### Merchant Shipping (Safety) Ordinance 《商船(安全)條例》

39. Director may refuse clearance of ship carrying excess passengers
(1) The master of every ship shall, on application to the Director for a port clearance, state the number of passengers he proposes to carry on the voyage; and if such number is in excess of the number allowed by the passenger certificate or exceeds 12 in the case of a ship which is not provided with a passenger certificate, the Director may refuse clearance.
(2) Any master of a ship who—
(a) in an application under subsection (1) for a port clearance intentionally misrepresents the number of passengers proposed to be carried; or
(b) leaves or attempts to leave any port in Hong Kong without a clearance,
commits an offence and is liable to a fine at level 4 and to imprisonment for 6 months. (Amended E.R. 5 of 2021)
(3) The master of any ship who, after having obtained a port clearance, leaves or attempts to leave the waters of Hong Kong with any number of passengers greater than that allowed by the clearance commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for 6 months and to a fine of $10,000 and an additional fine of $5,000 in respect of each passenger in excess of the number permitted by the clearance.
(4) Whenever the master of a ship is guilty of an offence under subsection (3), the owner and agent (if any) of the ship shall each be guilty of the same offence and shall each be liable to the same penalty as is prescribed for that offence, unless he proves that—
(a) the passengers involved in the offence were shipped without his knowledge or consent; and
(b) he derived no profit, benefit or advantage from the shipping of the passengers.
(5) The Director may refuse a clearance to any ship carrying more than 12 passengers, except on the production of the passenger certificate, being a certificate in force and applicable to the voyage on which the ship is about to proceed; and he may detain such ship until such certificate is produced.
(6) The Director may by order prohibit the conveyance of deck passengers by any ship.

40. Prohibition on increasing weight on safety valve
Any person who places an undue weight on the safety valve of any steamship or increases the weight on such safety valve beyond the limits fixed by a Government surveyor commits an offence and is liable to a fine at level 5 and to imprisonment for 2 years.
(Amended E.R. 5 of 2021)

### Merchant Shipping (Safety) Ordinance 《商船(安全)條例》

41. Signalling lamps
(1) No ship registered in Hong Kong, being a ship over 150 tons gross tonnage, shall proceed to sea on an international voyage unless the ship is provided with an efficient signalling lamp.
(2) If any ship proceeds or attempts to proceed to sea in contravention of this section, the owner or master thereof commits an offence and is liable to a fine at level 1. (Amended E.R. 5 of 2021)

42. Anchors and cables
(1) No ship registered in Hong Kong shall have on board as part of its equipment an anchor or cable unless—
(a) the anchor or cable has been marked, and a certificate in respect of it has been issued, in accordance with the regulations made under section 103; or
(b) the anchor or cable is one to which those regulations do not apply by virtue of any regulation made under paragraph (e) of section 103(1).
(2) If subsection (1) is contravened in respect of any ship the owner or master of the ship commits an offence and is liable to a fine at level 2. (Amended E.R. 5 of 2021)
(3) If any person applies to any anchor or cable which has not passed the tests prescribed by regulations made under section 103 any mark prescribed by those regulations for denoting that it has passed those tests, or any other mark calculated to suggest that it has passed those tests, he commits an offence and is liable to a fine at level 2. (Amended E.R. 5 of 2021)
(4) In this section, anchor (錨) and cable (錨鏈) have the meanings assigned to them by section 103(2).

43. Duties of owners and masters as to carrying life-saving appliances and fire-fighting appliances
It shall be the duty of the owner and master of every ship registered in Hong Kong to ensure that such ship is provided with such life-saving appliances and fire-fighting appliances as may be prescribed by the life-saving appliances regulations and the fire-fighting appliances regulations.

### Merchant Shipping (Safety) Ordinance 《商船(安全)條例》

44. Penalty for breach of life-saving appliances regulations and fire-fighting appliances regulations
In the case of any ship—
(a) if the ship is required to be provided with life-saving appliances or fire-fighting appliances and proceeds on any voyage without being so provided in the manner prescribed;
(b) if any of the appliances with which the ship is so provided are lost or rendered unfit for service in the course of the voyage through the wilful fault or negligence of the owner or master;
(c) if the master wilfully neglects to replace or repair, on the first opportunity, any such appliance lost or damaged in the course of the voyage;
(d) if such appliances are not kept so as to be at all times fit and ready for use; or
(e) if any provision of the life-saving appliances regulations or the fire-fighting appliances regulations is contravened or not complied with,
then the owner of the ship (if at fault) commits an offence and is liable to a fine at level 5 and to imprisonment for 2 years and the master of the ship (if at fault) commits an offence and is liable to a fine at level 3 and to imprisonment for 6 months.
(Amended E.R. 5 of 2021)

### Merchant Shipping (Safety) Ordinance 《商船(安全)條例》

45. Entry in log-book of boat-drill
(1) The master of every ship to which this section applies shall enter in the official log-book a statement, or, if there is no official log-book, keep some other record, of every occasion on which boat-drill or fire-drill is practised on board ship, or on which the appliances and equipment required to be carried by virtue of the life-saving appliances regulations and the fire-fighting appliances regulations are examined to see whether they are fit and ready for use and of the result of any such examination; and if—
(a) in the case of a passenger ship, boat-drill or fire-drill is not practised on board the ship in any week;
(b) in the case of any other ship, boat-drill or fire-drill is not practised on board ship in any month;
(c) in the case of any ship, the appliances and equipment are not examined in any such period as may be prescribed,
the master shall enter a statement or keep some other record of the reasons why the drill was not practised or the appliances and equipment were not examined in that week, month or period.
(2) The master shall, if so required by an officer of the Marine Department, produce for inspection any such entry or record.
(3) If a master fails to comply with any requirement of this section, he commits an offence and is liable to a fine at level 2. (Amended E.R. 5 of 2021)
(4) Subject to section 46, this section applies to—
(a) any ship registered in Hong Kong; and
(b) other ships while they are within the waters of Hong Kong.

46. Application to ships not registered in Hong Kong
(Amended 10 of 2009 s. 13)Sections 43 and 44 shall apply to all ships not registered in Hong Kong while within the waters of Hong Kong to the same extent as they apply to ships registered in Hong Kong:

Provided that such sections and section 45 shall not apply—
(a) to any Convention ship which carries an accepted Convention certificate; or
(b) by reason of a ship not registered in Hong Kong being within the waters of Hong Kong, to the ship if it would not have been within such waters but for stress of weather or any other circumstance that neither the master nor the owner of the ship could have prevented or forestalled.
(Amended 23 of 1998 s. 2)