For obtaining the above-mentioned certificates it is necessary to have satisfied
certain theoretical and practical requirements; with regard to the deck-officers,
these must, furthermore, be Swedish subjects. For obtaining a mate’s, certifcate
it is necessary to have completed 19 years of age, for a captain’s certificate, 21
years. One condition for obtaining a captain’s certificate is the possesion of a
mate’s certificate.
For the security of navigation there are also some enactments in the ordinance
concerning measures for avoiding collisions, etc. containing both international
regulations accepted by Sweden and special regulations concerning navigation
in Swedish waters. With regard to signal-lights on board ship detailed
rules have been laid down. For the purpose of security to navigationjrs-regu-
lations are also in force concerning the conveyance of explosives and inflammable
oils on board ship.
The State has, moreover, fixed the limits of activity in the matter of navigation
and commerce exercised by shipping agents and ship-brokers, just asi the
State has ratified an ordinance for average adjusters. In this connection attention
might also be drawn to the duties with regard to assisting persons
carrying on shipping and commerce which has been imposed on the Swedish
Consuls. According to the consular ordinance^of Sep. 24, 1906, supplemented
by the consular instructions of April 27, 1908, consuls are bound to the best
of their ability to try and advance the Swedish interests, especially with regard
to commerce, navigation, industry, etc. and to give to captains and crews of
Swedish vessels, as well as to other Swedish seafaring folk, such information
and such assistance as they are able to do in virtue of their-office.
Through treaties with most of the seafaring nations, Sweden has secured to
her shipping, on condition of reciprocity, the most-favoured-nation treatment,
or a national treatment, in foreign .ports. Freight-carrying in Sweden (Coastwise
trading, cabotage) has, however, only been conceded to Belgian, British,
Danish, Italian, Dutch and German vessels.
Shipping Dues.
In accordance with Swedish legislation there are general dues on shipping
to be paid, partly in Swedish ports by Swedish and foreign vessels, partly abroad
by Swedish vessels. These dues are, as a rule, calculated on the net register
tonnage of the vessel. This latter is ascertained by measurement.
Prior to 1874, the measurement in Sweden was based upon the weight of
cargo the vessel was able to carry, -and a corresponding tonnage was calculated
for the vessel. In the said year the Moorsom system, already adopted by many
seafaring nations a number of years previously, was introduced into Sweden, by
which the capacity of the vessel was made th e . basis of the survey and determined
its burden, expressed in register tons (1 reg.-ton Jj§i2'83 cubic meters =■
100 English cubic feet). The tonnage on which dues have to be paid is-
obtained by deducting from the total capacity the space intended for the
master and the crew, as well as that for the machinery used for propelling,
navigating, and manoeuvring the vessel. Concerning the deduction from a steamer’s
capacity for engine room and coal-boxes, a distinction is made between|lthe
so-called British rule, according to which a percentage depending upon the relation
between the capacity of the engine-room and the gross "tonnage, is deducted from
the latter; and the so-called German rule, according to which the actually measured
capacity of the engine-room and the coal-boxes is deducted. Most of the
seafaring nations apply the British rule when measuring steamers. In Sweden
this rule was also introduced by the ordinance of 1874, but in 1880 already a
change was made to the German, which is still in force, but with the right for
steamers to have their burden also calculated after the British rule, and the
result thereof entered in an appendix to the Bill of Tonnage. Quite lately, a
return to the British rule has-been urged from several quarters, and experts
Consulted- in 1911 have submitted a proposal for the revision of the regulations
concerning the -measurement of ships, which would be necessitated by the suggested
change to the last-mentioned rule.
General dues in Swedish ports for Swedish and foreign vessels a re : lastage,
pilotage, light-house, and light-ship dues, tonnage fees to the Seamen Registry
Office, harbour-dues, and land money.
The lastage, which in the decade 1877—85 was 14 ore per ton, was, in 1885,
reduced by 4 ore and is the same for Swedish and foreign vessels, being 10
lire: (1-3 d) per ton, according to the bill of tonnage. They are payable each
time a vessel enters from or clears for a foreign port, as the case may be. If
a vessel makes several voyages during one calendar year between Sweden and a
foreign port, these dues are paid only when leaving for the first voyage, and on
return only when the vessel carries a cargo and unloads a greater or smaller portion
thereof, in which connection a vessel, is considered as being in ballast when the
cargo falls" below one tenth of the vessel’s net register tonnage. A vessel which,
on its voyage between foreign ports, loads or unloads in a Swedish port goods
amounting to not more than one fourth of its burden is exempt from the payment
of dues.
Pilotage- fees. Swedish legislation combines, as a rule, compulsory pilotage
with pilotage fees. A vessel making voyages betwen Swedish and foreign ports,
which has to" pass through some pilotage channel, where the vessel has paid pilotage
fees 10 times during the current calendar year, in the case of a steamer
or steam barge, and 6 times in the case of a sailing vessel, is exempt from
pilotage fees for the remainder of the year, provided the foreign port lies within
the dine Lindesnas—Hanstholm; but these fees are reduced by one half, if the
foreign port lies beyond the said line. Vessels of 40 tons .and under are exempt
from these dues, likewise steamers making regular voyages between Swedish and
Danish ports on the Sound, as well as certain other vessels.
The light-house dues, which, formerly, were also levied on vessels trading
between home ports, are now levied only on foreign-going vessels of more than
40 .¡tons. Every vessel arriving from or leaving for a foreign port has to pay
dues of 25 ore per register ton, but in the event of such dues having been
paid, in the case of a steamer or steam barge eight times, and in the case of
a sailing vessel four times, the vessel is exempt from further payment of these
dues during the remainder of that year.
Exemption from the afore-mentioned three kinds of dues is granted to vessels
calling for orders, coaling, or provisioning, as well as to vessels forced to seek
a refuge, Crown vessels, and others.
The ■ tonnage-fee to the Seamen Registry Office for a vessel leaving a Swedish
port for a foreign one is 3 ore, if the vessel be Swedish or belongs to some
foreign nation in whose harbours Swedish vessels enjoy national treatment, but
otherwise 5 ore — everything per ton according to Swedish or equivalent
foreign bill of tonnage. If a vessel leaves a Swedish port several times in the
course of a calendar month, the fee is payable only once a month.
Harbour-dues are. levied upon vessels and goods in conformity with special
tariffs ratified by the Government, with the application of certain main principles,
on the advice of the authorities, and in force for five years.
Land-money is levied for vessels utilizing institutions for shipping at certain
sufferance-wharves, chiefly in Norrland, after the owners have obtained Government
Permission to levy the duties according to a tariff fixed for that particular case.