Section 49, The Merchant Shipping Act, 2003

(1) Where a Sierra Leonean ship is outside Sierra Leone and consequent upon notification is to be registeredanew, a proper officer shall— a) grant to the master or owner on his application, either a Provisional Certificate describing the ship as altered; or b) provisionally endorse the particulars of the alteration on the existing certificate. (2) Where the proper officer grants a Provisional Certificate or provisionally endorses a certificate under this section, he shall add to the Certificate or endorsement, a statement that the additional or endorsement is made provisionally. (3) The master or owner of a ship in respect of which a Provisional Certificate is granted or a Certificate is endorsed under this section shall, within 10 days of the ship’s arrival thereafter at a port in Sierra Leone deliver that Certificate to the Registrar. (4) A master who fails to comply with subsection (3) is commits an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding five million leones. (5) Where a ship in respect of which a Provisional Certificate is granted or a Certificate is endorsed under this section arrives at a port in Sierra Leone, application for registration of that ship anew shall be made to the Registrar within 7 days and the other requirements requisite for registration shall be complied with. (6) An owner of a ship to which subsection (5) relates who fails to comply with that subsection commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five million leones and in addition fine of five hundred thousand leones for each day that the offence continues.