MERCHANT SHIPPING (AMENDMENT NO. 2) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

6.26 p.m.

The Deputy Prime Minister (Dr Toh Chin Chye): Mr Speaker, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sir, in 1957, an international conference of 17 maritime countries met at Brussels to discuss the limitation of the liability of owners of sea-going ships. As a result of this conference, certain agreements were made and these agreements have been included in the United Kingdom Shipping Act.

Singapore, being a free port for the ships of the world, should rightly have uniform shipping legislation in harmony with those countries which send their ships to our port. It is the purpose of this Bill to include certain provisions which have been made in the international convention at Brussels of 1957. The objects of this Bill briefly are twofold:

(1) To extend the limits of the scope of liability; The amendment reads as follows:

(2) To increase the quantum of liability. At present under section 340 (1) (c) and (d) of the principal Ordinance, the liability of ship-owners in cases of loss of life, personal injury and loss of property to a person in another vessel extends only to occurrences by reason of improper navigation or management of a ship. A new section 340 in clause 4 of the Bill extends this liability to include the infringement of any right and extends its application to acts or omissions by any persons (whether aboard the ship or not) in the navigation or management of the ship or in its cargo handling, or passenger movements. The new section 340 also extends application of liability to any other acts or omission of persons aboard a ship. The new section 340, clause 1 paragraphs (i) and (ii), changes the limits of a ship-owner's liability in the cases I have mentioned earlier. In cases of death or injury, either alone or together, with any loss or damage to property or infringement of any right, the existing limit of �15 per ton of the ship's tonnage is replaced by 3,100 gold francs per ton of the ship's tonnage. This is roughly equivalent to Malayan $634 per ton of ship's tonnage. For loss of or damage to property, the present limit is �8, or roughly Malayan $68, per ton of the ships tonnage. The new limit is the equivalent in Singapore currency of 1,000 gold francs which approximates to Malayan $205.

Subsection (4) of the new section 340 extends liability under subsection (1) to occurrences in connection with disposal of wrecks. Subsection (8) enables the Minister to set up a fund for compensating the harbour or conservancy authority in respect of any reduction in the sums recoverable by the authority resulting from the operating of subsection (4). This fund is to be maintained by contributions collected by the authority.

Where a person on board or employed in connection with a ship serves under a contract governed by the law of any country which does not limit the liability in accordance with the new section 340, the liability of such a person is excluded by subsection (7) from the operation of the remainder of the new section 340.

Clause 6 of the Bill repeals and reenacts section 345 of the principal Ordinance to provide for the extension of the new liabilities of the ship-owners to various other persons.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Goh Chew Chua): Mr Speaker, I rise to second the motion. May I proceed, Sir?

Mr Speaker: Order. This is an Order of the Day and need not be seconded. But, of course, the hon. Member can speak.

6.33 p.m.

Mr Goh Chew Chua: Sir, I should perhaps explain that there has also been a need for international co-operation in maritime matters. Because ships sail along international highways of the sea and call at foreign ports in which the law of the land might differ considerably from the law of their own native land. It is easy to imagine what difficulties could arise if ships sharing the same sea routes adopted different navigational rules and practices. Or if a ship was subject to different laws and rules and regulations at each different port at which she calls. So the need for international agreement and co-operation has been recognised. And to this end, there were held from time to time international conferences from which emerged international agreement on matters of common interest and concern.

The Bill before the House, Sir, deals with the liability of shipowners to make good losses and damage which occur in or in connection with the operation of their ships. In this particular field, Sir, it has for centuries been accepted by maritime countries of the world that ship-owners should be entitled to limit their liability for damages. But the circumstances in which limitation of liability might be claimed and the manner in which the limit itself is to be calculated have varied considerably from country to country. For some 50 years, Sir, attempts have been made to establish uniformity in this field till at last in 1957, after a conference in Brussels, a Convention emerged which represents a substantial measure of agreement between the maritime nations of the world as to the liability of owners of seagoing ships.

Now, Sir, even before the Convention, there was United Kingdom legislation in the Merchant Shipping Act. But even in the U.K., it had long been recognised that the legislation was out-dated in many respects. Not least that the limit of their liability was too low. The sums were, in fact, �15 per ton for personal injury claims and �8 per ton for property claims. The Brussels Convention, therefore, provided an excellent opportunity which was readily taken to bring the U.K. legislation up to date and to bring it into line with the provisions of the Convention. The result, Sir, was the U.K. Merchant Shipping (Liability of Shipowners and Others) Act, 1958.

It amends various provisions of the U.K. Merchant Shipping Act which deals with this liability. At this point, I should explain that the Singapore Government agreed that the Brussels Convention should be extended to Singapore. It is, therefore, Sir, necessary that the provisions in our Merchant Shipping Ordinance which deal with the liability of shipowners should be amended and brought into line with the provisions of the Convention, in order that such extension may be formally effected.

And this, Sir, is precisely the aim and object and the scope of the Bill which is now before the House for its Second Reading.

I might, before I close, Sir, mention that the representative associations of shipowners in Singapore are agreeable to the application of the provisions of the Convention to Singapore.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole Assembly.

Assembly immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill.-[Dr Toh Chin Chye].

Bill considered in Committee.

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

6.40 p.m.

Clauses 1 to 3 inclusive ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 4 -

The Chairman: There is a typographical emendation at page 4, line 22, "millisimal" should read "millesimal".

Clause 4 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clauses 5 and 6 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Bill reported without amendment; read the Third time and passed.