Updated: 20 April 2007

Full texts are provided of the following Acts: Where indicated, the files are in .pdf format, for which Adobe Acrobat Reader is required. It can be freely downloaded here:

• The Merchant Shipping Act, 2003 (of Sierra Leone) *searchable  [No. 3 of 2003]
  Being an Act to consolidate with amendments the laws relating to the registration of ships, the regulation of shipping, the maintenance of safety at sea and the marine environment and to provide for other related matters. Repeals the Merchant Shipping (Fees) Act, the Unseaworthy Ships Act, the Shipping Casualties, Wrecks and Salvage Act, the Shipwrecked Passengers Act, the African Labourers (Employment at Sea) Act, the Carriage of Deck Passengers Act, 1961, the Carriage of Deck Passengers (Amendment) Act, 1962, the Waterways Act, 1964 and the Registration of Shipping Act, 1965. Modifies the Ports Act, 1964.
• Marine Pollution (Control and Civil Liability) Act 6 of 1981 (as amended)
• Shipping General Amendment Act, Act 23 of 1997 (on the Parliamentary website)
• The  Ship Registration Act, No 58 of 1998
• Extract from The Short-Term Insurance Act, No. 53 of 1998
• 27 July 1998: Merchant Shipping (ISM Code) Regulations, 1998 -- On July 1 the ISM Code came into partial effect. SA has prepared enabling legislation allowing for the application of the code in SA in respect of passenger ships, tankers and bulk carriers. The Merchant Shipping (ISM Code) Regulations, 1998, are expected to be signed into law by the Minister of Transport in a matter of days.
• Captain Phil Anderson has a dedicated website containing details of his doctoral research into the state of implementation of the ISM Code. The site contains questionaires which may be completed on-line and Capt. Anderson would be grateful for your participation in completing these. Capt. Anderson's paper "The ISM Code -- a Seafarer's Perspective" delivered at the LSLC Seminar in London on 17 January 2001 is on our site in .PDF format.
• The Admiralty Jurisdiction Regulation Act (Act 105 of 1983)
• The Admiralty Court Rules (in effect 19 May 1997)
• The Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (Act 1 of 1989) - Incorporating the Hague Visby Rules
• The Wreck & Salvage Act, 1996 (containing the text of the London Salvage Convention, 1989)
• Sec 261 of the Merchant Shipping Act (As amended by the Shipping General Amendment Act, 1997, incorporating the SDR tonnage limitation)

Shipping Law: Draft Legislation:
[See also under Marine Law Legislation]

Full texts are provided of the following draft bills. Where possible, comment on the draft is included:

• The (draft) Sea Transport Documentation & Title to Sue Act, 1997
• The (draft) Marine Insurance Act
• The (draft) amendments to sec 11 of the Admiralty Jurisdiction Regulation Act (to do with ranking)

Shipping Law: International Conventions & Instruments

• The Salvage Convention, 1989
• Transport Law: [Draft dated September 2005].  The full deliberations of the Working Group drafting the convention can be found here.  (go down to Document 56).
• The Hamburg Rules — courtesy UNCITRAL. [The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is the core legal body within the United Nations system in the field of international trade law. UNCITRAL was tasked by the General Assembly to further the progressive harmonization and unification of the law of international trade in various ways.]
• Hague Visby Rules

Shipping Law: Limitation Conventions

• 1957 International Convention Relating to the Limitation of the Liability of the Owners of Seagoing Ships
• Protocol Amending the International Convention Relating to the Limitation of the Liability of Owners of Sea-Going Ships, 1979
• Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims, 1976
• Convention Relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea, 1974 and Protocol Thereto

Shipping Law: Arrest Conventions

• The International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules relating to the Arrest of Sea-going Ships, Brussels, 1952
• The [draft] International Convention on the Arrest of Ships, 1999. 
  [Website note: The convention flows from a diplomatic conference organised by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Comite Maritime International (CMI). The 1999 Arrest Convention was signed at Geneva on 12 March 1999. It will come into effect 6 months after 10 states have ratified it.] 

Shipping Law: Foreign Legislation

British Shipping Legislation:

• The Admiralty Court Act, 1840
• The Admiralty Court Act,1861
• Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act, 1890
• The Marine Insurance Act, 1906

We have established links with other Internet sites where the texts of foreign legislation are given. Courtesy of those sites, the following links may be useful:

USA Shipping Legislation:

• US Code Title 46 - Shipping (Courtesy Cornell University)
• US Code Title 33 - Navigation & Navigable Waters (Courtesy Cornell University)
• Index of US Code Titles (ditto)

Legislation of Other Countries

• International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972 (Canadian regulations)
• Maritime Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China (in .PDF format, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader).