Merchant Shipping Act (Cap. 234), article 276

276. (1) For the purposes of the load line provisions of this Act, except in so far as the context otherwise requires - "alteration" includes deterioration; "existing ship" means a sh ip which is not a new ship; "international voyage" means a voyage between - (a) a port in Malta and a port outside Malta, or (b) a port in a Convention country (other than Malta) and a port in any other country, whether a Convention country or not, which is outside Malta, and for the purposes of this definition - (i) in determining what are the ports between which a voyage is made, no account shall be taken of any deviation by a ship from her intended voyage which is due solely to stress of weather M E R C H A N T S H I P P I N G [CAP. 234. 135 or any other circumstan ces which neither the master nor the owner nor the charterer ( if any) could have prevented or forestalled, and (ii) any colony, protectorate or other dependency, any territory for whose international relations a government is separately responsible, and any territory for which the United Nations are the administering authority, shall be taken to be a separate territory; "new ship" means a ship whose keel is laid, or which is at a similar stage of construction on or after the material date; an d for the purposes of this defin ition the material date - (a) in relation to a new ship whose parent country is a Convention country other than Malta, is the date as from which it is declared under article 275 either that the government of that count ry has accepted the Load Line Convention or that it is a territory to which that convention extends, and (b) in relation to any other ship, is the date on which the load line provisions of th is Act come into force; "parent country", in relation to a ship, means the country or territory in which the ship is registered, or, if the ship is n ot registered anywhere, the country or territory whose flag the sh ip flies. (2) Where in accordance with the tonnage regulations of this Act alternative tonnages are assi gned to a ship, the gross tonn age of the ship shall, for the purposes of the load line provisions of this Act, be taken to be the larger of those tonnages. (3) For the purpose of the load line provisions of this Act, the length of a ship shall be ascertained in accordance with regula tions made by the Minister under this sub-article or with such provis ions as may be contained in the load line rules. Ships not subject to the load line provisions Ship’s draught of water to be recorded.  Amended by: XIII.1983.5; XXII. 2000.2.