Acts Online
GT Shield

Merchant Shipping Act No., 1951 (Act No. 57 of 1951)

Chapter II : Recording, Registering and Licensing of Ships

18. Tonnage of ships of other countries

 

(1) Whenever the Minister is satisfied that provisions substantially the same as those of this Act relating to the measurement of the tonnage of ships are in force in any other country, he may by notice in the Gazette direct that ships registered in that country shall without being resurveyed in the Republic be presumed to be of the tonnage denoted in their certificates of registry or other national papers, in the same manner, to the same extent, and for the same purposes as the tonnage denoted in the certificate of registry of a South African ship is presumed to be the tonnage of that ship, and that the space shown by the certificate of registry or other national papers of any ship registered in such other country, as deducted from tonnage on account of being occupied by seafarers and appropriated to their use, shall for the purpose of determining her tonnage be presumed to have been certified by a surveyor under subsection (2) of section two hundred and sixty-two to comply with those of the provisions of this Act which apply to such a space in the case of a South African ship.

[Section 18 (1) substituted by section 29(f) of Act No. 12 of 2015]

 

(2) Whenever the Minister has given any such direction as is mentioned in subsection (1), the presumptions referred to shall apply in respect of any ship registered in the country to which the direction relates.

 

(3) If any question arises as to whether the tonnage of any ship registered in any country to which any such direction relates, as denoted in her certificate of registry or other national papers, materially differs from that which would be her tonnage if measured under this Act, or as to whether the construction and the equipment of any ship so registered as regards the said space do for the purpose of determining the tonnage of the ship conform to the standards required under this Act, the Authority may direct that a surveyor inspect the ship.

 

(4) If from the report of a surveyor so directed to inspect a ship it appears to the Authority that the tonnage of that ship, as so denoted, materially differs from that which would be her tonnage if measured under this Act or that her construction and equipment as regards the said space do not, for the purpose of determining her tonnage conform to the said standards, or if for any reason it appears to the Authority that the tonnage of any ship so registered has been erroneously computed, it may order that, notwithstanding any direction for the time being in force under this section, that ship or any ship registered in the country to which the direction relates shall, for all or any of the purposes of this Act or the Ship Registration Act, 1998, be surveyed in accordance with this Act.

[Section 18(4) substituted by item 6 (Schedule 2) of Act No. 58 of 1998]