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Ghana Shipping (Amendment) Act
Act, 2011 ACT
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section
1.
Section 1A inserted
2.
Section 40 of Act 645 amended
3.
Section 42A inserted
4.
Section 477 of Act 645 amended
5.
Section 479A inserted
6.
Section 481 of Act 645 amended
7.
Schedule inserted
ACT
OF THE PARLIAMENT OF THE
REPUBLIC
OF GHANA
ENTITLED
GHANA SHIPPING (AMENDMENT) ACT,
2011
AN ACT to amend the Ghana
Shipping Act, 2003 (Act 645) to
define Ghanaian waters to
include the waters in the safety
zones around offshore
installations and to enable
foreign registered ships to
trade in Ghanaian waters and for
related matters.
DATE OF ASSENT:
PASSED by Parliament and
assented to by the President:
Section IA inserted
1. The Ghana Shipping Act 2003,
(Act 645), referred to in this
Act as the principal enactment,
is amended by the insertion
after section 1 of section 1A.
"Permit for foreign ships
trading in Ghanaian waters
%20ACT,%202011_files/image001.gif) 1A.
(1) Despite subsection (2) of
section 1, a foreign ship that
intends to engage in local trade
from the coast of Ghana to
an offshore installation
located within Ghana's maritime
jurisdiction may do so if the
foreign ship has a permit
issued by the Authority.
(2) An application for a permit
shall be
(a) made to the
Director-General; and
(b) in the form specified in the
Schedule.
(3) An application under
subsection (2) shall contain
(a)
the name of ship;
(b) the Registry of the
ship;
(c)
the port of registry;
(d)
the International Maritime
Organisation Number;
(e) the name and address of the
registered owner;
(f) the name, address,
telephone, fax and e-mail
contacts of
the applicant's agent in Ghana;
(g)
the nature of the intended trade
in Ghanaian waters;
(h)
the
duration of the intended trade
in Ghanaian waters;
and
evidence that indicates the
commitment of the applicant
to social responsibility in
relation to the training of
Ghanaian
seafarers and cadets.
(4) The Minister may on the
approval of the Board grant the
permit subject to
(a)
conditions that the Board
considers necessary in the
national interest; and(2') the
payment of the prescribed fee.
(5) The Ghana Maritime Authority
shall publish in the Gazette
the fee for a permit and may
revise the fee periodically".
Section 40 of Act 645 amended
2.
Section 40 of the principal
enactment is amended by the
substitution
for subsection (1) of
"(I) A Ghanaian ship under
twenty-four metres in length or
a gross tonnage of one hundred
and fifty and every vessel of
whatever length or weight
trading or operating solely
within the inland waters
of Ghana shall instead of being
registered be licensed."
Section 42A inserted
3.
Section 42A of the principal
enactment is amended by the
insertion
after section 42 of section 42A.
"Meaning of ship in relation to
mortgages and issues affecting
the title and ownership of a
ship
42A. In sections 43 to 85 of
this Part a reference to
ownership or title to a ship
extends to a vessel even when
the vessel ceases to be a ship
as defined in section 481."
%20ACT,%202011_files/image002.gif) Section
477 of Act 645 amended
4. The principal enactment is
amended in section 477
(a)
by the numbering of
section 477 as 477 );
(b)
by the addition of
paragraph (ee) after
paragraph (dd)
"(ee)
in respect of the safety and
protection of offshore
installations, mobile offshore
drilling units, pipelines and
cables in an area within Ghana's
maritime jurisdiction." ; and
(c)
by the insertion of a new
subsection (2)
"(2) A person who commits an
offence under this Act, is
liable on summary conviction to
(a)
a fine of not more than
five thousand penalty units or a
term of imprisonment of not more
than five years or to both in
respect of an individual, or
(b)
a
fine of not less than ten
thousand penalty units
and
not more than fifteen thousand
penalty
units in the case of a
body corporate."
Section 479A inserted
5. The principal enactment is
amended by the insertion after
section
479 of section 479A.
"Issue and form of Maritime
Circulars
479A (1) The Authority may issue maritime circulars for
the purpose
of disseminating to the shipping
and fishing industries and
mariners relevant information on
(a)
safety,
(b)
security,
(c)
pollution prevention, and
(d)
any other relevant matter.
(2) The maritime circulars shall
be in the form of
(a)
Shipping Notices, which
convey mandatory information to
be complied with under the
relevant legislation and
Instrument, and
(b)
Guidance Notes which give
significant advice and guidance
relating to the
(i)
improvement of security,
(ii)
safety of shipping and of
life at sea, and
(iii)
prevention of pollution
from shipping and offshore
installations."
Section 481 of Act 645
amended
6.
Section 481 of the
principal enactment is amended
(a)
by the substitution for the
definition of "Ghanaian waters"
of
"Ghanaian waters"
includes the internal waters,
inland waters, territorial sea and waters around offshore installations located in an area
within the country's maritime
jurisdiction."
(1') by the insertion, in the
appropriate alphabetical order
of the following definitions:
"Ghana's maritime jurisdiction" means
the jurisdiction exercisable by
Ghana as a coastal state in the
• various maritime
zones under international law
and in accordance with the
jurisdiction specified in the
Ghana Maritime Zones
(Delimitation) Act, 1986 (PNDL
159);
"mobile installation" means an
installation that is designed or
intended to be moved from place
to place without major
dismantling or modification,
whether or not it has its own
motive power;
"mobile offshore drilling unit" means a mobile offshore
drilling unit as
defined in the 1979 Mobile
Offshore
Drilling Unit Code and the 1989
Mobile Offshore
Drilling Unit Code as amended; and
"offshore installation" means an
artificial structure including a floating structure that is not a ship which
is used or intended to be used
in or on, or anchored or
attached to the seabed for the
purpose of the exploration for,
or the exploitation or
associated processing of
petroleum."
Schedule inserted
7.
The
principal enactment is amended
by the insertion after section
482 of the following Schedule:
%20ACT,%202011_files/image003.gif) %20ACT,%202011_files/image004.gif) "SCHEDULE
(Section IA (2)
Permit to
trade in Ghanaian waters by a
foreign ship
1.
Name of ship-
2.
Registry of the
ship...............................................................................
3.
Port of
Registry......................................................................................
4.
International Maritime
Organisation Number of Ship-
5.
Registered
Owner.................................................................................
6.
Address of Registered Owner:
...........................................................
7.
Name and address of Agent in
Ghana:
...........................................
8.
Nature of the approved trade in
Ghanaian
waters..........................
9.
Period of validity of
permit"..................................................................
10.
Conditions attache&.............................................................................
Minister
Ministry Responsible for Transport
%20ACT,%202011_files/image005.gif) Date-....................................
%20ACT,%202011_files/image006.gif) Date
of Gazette notification:
Ghana Shipping (Amendment) Act
Act, 2011
%20ACT,%202011_files/image007.gif)
MEMORANDUM
The main object of this Bill is
to extend the definition of
"Ghanaian waters" to include the
waters within the five hundred
metres safety zone generated
automatically around
installations in the exclusive
economic zone beyond the
territorial sea.
The involvement of
Ghanaians in the supply vessel
business is one of the real
opportunities to inject local
content into the oil and gas
development. The Ghana Shipping
Act, 2003 (Act 645)
imposes restrictions on
the trading of foreign
registered ships in Ghanaian
waters
to Ghanaian ships. However, the current definition of Ghanaian waters is
limited to the twelve nautical
miles territorial sea. "Ghanaian
waters"
is defined as the internal
waters including inland waters
and the territorial seas
of Ghana.
This amendment would, in effect,
extend the scope of local trade
and coastal shipping. The area in
which the trade is reserved
would be
extended from the twelve
nautical miles to which it is
limited to at present,
that is, the territorial sea ,
to include the trade from shore
to any oil and gas installation
that will be established more
than twelve nautical miles
away like the Jubilee field
which is approximately
sixty-three nautical
miles offshore.
However, while seeking to attain
a greater inclusion of local
content,
cognisance is taken of the fact that
there are not enough Ghanaian
ships
at present with the technical
specifications required by the
industry to perform
various services. It is prudent
in the short term to permit
other vessels to provide
services from the shore to the
installations in instances where
there are no Ghanaian vessels
available or capable of
providing those services so as
to avoid operational bottlenecks
which will disrupt the
production schedule by operators
of offshore facilities.
Consequently, it has become
necessary to amend the Ghana
Shipping
Act, 2003 (Act 645) to make provision
for exemptions to
foreign-flagged vessels to carry
out local trade to offshore
installations on a temporary
basis, subject to the payment of
prescribed fees and charges.
This amendment empowers the
Board of the Ghana Maritime
Authority to grant permits to
foreign ships, to trade in or
from Ghanaian waters,
including servicing oil
platforms and installations for
specified purposes and duration
subject to conditions that the
Board considers fit.
Section 40 of the Act has been
amended by the substitution for
section
40 (1) of a new
section 40 (1). The purpose of
this amendment is to
correct the correlative equivalence of a ship of twenty four metres
wrongly
equated to a ship of fifteen
tonnes. The correct equivalence
should be to
a tonnage
capacity of one hundred and
fifty and not a weight
measurement in tonnes.
It has become necessary to
include the definition of "ship"
in relation
to mortgages and issues affecting the
title and ownership of a ship.
International convention
requires a maritime
administration to
carry out specific functions in
respect of mobile offshore
drilling units and other
offshore installations following
the Mobile Offshore Drilling
Units Code developed by the
International Maritime
Organisation. Therefore it is
necessary to amend section 477
of the Act to give power
to the Minister to make
Regulations in respect of the
operation of mobile
offshore drilling units and
other offshore installations
within Ghana's maritime
jurisdiction.
Furthermore, a general penalty
has been provided in clause
4 for the
contravention of Regulations. The
ceiling set by this clause
is fifteen thousand penalty
units.
Section 479 of the Act has also
been amended by the insertion of
a new section 479A to provide
for the issue of maritime
circulars by the Authority and
the form the circulars are to
take.
Section 481 of the Act has also
been amended to provide the
definitions of new words and
phrases in the Bill as a result
of the amendments.
Finally, a Schedule to the Act
has been inserted to provide the
form
of a permit for a foreign ship
to trade in Ghanaian waters.
HON. ALHAJI COLLINS DAUDA (M.P.)
Minister responsible
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