Merchant Shipping Act, 1951 (Act No. 57 of 1951)RegulationsMerchant Shipping (Radio Installations) Regulations, 2002Part 2 : GMDSS Requirements18. Radio operators |
| (1) | Subject to section 73(4) of the Act, every ship to which this Part applies must carry the number of radio operators required by regulation 16 of the Merchant Shipping (Safe Manning) Regulations, 1999, each of whom must be a person who is qualified for distress and safety radio communications purposes, as specified in subregulation (2) |
| (2) | A person is qualified for the purposes of subregulation (1) where— |
| (a) | in the case of an area A1 ship, he or she holds a GMDSS restricted operator's certificate or a GMDSS general operator's certificate, issued in accordance with Article S47 of the ITU Radio Regulations; |
| (b) | in the case of an area A2, area A3 or area A4 ship, he or she holds a GMDSS general operator's certificate issued in accordance with Article S47 of the ITU Radio Regulations. |
| (3) | The master of every passenger ship to which this Part applies must designate at least one such person as mentioned in subregulation (1) to perform only radio communications duties during distress incidents. |
| (4) | The master of every ship to which this Part applies, other than a passenger ship, must designate one such person as mentioned in subregulation (1) to have primary responsibility for radio communications during distress incidents. |