Cap. 234 Art. 81Tonnage regulations. 

(1) The tonnage of any ship to be registered under this Act shall be ascertained in accordance with regulations made by the

Minister, and those regulations shall be taken to be the provisions referred to in this Act as the tonnage regulations of this Act.

(2) Regulations under this article may -

(a) make different provision for different description of ships or for the same description of ships in different circumstances;

(b) make any provision thereof dependant on compliance with such conditions, to be evidenced in such manner, as may be specified in the regulations;

(c) prohibit or restrict the carriage of goods or stores in spaces not included in the registered tonnage of a ship and may provide for making the master and owner or bareboat charterer each liable to a fine (multa) not exceeding one hundred units where such a prohibition or restriction is contravened.

(3) Regulations under this article may make provision for assigning to a ship, either instead of or as an alternative to the tonnage ascertained in accordance with the other provisions of the regulations, a lower tonnage applicable where the ship is not loaded to the full depth to which she can be safely loaded, and for indicating on the ship, by such mark as may be specified in the regulations, that such a lower tonnage has been assigned to her and, where it has been assigned to her as an alternative, the depth to which the ship may be loaded for the lower tonnage to be applicable.

(4) Regulations under this article may provide for the issue of documents certifying the registered tonnage of any ship or the tonnage which is to be taken for any purpose specified in the regulations as the tonnage of a ship not registered in Malta.

(5) Where regulations under this article are amended, such regulations may make provision for the alteration of the particulars relating to the registered tonnage of any ship registered before the coming into operation of the amendment.

(6) Regulations under this article may prescribe the fees to be paid in respect of the measurement of a ship’s tonnage.