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To amend the Merchant Shipping Act, 1951, so as to amend a definition; to provide for insurance or other financial security in respect of loss of life and personal injury suffered by seamen; to delete or replace certain obsolete provisions and expressions; to make administrative changes in relation to certain shipping enquiries and the exercise of certain powers; to make mandatory the appointment of certain ship safety personnel; to amend the Ship Registration Act, 1998, so as to amend a definition; and for related matters.
Amendment of section 4 of Act 57 of 1951, as amended by section 2 of Act 42 of 1969 and section 2 of Act 5 of 1976 and substituted by section 60 of Act 58 of 1998 2. Section 4 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1951, is amended by the deletion of paragraph (c).
Repeal of section 5 of Act 57 of 1951, as substituted by section 5 of Act 30 of 1959 and amended by section 3 of Act 25 of 1985, section 3 of Act 23 of 1997 and section 2 of Act 5 of 1998 3. Section 5 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1951, is repealed.
[for the purpose of determining her tonnage] if a similar deduction in the case of a South African ship depends on compliance with any conditions or on the compliance being evidenced in any manner, 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] comply with those conditions and to be so evidenced.
Authority that the construction and equipment of the ship as respects the excluded space do not meet the standard which would be required if the ship were a South African ship.
by the substitution for subsections (3) and (4) of the following subsections.
STAATSKOERANT, 15 APRIL 2009 No. 32101 which would be [her] its tonnage if measured under this Act, or as to whether the construction and the equipment of any ship so registered as regards [the said] any excluded 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.
If from the report of a surveyor so directed to inspect a ship it appears to the Authority that the tonnage of [that] the ship, as so denoted, materially differs from that which would be [her] its tonnage if measured under this Act or that [her] its construction and equipment as regards [the said] any excluded 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 of the Ship Registration Act, 1998 (Act No. 58 of 1998), be surveyed in accordance with this Act.
by the substitution for subsection (1) of the following subsection: "(1) No vessel of less than three metres in length overall shall go to sea from any port in or from anywhere else on the coast of the Republic."
"(b) prescribe the purpose for and the area in which a vessel of less than three metres in length overall may be used; and".
n(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the owner and the master of every South African ship operating at a port in the Republic or going to sea from any port whatsoever shall ensure that there [is] are employed on board that ship in their appropriate capacities the number of officers and other persons, duly certificated or deemed to be certificated under this Act, as prescribed by regulation [or deemed to be so certificated].
n(1) When settlement of the wages of a seaman of a South African ship is required to be and is completed before a proper officer, the said seaman shall sign in the presence of the proper officer a release, in the prescribed form, of all claims in respect of the period of service concerned, The release shall also be signed by the proper officer and shall operate as a mutual discharge and settlement of all relative demands between the parties concerned, but shall not debar a claim under any law relating to [workmen's] compensation for occupational in'uries and diseases.
"Nothing in this section shall deprive any seaman of any compensation to which he may be entitled in terms of the [Workmen's Compensation Act, 1941 (Act No. 30 of 1941)] Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act, 1993 (Act No.
by the substitution for subsection (6) of the following subsection: "(6) A seaman shall not be entitled to receive any compensation under the [Workmen's Compensation Act, 1941 (Act No. 30 of 1941] Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act, 1993 (Act No. 130 of 1993), for temporary partial disablement or temporary total. disablement in respect of any period for which he has been paid wages in terms of this section; but his employer who has paid such wages to him for that period shall, if he has paid all assessments for the payment of which he is liable under that Act, be entitled to recover from the [accident fund established under that Act] Compensation Commissioner an amount equal to the compensation that would, but for the provisions of this section, have been payable to the seaman under that Act in respect of that period.".
(5) Nothing contained in this section shall deprive any person of any benefit to which he may be entitled under Chapter VII! of the [Workmen's Compensation Act, 1941 (Act No. 30 of 1941)] Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act, 1993 (Act No. 130 of 1993), and to which this section does not entitle him.
STAATSKOERANT, 15 APRIL 2009 No.
189A. (1) In this Chapter. unless the context indicates otherwise'accident' means· an accident, including exposure to the elements of nature.
a child under the age of 18 years of the seaman or of his or her spouse or permanent life partner, and includes a posthumous child.
el a child over the age of 18 years of the seaman or of his or her spouse or permanent life partner. and a parent or any person who was acting in the place of a parent. a brother. a sister. a half-brother or half-sister, a grandparent or a grandchild of the seaman.
and who was at the time of the seaman's death wholly or partly financially dependent on the seaman; 'relevant insurance certificate'!
a document that, under the regulations, is taken.
ships that are registered or licensed in the Republic.
To avoid doubt, the regulations may prescribe when a seaman shall be taken, for the purposes of subsection (1), to belong to a ship.
The owner of a ship shall lodge with the proper officer, in the prescribed manner and time, an authentic copy of each certificate issued in terms of subsection (1) in relation to the ship.
If a copy of a certificate is not lodged in accordance with subsection (2), the owner shall, in respect of each day on which the copy is not so lodged (including the day of a conviction in terms of this subsection or any subsequent day), be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding R1000.
If, otherwise than in circumstances to which subsection (1) or (2) applies, at any time a relevant insurance certificate is in force in relation to a ship and is not kept on board the ship, the master and the owner of the ship shall each be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years.
If the proper officer believes on reasonable grounds that the master or other person in charge of a ship is attempting to take the ship out of a port in the Republic at a time when the ship does not have on board a relevant insurance certificate that is in force in relation to the ship, the officer may detain the ship until such time as such a certificate is obtained or produced to the officer, as the case requires.
189F. (1) In this section 'relevant incident' means any occurrence in respect of which this Chapter reguires compensation to be paid but in respect of which compensation is not available.
If a relevant incident occurs in relation to a ship, the owner of the ship at the time of the incident Of, if the incident consists of a series of occurrences. at the time of the first occurrence shall be liable to pay to a seaman so much of any benefit that would have been payable to the seaman under an insurance or other financial security in terms of section 189C as remains unpaid because of the incident.
the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act, 1993 (Act No.
(el the Road Accident Fund Act. 1996 (Act No.
A person who has paid a benefit in terms of this Chapter may recover from any other person providing the same benefit under a law referred to in subsection (1) so much of the benefit as that other person WOUld, but for this section, have been liable to pay.
189H. (1) To avoid doubt. nothing in this Chapter affects any liability for damages in respect of loss of life or personal injury suffered by a seaman as a result of an accident.
However. in awarding damages a court shall take account of compensation paid in terms of this Chapter.
If loss of life or personal injury in respect of which compensation is payable in terms of this Chapter was caused in circumstances resulting in some person other than the owner of the ship concerned (in this section referred to as 'the third party') being liable for damages in respect of the loss of life or personal injury. the person liable to pay the compensation may bring an action against the third party for the recovery of any compensation payable in terms of this Chapter.
In an action referred to in subsection (1), the amount recoverable shall not exceed the amount of damages (if any) that in the opinion of the court would. but for section 189H(2), have been awarded to the seaman concerned.
189J. (1) Despite anything to the contrary in any law. compensation in terms of this Chapter.
189K. Any provision of an agreement existing at the commencement of this section or concluded thereafter in terms of which a seaman cedes or purports to cede or relinguishes or purports to relinquish any riqht to compensation in terms of this Chapter shall be void.
189L If a seaman has dependants, compensation in terms of this Chapter for loss of life shall not form part of the deceased seaman's estate.
189N. (1) If the owner of a ship makes arrangements to provide compensation for loss of life and personal injury that. in the opinion of the Authority, are not less favourable to seamen than that required by this Chapter, the Authority may, subject to such conditions as it may determine, approve the arrangements in writing.
The Authority may at any time in writing withdraw the approval or amend the conditions of an arrangement approved by it under subsection (1).
the arrangements established by the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act, 1993 (Act No.
any other arrangement, or class of arrangements, prescribed by regulation for the purposes of this subsection.
n(3) When any such information is provided concerning any ship, the owner of the ship shall send a copy thereof to the Authority: Provided that the owner shall not be required to send a copy of any information to the Authority if a copy of the same information has been previously sent to [him] the Authority.
"(2) Any person in charge of a radio station which is under the control of the [Postmaster-General] Independent Communications Authority of South Africa or which is carried on under licence issued by the [Postmaster-General] Independent Communications Authority of South Africa shall, on receiving the prescribed signal that a message is about to be sent under this section, refrain from sending messages for a time sufficient to allow other stations to receive the message, and shall transmit the message in such manner as may be required by the Authority. Compliance with this subsection shall be deemed to be a condition of every licence granted by the [Postmaster-General] Independent Communications Authority of South Africa under the [Radio Act, 1951 (Act No. 3 of 1952), or any amendment thereto] Telecommunications Act, 1996 (Act No. 103 of 1996).
Amendment of section 259 of Act 57 of 1951, as substituted by section 15 of Act 18 of 1992 and amended by section 10 of Act 23 of 1997 and section 60 of Act 58 of 1998 13. Section 259 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1951 , is amended(aJ by the substitution for the words following paragraph (f) of subsection (1) of the following words: "shall within 24 hours after the [ship has arrived in a port or, if the event occurred in a port, within 24 hours after the event occurred but before the ship departs from that port] occurrence of the event but before the ship departs from any port at which it happens to be within that period, report the event to the nearest proper officer in the form prescribed, stating the nature of the event and of the probable cause thereof, the name of the ship, her official number, the port to which she belongs, the place where the event occurred and the place where the ship then is, and giving all other available relevant information: Provided that any event resulting in loss of life or serious injury shall forthwith be so reported by the fastest means of communication available."
"(1A) (a) The duty to report an event referred in subsection (1)(e) extends to the employer of any stevedore, shore contractor or incidental person that was involved in the event."
'shore contractor' means a person temporarily employed to [effect] carry out general or specific repairs. alterations, renovations, improvements, painting, maintenance of vessel or machinery. tank or hatch cleaning.
(1A)] shall. subject to subsection (3), apply to every ship which is registered or licensed in the Republic or which is in terms of this Act required to be so licensed and to or in respect of or on board of which any such event as is referred to in [subsections] subsection (1) [and (1A)] has occurred anywhere, and 11 shall apply to a ship not registered or licensed in [a country other than] the Republic only while the ship is within the Republic or the territorial waters thereof and if any such event has occurred to or in respect of or on board of the ship during a voyage to a port in the Republic or within the Republic or the territorial waters thereof.
[her] its gross [register] tonnage.
ill in the case of al any other foreign ship, according to the law of the Republic, if capable of being so measured.
(6) If for any reason a majority of the members of the court (or, if the court consists of only two members, both members) are not agreed upon any matter of fact upon which a decision is necessary in order that the investigation may be completed, the presiding officer shall report that fact to the [Authority] Minister, and thereupon the Minister may refer the matter back to the court for reconsideration or may discharge the members of the court and, if he thinks fit, appoint another court of marine enquiry to hold the formal investigation.
U(3) If for any reason a majority of the members of the court (or, if the court consists of only two members, both members) are not agreed upon the question what the decision upon the appeal should be, the presiding officer shall report the fact to the [Authority] Minister, and thereupon the Minister may refer the appeal back to the court for reconsideration, or may discharge the members of the court and appoint another court of survey to hear the appeal.
to more experts than one. the [Authority] Minister shall appoint one of them as presiding officer, lI.
The presiding officer of a court of marine enquiry, maritime court of court of surveyor body of experts to whom an appeal has been referred under section [two hundred and eighty-two] 282, or, if an appeal has been referred to only one expert that expert shall, at the conclusion of the investigation or hearing transmit to the [Authority] Minister the notes of evidence and as many copies as the [Authority] Minister may require of the record of the proceedings and the report and decisions; and any member of the court or anyone of the experts who dissents from any decision may attach to the record his written reasons for so dissenting, and the presiding officer shall transmit such written reasons with the record.
''The [Authority] Minister may-"; and "on such conditions as to [it] the Minister appear proper: Provided that if the owner of any ship, share or goods referred to in paragraph (a) accepts such conditions he shall not thereafter be entitled to institute or maintain any action or other proceedings for damages on account of the detention, seizure or forfeiture.".
"(xliH) providing for the granting by the Minister or another specified person, on such terms (if any) as the Minister or other person may specify, of exemptions from specified provisions of the regulations for classes of cases or individual cases, and for the alteration or cancellation of exemptions so granted;".
Amendment of section 1 of Act 58 of 1998 23.
" 'small vessel' has the meaning it has in section 2(1) of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1951 ;".
This Act is called the Merchant Shipping and Ship Registration Amendment Act, 2009.