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	Tonnage Rules

Legislative Requirements

International Tonnage Convention

International Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships, 1969

(London, 23 June 1969)

Definitions

“international voyage” means a sea voyage from a country to which the present Convention applies to a port outside such country, or conversely. For this purpose, every territory for the international relations of which a Contracting Government is responsible or for which the United Nations are the administering authority is regarded as a separate country;

“gross tonnage” means the measure of the overall size of a ship determined in accordance with the provisions of the present Convention;

“net tonnage” means the measure of the useful capacity of a ship determined in accordance with the provisions of the present Convention;

“new ship” means a ship the keel of which is laid, or which is at a similar stage of construction, on or after the date of coming into force of the present Convention;

“existing ship” means a ship which is not a new ship;

The present Convention shall apply to:

(a) new ships;

(b) existing ships which undergo alterations or modifications which the Administration deems to be a substantial variation in their existing gross tonnage;

(c) existing ships if the owner so requests; and

(d) all existing ships, twelve years after the date on which the Convention comes into force, except that such ships, apart from those mentioned in (b) and (c) of this paragraph, shall retain their then existing tonnages for the purpose of the application to them of relevant requirements under other existing International Conventions.

Existing ships to which the present Convention has been applied in accordance with sub-paragraph (c) of this Article shall not subsequently have their tonnages determined in accordance with the requirements which the Administration applied to ships on international voyages prior to the coming into force of the present Convention.

Issue of certificate

(1) An International Tonnage Certificate (1969) shall be issued to every ship, the gross and net tonnages of which have been determined in accordance with the present Convention.

(2) Such certificate shall be issued by the Administration or by any person or organization duly authorized by it. In every case, the Administration shall assume full responsibility for the certificate.

Cancellation of certificate

(1) Subject to any exceptions provided in the Regulations, an International Tonnage Certificate (1969) shall cease to be valid and shall be cancelled by the Administration if alterations have taken place in the arrangement, construction, capacity, use of spaces, total number of passengers the ship is permitted to carry as indicated in the ship’s passenger certificate, assigned load line or permitted draught of the ship, such as would necessitate an increase in gross tonnage or net tonnage.

(2) A certificate issued to a ship by an Administration shall cease to be valid upon transfer of such a ship to the flag of another State, except as provided in paragraph (3) of this Article.

(3) Upon transfer of a ship to the flag of another State the Government of which is a Contracting Government, the International Tonnage Certificate (1969) shall remain in force for a period not exceeding three months, or until the Administration issues another International Tonnage Certificate (1969) to replace it, whichever is the earlier. The Contracting Government of the State whose flag the ship was flying hitherto shall transmit to the Administration as soon as possible after the transfer takes place a copy of the certificate carried by the ship at the time of transfer and a copy of the relevant tonnage calculations.

Inspection

(1) A ship flying the flag of a State the Government of which is a Contracting Government shall be subject, when in the ports of other Contracting Governments, to inspection by officers duly authorized by such Governments. Such inspection shall be limited to the purpose of verifying:

(a) that the ship is provided with a valid International Tonnage Certificate (1969); and

(b) that the main characteristics of the ship correspond to the data given in the certificate.

(2) In no case shall the exercise of such inspection cause any delay to the ship.

(3) Should the inspection reveal that the main characteristics of the ship differ from those entered on the International Tonnage Certificate (1969) so as to lead to an increase in the gross tonnage or the net tonnage, the Government of the State whose flag the ship is flying shall be informed without delay.