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Merchant Shipping Act, 1951 (Act No. 57 of 1951)

Regulations

Merchant Shipping (Safe Manning, Training and Certification) Regulations, 2013

Annexes

Annex 1 : Watchkeeping Principles and Arrangements for Ships other than Fishing Vessels

Part 3 : Watchkeeping at sea

Division 1 - Principles applying to watchkeeping generally

 

1 General

 

(1) Owners, masters, chief engineer officers and watchkeeping personnel shall observe the following principles to ensure that safe watches are maintained at all times.

 

(2) The master of every ship shall ensure that watchkeeping arrangements are adequate for maintaining a safe navigational watch. Under the master's general direction, the officers of the navigational watch are responsible for navigating the ship safely during their periods of duty, when they will be particularly concerned with avoiding collision and stranding.

 

(3) The chief engineer officer of every ship shall, in consultation with the master, ensure that watchkeeping arrangements are adequate to maintain a safe engineering  watch.

 

2 Protection of marine environment

 

The master, officers and ratings shall be aware of the serious effects of operational and accidental pollution of the marine environment and shall take all possible precautions to prevent such pollution, particularly within the framework of relevant international and national regulations.