MERCHANT SHIPPING (AMENDMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

2.41 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."

There are at present 14 harbour pilots who are self-employed. Arrangements are now being made for pilotage to be taken over by a proposed new Port Authority. The target date for this takeover is 1st January, 1963. In order to maintain an efficient service when the pilots are employed by the Port Authority, it is estimated that it will be necessary to employ 35 pilots. The Singapore Harbour Board, as the forerunner of the proposed Port Authority, has since October last year recruited and trained 17 pilots, of whom 14 have already been licensed by the Pilot Board. These pilots are directly employed by the Harbour Board, and by the time of the takeover, all pilots, including those pilots at present self-employed and who elect to remain in service, will be in the employ of the Harbour Board or the Port Authority.

Part X of the Merchant Shipping Ordinance, which deals with pilotage, does not provide for any limitation of liability for loss or damage occasioned by any act or default of a pilot whilst engaged in his duties; neither does the Ordinance provide protection front liability for the pilot's employment. Now that the Singapore Harbour Board is employing pilots, it is necessary to amend the Merchant Shipping Ordinance to protect the Harbour Board and the pilots it employs from claims for damages.

In other parts of the world, pilotage authorities employing pilots are covered either by being able to limit their liability or by exempting themselves of any liability, in the United Kingdom, this liability is limited to £100 multiplied by the number of pilots in the pilotage district. The Bombay Port Trust is not liable to pay any damages. The pilots in the United Kingdom are enabled by legislation to limit their personal liability to £100 plus the pilotage fee for the ship involved.

The Bill is therefore designed to enable a harbour pilot to put up a bond of $1,000 and his personal liability shall be limited to that amount and the amount payable to him for piloting the vessel. This Bill also provides that general employers, such as the Harbour Board at present, shall not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a pilot.

Sir, I beg to move.

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; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.