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The Merchant Shipping (Safety) (Subdivision and Damage Stability of Cargo Ships over 100 Metres in Length) (Amendment) Regulation, to be gazetted this Friday (April 23), will enhance safety requirements in ship construction.

A spokesman for the Marine Department said today(Wednesday) that the amendment was to give effect to a recent change to Chapter II-I of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea 1974 (the Convention) which sets out international standards to promote safety of life and ships at sea.

Chapter II-I of the Convention deals with subdivision and stability, machinery and electrical installations in ship construction. In Hong Kong, this Chapter and its amendments are implemented through the Merchant Shipping (Safety) Ordinance, Cap 369, and its subsidiary legislation.

"The change to Chapter II-I of the Convention is to extend the relevant regulations which are currently applicable to cargo ships over 100 metres in length to cargo ships 80 metres in length or above and constructed on or after 1 July 1998," the spokesman said.

The main provisions of the amended regulation are to amend the title and extend the application of the subsidiary legislation to cover cargo ships in the subdivision length of 80 to 100 metres constructed in or after 1 July 1998.

It further prescribes the method for determining the subdivision index for ships 80 to 100 metres in length.

END/Wednesday, April 21, 1999

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