Thailand Law Library

by Thailand Lawyer

Chapter 9: Outer Anchorages

The Director-General may designate outer anchorages for the Port of Bangkok or any other port for vessels to discharge and load all or any part of the goods and may prescribe the times when such outer anchorages may be used and issue rules for the supervision and control of such outer anchorages by customs officials. If any person commits or is involved in the commission of an offence under these rules or attempts or is involved in an attempt to commit an offence under these rules, such person shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand Bath, but his liability under this section shall not absolve him from liability under any other provisions of this Act or any other law.

Vessels moored or in the process of loading or discharging goods at an outer anchorage and all persons connected therewith shall be liable to the liability and serve the penalties under this Act or other provisions of law as if they were within the ordinary limits of the port.

If any vessel loads or discharges goods at any outer anchorage or at any unapproved place without the consent of the Director-General, the master of the vessel and all persons connected in any way with the loading or discharge of its goods shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five hundred thousand Bath and the goods which has been loaded or discharged or placed or remained on board shall be forfeited.

Fire-arms, ammunition, explosives, opium, alcoholic beverages, or restricted goods of any nature or packages which have not been examined shall not be transferred to another vessel or accepted from the importing vessel at an outer anchorage except with the special permission of the Director-General or a duly authorized official.

The Director-General may issue a license by granting a general authority to any vessel to discharge or load goods at an outer anchorage, and a vessel not having been granted such general authority shall not load or discharge at such place except where granted special permission by the Director-General or a duly authorized official.

All vessels at an outer anchorage shall moor within the specified limits of such anchorage, and no vessel shall move from her place of mooring except with the permission of the competent official.

The master of a vessel whose normal trade is foreign trade and who has a general authority to discharge goods at an approved outer anchorage shall seek the permission of the official in charge of such anchorage before commencing the discharge of goods.

The master having a special authority to discharge at an outer anchorage shall produce such license to the official in charge before commencing discharge.

An accurate manifest of details indicating all the articles discharged at an outer anchorage submitted to a competent official to certify the discharge of articles shall be in the form prescribed in Schedule 13. Any vessel carrying goods discharged by a vessel at an outer anchorage and enters any port may proceed when in possession of a manifest duly certified by a competent official. Such manifest shall be deemed to be a license authorizing the carriage of goods. Under the norms governing the vessel, goods are imported on their arrival in the Kingdom. On arrival at the port the person in charge of the vessel shall deliver such manifest to the competent official at the Customs House, and the goods shall thereafter be discharged and cleared under the ordinary regulations. If any vessel carrying goods transhipped from a vessel at an outer anchorage without such a certified manifest, such vessel shall be prohibited from breaking its bulk until the complete manifest of the vessel from which the goods was transhipped is lodged at the Customs House at such port.

A master of a vessel having a general or special authority to complete loading at an outer anchorage shall obtain a clearance certificate at the Customs House of such port in accordance with the regulations and pay all due charges. Such clearance certificate shall be endorsed by the competent official as “for completion of loading at ......”, and upon arrival at the outer anchorage, the master shall deliver the clearance certificate to the official in charge of the station. The official shall retain the clearance certificate until satisfied that all duties, and any fees or dues which may be chargeable on the vessel after departure from the port, have been paid or for which a deposit has been made, after which the official shall make an endorsement of the date and affix his signature on the clearance certificate and return it to the master of the vessel who may then proceed with his voyage.

Export goods may be transferred from a port to an outer anchorage for loading onto any vessel authorized to load goods at such outer anchorage. Before transferring such goods, a shipment entry shall be submitted in the same way as goods loaded at port, and the duties and charges shall be fully paid in a like manner. The exporter shall prepare a boat-note for all such goods, and after the competent official at the port has checked against the shipment entry and signed the document, such boat-note shall be sent with the goods to the outer anchorage and delivered to the official in charge of such place. If the details in the boat-note do not agree with the goods, the official in charge of such place may detain such goods.

If any export goods have not been loaded or incompletely loaded onto a vessel at an outer anchorage, they may be loaded onto another vessel at such anchorage and bound for the same port of destination. The master of the latter vessel or the exporter shall make a written application to the official in charge of the station for a permission to make such shipment.

If any goods not loaded onto a vessel is to be returned to the port of dispatch, the responsible person shall obtain a certificate from the official in charge of the station showing the quantity and description of such goods, and such certificate shall accompany the goods to the port and be delivered to the competent official at the Customs House.

Within six days as from the receipt of a final clearance certificate of a vessel from an outer anchorage, the master of the vessel or his agent shall deliver a manifest of the vessel to the official in charge of such place indicating all the goods loaded at the outer anchorage.

All vessels at an outer anchorage shall fly the blue-peter flag in accordance with the provisions and shall be liable to the penalties under section 57.