(1) The Director-General may order a ship in a port in Ghana to be temporarily detained for the purpose of being surveyed if the Director-General has reason to believe whether on a complaint or otherwise, that the ship is unseaworthy.

(2) Where a ship is detained under sub-section (1),

(a) a written statement of the grounds of the detention shall immediately be served on the master or owner of the ship;

(b) in the case of a foreign ship a copy of the order shall immediately be served on the consular officer for the country to which the ship belongs and where there is no such consular officer in this country on the consular officer in the country nearest to the port in which the ship is detained;

(c) the Director-General may appoint a competent person to survey the ship and submit a report on the survey to the Director-General;

(d) the owner or master of the ship may before a person appointed under paragraph (c) to survey the ship undertakes the survey, require that person to be accompanied by a person selected by the owner or master from among the assessors of the Court of Survey for the port referred to in section 429 of this Act;

(e) where the persons appointed to survey a ship agree that the ship is unseaworthy, the Director-General shall cause the ship to be detained or released as the circumstances may require but without prejudice to any appeal under subsection (4) or where they do not agree, the Director-General shall act on the report submitted by the surveyor appointed under subsection (2) (c); and

(f) in the case of a foreign ship, the consular officer referred to in paragraph (b) may, on the request of the owner or master of the ship, require that any person appointed under paragraph (c) to survey the ship undertakes the survey.

(3) The Director-General may on receipt of the report, on a ship referred to in subsection (2)

(a) order the ship to be released, or

(b) where in his opinion the ship is unseaworthy, subject to subsection (4), order her to be detained either absolutely or until compliance with such conditions with respect to the execution of repairs and alterations, or the unloading or reloading of cargo, or the manning of the ship as the Director-General thinks necessary for the protection of human life, and may vary or add to any such order.

(4) Before an order for the final detention of a ship under subsection (3) is made, a copy of the survey report on the ship shall be served on the master or owner of the ship who may appeal in the prescribed manner to a Court of Survey constituted under Part XV of this Act.

(5) Where a ship has been temporarily detained under subsection (1), the Director-General may at any time, if the Director-General considers it necessary, refer the matter to the Court of Survey.

(6) The Director-General may at any time, if satisfied that a ship detained under this section is seaworthy, order it to be released either upon conditions or without any condition.