NTIn ForceAct
Ports Management Act 2015
38Directions by port operator
Start here
Get a plain-English read of 38
Turn the raw legal text into a practical explanation grounded in Ports Management Act 2015.
38 Directions by port operator
(1) The port operator of a designated port may, by written notice
published on the port operator's website or given to the owner,
master or occupier of a vessel, give directions for regulating any of
the following:
(a) the time at which, and the manner (including the taking on
board of a licensed pilot) in which, a vessel must enter into,
depart from or lie in the port;
(b) the manner and position in which, and the times at which,
within the port:
(i) cargo may be loaded on or unloaded from a vessel; or
(ii) ballast, water or fuel may be taken in or delivered from a
vessel; or
(iii) passengers may embark or disembark a vessel.
(1A) In addition, the port operator of a designated port may give
directions for regulating the positioning, mooring, unmooring,
placing or anchoring of a vessel and the removing of a vessel from
one place to another within the port:
(a) by written notice published on the port operator's website; or
(b) by written notice given to the owner, master or occupier of the
vessel; or
(c) if there is an immediate threat to the vessel, or the vessel
poses an immediate danger to another vessel, a person,
property or the environment – orally to a person apparently in
control of the vessel.
(1B) A direction published on the port operator's website under
subsection (1) or (1A):
(a) must be addressed to the owner, master or occupier of the
vessel to which the direction relates but, if the port operator
does not know the name of the owner, master or occupier,
may be addressed without specifying a name; and
(b) is taken to have been given to the person to whom it is
addressed.
Ports Management Act 2015 23
(2) A person to whom a direction is given under subsection (1) or (1A)
commits an offence if the person fails to comply with the direction.