The Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 was enacted immediately after the independence to serve the basic the requirements of the infrastructure of the Indian Shipping Industry. The objective of the Act is to get rid of the main deficiency in the earlier laws which did not provide for registration of what may be termed as Indian Ships. Certain provisions were made in the Act to accelerate the pace of development of shipping in the post independence period. This Act is divided into 24 different parts. These deal with specific aspects of merchant shipping like registration of ships, sailing vessels and fishing vessels, National Shipping Board, manning of ships, engagement, discharge and repatriation of seamen and apprentices, safety of passenger and cargo ships, control of Indian ships and ships engaged in the coasting trade, collisions, prevention and control of pollution of the sea by oil from ships, limitation of shipowners' liability, civil liability for oil pollution damage etc.
