324. (1) The Government may, on such conditions, not inconsistent with the rules made under section 325, as it may think fit, exempt from the provisions of this Chapter- (a) any ship plying between the near neighbouring ports of two or more countries if the Government and the Governments of those countries are satisfied that the sheltered nature and conditions of the voyages between those ports make it unreasonable or impracticable to apply such provisions to ships so plying; (b) any ship plying between near neighbouring ports of the same country if the Government is satisfied as aforesaid; (c) any Bangladesh ship of less than 150 tons gross, the keel of which was laid before the commencement of this Chapter, or any Bangladesh ship less than 79 feet (24 metres) in length, the keel of which was laid after such commencement; (d) any Bangladesh ship, other than a ship referred to in clause (c), which normally plies between ports within Bangladesh but which is in exceptional circumstances, required to undertake a single voyage between a port in Bangladesh and a port outside Bangladesh; and (e) any Bangladesh ship of not less than 150 tons gross, the keel of which was laid before the commencement of this Chapter, or any Bangladesh ship not less than 79 feet (24 metres) in length, the keel of which was laid after such commencement, if in the opinion of the Government, that ship embodies features such that, if such ship had to comply with all the requirements of this Chapter relating to load lines and the rules made under section 325, the development of these features might be seriously impeded. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in this section or in the rules made under section 325, the Government may, by order, exempt a ship under 80 tons register engaged solely in the coasting trade or class of any such ships as may be specified in the order from the provision of this Chapter.

325. (1) The Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, make rules, hereinafter referred to as the “Load Line Rules”, to carry out the purposes of this Chapter. (2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:-(a) survey and periodical inspection of ships;(b) determination of free board deck in relation to any ship and marking on each side of the ship to indicate the position of that deck by a mark, hereinafter referred to as a “deck line”;(c) determination in relation to a ship, by reference to her deck line and free boards, of the position in which each side of the ship is to be marked with lines, hereinafter referred to as “load lines”, to indicate the maximum depths to which the ship may be loaded in various circumstances;(d) conditions, hereinafter referred to as the “conditions of assignment”, on which load lines may be assigned; (e) requirements, relevant to the assignment of free boards, in respect of hull, superstructures, fittings and appliances;(f ) particulars to be recorded in relation to matters referred to in clauses (d) and (e) and the manner in which they shall be recorded;(g) the circumstances in which a ship, during the continuance of the assignment of free boards assigned to her, if any, shall be deemed, for the purposes of the provisions of this Chapter, to comply with the conditions of assignment;(h) the form in which an International Load Line Certificate, a Bangladesh Load Line Certificate, an International Load Line Exemption Certificate and a Bangladesh Load Line Exemption Certificate shall be issued;(i) the period during which an exemption certificate shall remain in force;(j) the extension and termination of the period for which an exemption certificate was issued;(k) the manner in which endorsements relating to periodical inspection of a ship or to an extension of the period for which an exemption certificate was issued shall be made on the certificate; and(l) the fees payable for the issue or extension of a certificate referred to in clause (h) and the rates according to which the fees payable in respect of the surveys and periodical inspections shall be calculated. (3) The load line rules shall also include provisions requiring such information relating to the stability of any ship to which free boards are assigned thereunder, and such information relating to the loading and ballasting of any such ship, as may be determined in accordance with the rules to be provided for the guidance of the master of the ship in such manner as may be so determined.

326. (1) No Bangladesh ship, being a ship, the keel of which is laid after the commencement of this Chapter and not being exempt from the provisions of this Chapter, shall proceed to sea unless-(a) she has been surveyed in accordance with the Load Line Rules;(b) she complies with the conditions of assignment; and(c) she is marked with a deck line and with load lines in accordance with the Load Line Rules. (2) No Bangladesh ship, being a ship of which the keel was laid before the commencement of this Chapter and not being exempt from the provisions of this Chapter, shall proceed to sea unless-(a) she has been surveyed in accordance with the Load Line Rules or the corresponding rules in force immediately before such commencement;(b) she complies with the conditions of assignment or with such lesser related requirements as were applicable to her immediately before such commencement; and(c) she is marked with a deck line and with load lines in accordance with the Load Line Rules and the deck line and load lines have been marked in the position required by the rules in force immediately before such commencement. (3) If any ship proceeds or attempts to proceed to sea in contravention of this section the master and owner thereof shall, for each offence, be punishable with fine which may extend to twenty thousand Taka. (4) Any ship attempting to proceed to sea without being surveyed and marked as required by this section may be detained until she has been so surveyed and marked, and any ship which does not comply with the conditions of assignment to the extent required in her case shall be deemed to be unsafe for the purpose of section 353.

327. A Bangladesh ship, not being exempt from the provisions of this Chapter, shall not be so loaded that the appropriate load line on each side of the ship, that is to say, the load line indicating or purporting to indicate the maximum depth to which the ship is for the time being entitled under the Load Line Rules to be loaded, is submerged if the ship is in salt water and has no list or would be submerged if the ship were in salt water and has no list.

328. Where a Bangladesh passenger ship has been marked with sub division load line, that is to say, load lines indicating the depth to which the ship may be loaded having regard to the extent to which the ship is sub divided and the space for the time being allotted to passengers, and when the appropriate sub division load line, that is to say, the sub division load line appropriate to the space for the time being allotted to passengers on the ship, is lower than the load line indicating the maximum depth to which this ship is for the time being entitled under the provisions of this Chapter to be loaded, the ship shall not be so loaded that the appropriate sub division load line on each side of the ship is submerged if the ship is in salt water and has no list or would be submerged if the ship were in salt water and had no list.

329. (1) If any ship is loaded in contravention of section 327 or section 328, the owner and master thereof shall, for each offence, be punishable with fine which may extend to twenty thousand Taka, and with such additional fine not exceeding the amount mentioned in sub section (2), as the Court thinks fit to impose having regard to the extent to which the earning capacity of the ship was, or would have been, increased by reason of the submersion: Provided that it shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under this sub section to prove that the contravention was due solely to deviation or delay was caused solely by stress of weather or other circumstances which neither the master nor the owner nor the charterer, if any, could have prevented or forestalled. (2) The aforesaid additional fine shall not exceed ten thousand Taka for every inch or fraction of an inch by which the appropriate load line or sub-division load line, as the case may be, on each side of the ship was submerged, or would have been submerged if the ship had been in salt water and had no list. (3) Without prejudice to any proceedings under the foregoing provisions of this section, any ship which is loaded in contravention of section 327 or section 328 may be detained until the ship ceases to be so loaded.

330. If- (a) the owner or master of a Bangladesh ship which has been marked in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this Chapter, fails, without reasonable cause, to keep the ship so marked; or (b) any person conceals, removes, alters, defaces or obliterates, or suffers any person under his control to conceal, remove, alter, deface or obliterate any mark placed on any such ship in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this Chapter, except with the authority of a person entitled under the Load Line Rules to authorise the alteration of the mark, or except for the purpose of escaping capture by an enemy or by a foreign man of war in the exercise of some belligerent right; he shall, for each offence, be punishable with fine which may extend to fifteen thousand Taka.

331. Any Surveyor authorised in this behalf by the Government may inspect any Bangladesh ship for the purpose of seeing that the provisions of this Chapter have been complied with, and for this purpose may go on board the ship at all reasonable times and do all things necessary for the proper inspection of the ship and may also require the master of the ship to supply him with any information which it is in the power of the master to supply for that purpose, including the production of any certificate granted under this Part in respect of the ship.