Merchant Shipping Act (Cap. 234), article 262

262. (1) Subject to the next following sub-article and to any exemption conferred by or under the load line provisions of this Act, no foreign ship to which those provisions apply shall proceed or attempt to proceed to sea from any port in Malta unless: (a) the ship has been surveyed in accordance with the load line rules; (b) the ship is marked with a deck-line and with load lines in accordance with those rules; (c) the ship complies with the conditions of assignment; and (d) the information required by those rules to be provided as mentioned in article 251(2) is provided for the guidance of the master of the ship in the manner determined in accordance with those rules. (2) Sub-article (1) shall not apply to a ship in respect of which a valid Convention certificate is produced. (3) If any ship proceeds or attempts to proceed to sea in contravention of the preceding provisions of this article, the owner or master of the ship shall be liable to a fine (multa) not exceeding two hundred units. (4) Any ship which in contravention of this article attempts to proceed to sea without being surveyed and marked as mentioned in sub-article (1)(a) and (b) may be detained until she has been so surveyed and marked. (5) If any ship as is mentioned in sub-article (1), not being a ship in respect of which a valid Convention certificate is produced, does not comply with the conditions of assignment, article 283 shall have effect in relation to the ship as if she were unsafe by reason of one of the matters specified in that article. Submersion of load lines.