ship to be released as soon as it is satisfied that the ship is fit to proceed to sea without danger to human life. (7) If a valid international load line certificate or, as the case may be international load line exemption certificate is not produced to the surveyor on such demand as aforesaid the surveyor shall have the same power of inspecting the ship, for the purpose of seeing that the provisions of this Part relating to load lines have been complied with, as if the ship were a Pakistani ship. (8) For the purposes of this section, a ship shall be deemed to be loaded beyond the limits allowed by the certificate if she is so loaded as to submerge in salt water, when the ship has no list the appropriate load line on each side of the ship, that is to say, the load line appearing by the certificate to indicate the maximum depth to which the ship is for the time being entitled under the Load Line Convention to be loaded.

Effective date: 2001-01-01

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