Merchant Shipping Act No. 52 of 1971.

This Merchant Shipping Act, consisting of XII Parts and one Schedule and divided into 333 regulations, applies to the following: all Sri Lanka ships wherever they may be; all ships registered or deemed to be registered under this Act wherever they may be; all ships, not being Sri Lanka ships, licensed under this Act to engage in the coasting trade, while engaged in such trade; and all other ships while in a port or place in, or within the territorial waters of Sri Lanka. The Act shall not apply to any ships of, or commissioned for service in, the Sri Lanka Navy or, while employed otherwise than for profit in the service of Government, any other ships belonging to Government. The Act is divided as follows: Introductory (I), Control Of Shipping (II), Registry (III), Masters and Seamen Preliminary (IV), Construction (V), Equipment and Survey (VI), Load Lines (VII), Safety of Navigation (VIII), Courts of Survey (IX), Wreck and Salvage (X), Legal Proceedings (XI), Supplemental, Repeal and Transitional (XII).