Load line rules in South AfricaThere have been a number of costly misinterpretations of the International LoadLine Rules experienced when ships call at South African ports

LP NewsAPRIL 2009

UK P&I CLUB

Samuel Plimsoll (1824 – 1898)During the 19th century, when British trade with therest of world was growing rapidly, the high loss of shipsbeing experienced annually as a result of poormaintenance and ‘overloading’ created a seriouscause for concern (during the period 1873/74 in excessof 400 ships sank around the British coast with the lossof some 500 lives). The condition of ships in someinstances gave rise to them being referred to as ‘coffinships’.

In 1835, Lloyd’s Register introduced rules regarding the

loading of ships in an attempt to reduce the losses, butthis only applied to those ships registered with them.Since there was no law or authority to control thequantity of cargo a certain type of ship could safelycarry, owners of ships not registered with Lloyd’s coulddo as they pleased, many having no regard for safety.This disregard for safety at sea created a problem forseamen. They were refusing to go to sea, and in 1855,a group of seafarers known as the ‘Seamen of GreatBritain’, wrote to Queen Victoria, protesting thatCourts were finding them guilty of desertion when theycomplained or refused to go to sea in these so called‘coffin ships’.

Various attempts over the years were made, similar tothat of Lloyd’s Register, to ensure that only safeamounts of cargo were loaded, but unfortunately therewas still no compulsory system to force shipowners toact on protecting their ships and lives at sea.

In 1870, Samuel Plimsoll MP and a coal merchant,commenced research into this situation, and althoughhe campaigned in Parliament to improve safety at sea,he was deferred several times until success in 1876when the Merchant Shipping Act made load linescompulsory. However, the position of the line was notfinalised by law until 1894.

In 1906, foreign ships were also required to carry a loadline if they visited British ports, and since then thismark on the side of the ship has been known in theUnited Kingdom as the ‘Plimsoll Line’. Together withother important changes with respect to ships andsafety, the load line assisted greatly in preserving thelives of ships’ crews and passengers.

The International Load Line Rules

In terms of these load line rules, ships are required toensure that the correct load line mark is displayed withrespect to her midship draught, appropriate to the loadline zone that she is sailing through. The chart on thenext page illustrates these zones.

Although the International Load Line Rules, as the titleimplies, are in force ‘internationally’, there have been anumber of misinterpretations of these rules experiencedwhen ships call at South African ports.

Many ship masters believe that it is permissible tosubmerge their vessel’s Load Line marks in salt water,provided they can show that the vessel’s displacementdoes not exceed that which is laid down on the vessel’sload line certificate. In other words, they believe thateven if the ship is ‘sagged’, provided that the loaddisplacement for the load line zone within which theship is operating, is not exceeded, then the vessel is notconsidered ‘overloaded’.

Section 214 of the South African Merchant ShippingAct 57 of 1951 (as amended), covers the overloading ofvessels registered in the Republic of South Africa,whilst Section 216 deals with the overloading of vesselsnot registered in the Republic. Section 220 applies tothe submersion of the load line on ships not registered inthe Republic and applies the provision of Section 214 tosuch ships.

In part Section 214 (1) [applicable to vessels registeredwithin the Republic] states that the master

“Shall not –

a) So load the ship; or

b) Suffer the ship to be so loaded; orAn example of the load line or ‘Plimsoll’ mark painted onthe side of merchant ship

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Summer freeboard

T

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TF Tropical fresh water

F Fresh water

T Tropical sea water

S Summer sea water

W Winter sea water

WNA Winter North Atlanticfor vessels <100m in length

LR Letters indicating the registrationauthority (here Lloyds Register)

Deck line

Africa is within the summer zone, these ships have toadhere to the International Load Line Regulations withrespect to that zone. Therefore, their summer mark hasto be visible subsequent to replenishment of bunkering,fresh water and stores at the time when she is deemedto be ready for departure, i.e. ‘at the time of calling forher departure pilot’.

Unfortunately, there are many cases where the sailingpilot has been ordered for departure and on boardingthe pilot has discovered that the summer mark hasbeen submerged. When this occurs, the pilot informsthe port control which in turn contacts the local safetyauthority, the South African Maritime Safety Authority

c) Bring the ship into any port in the Republic soloaded,

as to submerge in salt water, when the ship has no list,the load line on each side of the ship appropriate to thecircumstances then existing.”

In part Section 216 (which pertains to load lineconvention ships not registered in the Republic).Section 216 (6) states

“For the purposes of this section a ship shall bedeemed to be loaded beyond the limits allowed by thecertificate if she is so loaded as to submerge in saltwater when the ship has no list, the appropriate loadline on each side of the ship, that is to say, the load lineappearing by the certificate to indicate the maximumdepth to which the ship is for the time being entitledunder the Load Line Convention to be loaded.”

From the foregoing it may be seen that hogging orsagging is not taken into account. The vesselsappropriate load line mark shall not be submergedwhen the vessel is upright in salt water. Salt water isconsidered to have a specific gravity of 1.025.

South Africa is a popular location for vessels passingon their east-west trades whilst fully laden to replenishbunkers, fresh water and stores. Unfortunately, insome cases, these vessels arrive in a condition eitheron or near to their ‘summer mark’ and since South

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(SAMSA), who will then attend and conduct aninvestigation.

If a vessel is suspected of being overloaded, a SafetyAuthority surveyor will attend the vessel (in most cases,two surveyors will attend) and the following procedurewill be carried out:

1 The vessel’s load line certificate will be examinedand details of freeboard allowed, as well asallowance for fresh water, will be recorded.

2 The density of the water in which the ship is floatingwill be ascertained by drawing appropriate samplesand the utilization of a suitable hydrometer whichhas a valid certificate (temperature correction givenwith hydrometers is often so small as to beinsignificant in the calculation).

3 The vessels freeboard at the mid-length load linemarks will be measured by means of a steel ullagetape.

4 The dock water allowance will be calculated fromthe fresh water allowance shown on the load linecertificate using the dock water density obtained in2 above.

5 From the freeboard measurements (obtained fromeach side of the vessel at the load line or Plimsollmark) obtained and the dock water allowancecalculated, the vessels condition can readily beseen, i.e. whether she is overloaded or not.

6 If the vessel is overloaded, the vessel’s TPC isutilised to give an indication as to how much water,stores, ballast, bunkers or cargo will have to beremoved from the vessel. It should be noted thatobtaining this figure and accuracy of same is not theresponsibility of the Safety Authority surveyor butthat of the vessel’s master.

7 If the vessel is overloaded, the vessel will bedetained under Section 220 read with Section 214of the Merchant Shipping Act.

8 At some stage of the survey, the vessel’s load line orPlimsoll mark will be checked with the data reflectedon the load line certificate by measuring thefreeboard from the deck line to the summer mark.

If it is found that the vessel is overloaded, then the shipwill be detained until such time that the appropriateload line mark is no longer submerged in salt water.The decision as to what must be removed from thevessel remains that of the master. It is very seldom thatcargo is removed from a vessel. Normally, bunkers ordrinking water or ballast are discharged.

If overloaded, the vessel’s master will be invited by theSafety Authority surveyor to render his account ofevents as to how and why the overloading occurredand any mitigating circumstances. The master willprobably be charged under the Merchant Shipping Act.He will probably be given the option of appearing inCourt or if he so wishes, he may sign an admission ofcontravention. In the latter case, the vessel will berequired to lodge a deposit, the sum of which will takeinto account the severity of the offence and anymitigating circumstances. There is an appealprocedure whereby the deposit or part thereof may berefunded if the master or his representative submits aletter of successful mitigation.

When the vessel is no longer overloaded, appropriateremedial action having been taken, then the SafetyAuthority will (after the detention fee and contraventiondeposit have been paid) dispatch a Surveyor to checkthat the load line is no longer submerged in salt waterand if this is the case, the vessel will be released.

Obviously, when freeboard measurements and dockwater samples are being taken, the vessels master andofficers are invited to witness all readings obtained andto express their agreement or disagreement with same.In the event of a dispute, they are advised to call in anindependent surveyor to act on their behalf. In theevent that a large rise and fall of water is occurringover the marks, several readings will usually be takenand if there is doubt, then usually the ship will benefitfrom same.

Section 313(2) itemizes penalties applicable toSection 214(1):

“Fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding twoyears, and in addition, a fine of R4000 for every 25mmor fraction thereof by which the appropriate load lineon each side of the ship was submerged or would havebeen submerged if the ship had no list.”

Practicalities of lightening an ‘overloaded’vessel

In the majority of cases, the only remaining liquid onboard that the vessel can dispose of or ‘discharge’ inorder to lighten herself and bring the summer mark intoview, are the bunkers.

Vessels are designed to receive bunkers on board andtherefore, it is extremely difficult and time consuming toremove the bunkers and pump them ashore. Thebunker suppliers in South Africa are not in the businessof repurchasing bunkers after they have been sold via abroker. The only method of legally disposing of bunkersis to declare that they are ‘dirty oil / slops / sludge’ andto call in an independent contractor who is in thebusiness of removing slops and sludge oil from vessels.

UK P&I CLUBIS MANAGEDBY THOMASMILLER

For further information please contact:Loss Prevention Department, Thomas Miller P&I LtdTel: +44 20 7204 2307. Fax +44 20 7283 6517Email: lossprevention.ukclub@thomasmiller.com

This contractor will remove the bunkers from the vesselutilising their own pumps, if necessary, and roadtankers, however, although this is at no cost to theshipowner, the contractor will retain the bunkers aspayment for the service provided.

If bunkers are removed from the vessel, they aredisposed of at no cost and thus a loss is experienced bythe shipowner, who will be placed on notice by theowners of the bunkers, usually the charterers.

Overloading in South Africa is an extremely expensiveloss not only with respect to the detention fee andcontravention deposit but the loss of hire due to thedelay of the vessel in port and the loss of bunkers.

A method of dealing with the situationwithout having to remove bunkers

There have been occasions when bulk carriers, ladenwith certain bulk cargoes, i.e. heavy density cargoes,have called at Durban where the vessel arrives in a‘sagged’ condition and by shifting cargo from the mid-ship hold to the extremities, has resulted in the sagbeing removed and a slight ‘hog’ being created in orderto raise the midship summer mark to the waterline.

The method of shifting the cargo has been executed byutilising by vessel’s own cargo gear (ship’s cranes)

equipped with grabs and shifting the cargo out of themidship hold (i.e. hold No3 in a 5-hold Handymax bulkcarrier) to holds No2 and 4 and then, in turn, from holdNo2 to hold No1 and from hold No4 to hold No5.During this operation, the master is to ensure that astrict tally on grab loads transferred to the variouscompartments is kept in order to alter the cargodistribution on the stowage plan accordingly. The ‘newcondition’ of cargo stowage is then fed into the ship’sloading computer for the purpose of establishing thelongitudinal strength condition. It goes without sayingthat this procedure can only be carried out provided thelongitudinal strength (i.e. sheer force and bendingmoments) are within the seagoing allowableparameters.

During the shifting operation, it is recommended thatthe main engines are run on various occasions in orderto assist in altering the vessel’s longitudinal conditionand assist in changing the condition at midships.

SA Merchant Shipping Act 57 of 1951 (asamended)

In order to fully understand the ‘sections’ as quoted inthis article, please refer to the SA Merchant ShippingAct 57 of 1951 (as amended), which can be viewed onthe SAMSA website (www.samsa.org.za) under‘Legislation’.

This article has been prepared by Captain A R Brink ofA R Brink & Associates (www.arbrink.com) – the SouthAfrican correspondents to the UK P&I Club withassistance from SAMSA (The South African MaritimeSafety Authority) and an article on Samuel Plimsollfound (www.rhiw.com) as well as the chart of ‘loadline zones’ – Shipping Guides Ltd.