This Act consolidates the law relative to merchant shipping in the United Kingdom. It provides for the nationality and registration of British ships, regulates navigation and related matters and contains provisions relative to the prevention of pollution by ships. The Act applies also to fishing vessels.
This Act continues into existence the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen as registrar of all British ships (as defined by this Act). A large part of the Act concerns the pollution of the sea by ships, in particular pollution by oil. In the famework of the implementation of obligations under the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims 1976 and the International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage, the Act defines the liability for oil pollution and provides for contributions to the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund.