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

48. Compliance with load line regulations
(1) Subject to any exemption conferred by or under this Ordinance, no ship registered in Hong Kong shall proceed or attempt to proceed to sea unless—
(a) the ship has been surveyed in accordance with the load line regulations;
(b) the ship is marked with a deck-line and with load lines in accordance with those regulations;
(c) the ship complies with the condition of assignment; and
(d) the information required by those regulations to be provided for the guidance of the master of the ship has been so provided.
(2) If any ship proceeds or attempts to proceed to sea in contravention of subsection (1), the owner or master of the ship commits an offence and is liable to a fine at level 3. (Amended E.R. 5 of 2021)
(3) Any ship which in contravention of subsection (1) attempts to proceed to sea without being surveyed and marked as mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) of that subsection may be detained until it has been so surveyed and marked.
(4) Any such ship as is mentioned in subsection (1) which does not comply with the conditions of assignment shall be deemed to be unsafe for the purposes of section 67.

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

50. Miscellaneous offences in relation to marks
Where a ship registered in Hong Kong is marked in accordance with any requirements as to marking imposed by or under this Part, then if—
(a) the owner or master of the ship fails without reasonable cause to keep the ship so marked; or
(b) any person conceals, removes, alters, defaces or obliterates, or causes or permits any person under his control to conceal, remove, alter, deface or obliterate, any mark with which the ship is so marked, except where he does so under the authority of a person empowered under the load line regulations to authorize him in that behalf,
he commits an offence and is liable to a fine at level 3.
(Amended E.R. 5 of 2021)

51. Issue or endorsement of load line certificate
(Amended 10 of 2009 s. 15)(1) Where a ship registered in Hong Kong has been surveyed and marked in accordance with the load line regulations, an International Load Line Certificate shall be issued to the owner, agent or master of the ship on his application.
(2) Subject to subsection (3), any certificate required by subsection (1) of this section to be issued—
(a) shall be issued by the Director or by a person authorized by the Director; and (Amended 56 of 1990 s. 4)
(b) shall be in such form, and shall be issued in such manner, as may be prescribed by the load line regulations.
(3) The Director may request the government of a Convention country to cause a ship registered in Hong Kong to which this Part applies to be surveyed and to—
(a) issue or authorize the issue of, in respect of the ship, an International Load Line Certificate; or
(b) where appropriate, endorse or authorize the endorsement of the International Load Line Certificate issued in respect of the ship in accordance with the Convention of 1966. (Replaced 10 of 2009 s. 15)
(4) A certificate issued pursuant to a request under subsection (3) and containing a statement that it has been so issued has effect for the purposes of this Part as if the certificate had been issued by the Director. (Added 10 of 2009 s. 15)
(5) For the purposes of this Part, an endorsement made on the certificate by the government of a Convention country on behalf of the Director in conformity with the Convention of 1966 has the same effect as an endorsement made by the Director under this Part. (Added 10 of 2009 s. 15)
(Amended 6 of 2000 s. 13)

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

52. Effect of load line certificate
Where a certificate, issued in pursuance of section 51 and for the time being in force, is produced in respect of the ship to which the certificate relates—
(a) the ship shall be deemed to have been surveyed in accordance with the load line regulations; and
(b) if lines are marked on the ship corresponding in number and description to the deck-line and load lines as required by the load line regulations, and the positions of those lines so marked correspond to the positions of the deck-line and load lines as specified in the certificate, the ship shall be deemed to be marked as required by those regulations.

53. Endorsement of load line certificates
While any certificate issued under section 51 is in force in respect of a ship, there shall be endorsed on the certificate such information relating to—
(a) periodical inspections of the ship in accordance with the load line regulations; and
(b) any extension of the period for which the certificate was issued,
as may be prescribed by the regulations.

54. Ship not to proceed to sea without load line certificate
(1) Subject to any exemption conferred by or under this Part, no ship registered in Hong Kong shall proceed or attempt to proceed to sea unless an International Load Line Certificate is in force in respect of the ship. (Amended 6 of 2000 s. 14)
(2) Before any such ship proceeds to sea, the master of the ship shall produce the certificate to the Director; and a clearance shall not be granted, and the ship may be detained, until the certificate is so produced.
(3) If any ship proceeds or attempts to proceed to sea in contravention of this section, the master of the ship commits an offence and is liable to a fine at level 3. (Amended E.R. 5 of 2021)

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

55. Availability of load line certificate and entry of particulars in official log-book
(Amended 10 of 2009 s. 16)(1) Where a certificate is issued in respect of a ship under section 51—
(a) the owner or master of the ship shall ensure that the certificate is kept readily available on board the ship, so long as the certificate remains in force and the ship is in use, for inspection at all reasonable times by— 
(i) when the ship is in Hong Kong, a Government surveyor; or
(ii) when the ship is in a port in a Convention country, any person duly authorized for that purpose by the government of that Convention country; and (Replaced 10 of 2009 s. 16)
(b) the master of the ship, before making any other entry in any official log-book relating to the ship, shall enter in it the particulars as to the positions of the deck-line and the load lines which are specified in the certificate.
(2) Before any ship registered in Hong Kong leaves any dock, wharf, harbour or other place for the purpose of proceeding to sea, the master of the ship—
(a) shall enter in the official log-book such particulars relating to the depth to which the ship is for the time being loaded as may be prescribed by the load line regulations;
(b) shall cause a notice, in such form and containing such of those particulars as may be specified in the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph, to be posted up in some conspicuous place on board the ship,
and, where such a notice has been posted up, the master of the ship shall cause it to be kept so posted up and legible until the ship arrives at some other dock, wharf, harbour or place.
(3) If the owner or master of a ship fails to comply with any requirement imposed on him by this section, he commits an offence and is liable to a fine at level 1. (Amended E.R. 5 of 2021)

56. Inspection of ships
(1) A Government surveyor may inspect any ship registered in Hong Kong, for the purpose of seeing that the provisions of this Part have been complied with in respect of the ship.
(2) For the purposes of any such inspection any such surveyor shall have all the powers conferred by section 115.