Merchant Shipping Act
Labor Rules, Offenses, & Infractions
What labor laws apply to fishing workers on ships carrying a national flag?
Parts IX-X
Vessel Registration & License Management
What is the applicable law/regulation for the registration of ships, and does the fisheries legislation have any relevant provisions for registration such as pre-approval?
Article 11
(1) Where a ship which is owned wholly by persons qualified to own a registered Nigerian ship is not recognised as a Nigerian ship under this Act, the ship shall not be entitled to- (a) any benefits, privileges, advantages or protection that are usually enjoyed by Nigerian ships; or (b) use the national colours or assume the national character of Nigeria.
(2) The payment of dues, the liability to fines and forfeiture and the punishment of offenses committed on board the ship or by any person belonging to the ship, shall be dealt with in the same manner in all respects as if the ship was registered in Nigeria and recognised as a Nigerian ship.
Article 13
(1) Every ship shall be registered by name in the register and accordingly, no two or more ships shall bear the same name. (2) The Registrar may refuse to register a ship by a name proposed for registration if the name is already the name of a Nigerian ship or a name calculated to deceive or to offend the public interest. (3) A Nigerian ship shall not be described by any name other than that by which the ship is for the time being registered. (4) Where a foreign ship, not having at any previous time been registered in Nigeria, becomes the property of persons qualified to own a registered Nigerian ship, no person shall apply to register that ship at a port of registry in Nigeria except by the name which
the ship bore as a foreign ship immediately before the ship became the property of per- sons qualified to own a registered Nigerian ship:
Provided that no registrar at any port of registry in Nigeria shall knowingly register the ship by any other name without the prior approval in writing of the Agency. (5) A person who acts or permits any person under his control to act, in contravention of this section or omits to do or permits any person under his control to omit to do, anything required by this section, commits an offense and on conviction is liable to a fine not
less than one hundred thousand naira; and, except in the case of an application being made under this section with respect to a ship which has not at any previous time been registered in Nigeria, the ship may be detained until this section is complied with.
Article 20
The Minister may make regulations relating to the procedure for the registration of Nigerian ships, which regulations shall not be inconsistent with the provision ofthis Act.