Registration Marks

Enclosure with Letter from Transport Canada re Registered Vessels:


MARKING REOUIREMENTS

Your Certificate of Registry is not valid until the ship has been marked in accordance with the following marking requirements.

NAME AND PORT OF REGISTRY: For pleasure craft the name and port of registry both must be marked together on some clearly visible exterior part of the hull. For commercial vessels the vessel name must be marked on each bow and the vessel name and port of registry must also be marked on the stem. If the vessel has a square bow, the name may be marked on some clearly visible exterior part of the bow in order to avoid obliteration. The markings may be made by the use of any means and materials which result in durable markings. All must be at least 10 cm in height, made in clearly legible letters of the Latin alphabet or Arabic or Roman numerals. Port of registry marking may consist of the port only, or may include both the port and the province. Only the province may be abbreviated by using the two letter Canada Post symbol.

REGISTERED TONNAGE AND OFFICIAL NUMBER: Both the official number and registered tonnage shown on the Certificate of Registry, must be marked in block-type Arabic numerals at least 4 cm high on some clearly visible interior structural part of the hull. The registered tonnage must be preceded by the abbreviation "N.R.T." and the official number by the abbreviation "O.N.". These numbers must be permanently affixed so that alteration, removal, or replacement would be obvious and cause some scarring or damage to the surrounding hull area.

DRAUGHT MARKS: Every ship, other than pleasure craft and a small fishing vessel as described in the Note, shall be marked permanently and conspicuously on each side of its stem and of its stem post with a scale of decimetres, or of metres and decimetres denoting its draught of water, as follows:

(a) in the case of a scale marked in decimetres only, the figures are placed at 2 decimetre intervals;

(b) in the case of scale marked in metres and decimetres:
(i) the figures are placed at each metre interval and at intervening 2 decimetre intervals,
(ii) a letter "m" is placed after each metre figure, and
the top figure of the scale, except where it marks a full metre interval, shows both the metre and decimetre figure; and

(c) in the case of both types of scale:
(i) the lower line of each figure and letter coincides with the draught line to which it relates, and
(ii) every figure measures I decimetre in vertical height.

Existing ships operating with draught marks in the imperial system may continue to do so.

NOTE: A small fishing vessel, other than a fishing vessel referred to in subsection 29(8) of the Small Fishing Vessel Inspection Regulations, if it is a small fishing vessel in respect of which an inclining experiment to determine the stability characteristics of the small fishing vessel is not required pursuant to section 29, as that section is limited by subsection 5(3) of those Regulations.

A Certificate of Registry is not a document of title.
A change of address must be reported to the office responsible for your Port of Registry.