A Study on the Establishment of the Concept of a Vessel Constrained by Her Air Draft in COLREG

A vessel with high air draft cannot operate without restriction on manoeuvring in certain height-limited areas. As electricity supply has been possible to island areas, and bridges connecting islands to the mainland or islands to islands are constructed, instances where because of her air draft a vessel is restricted in her ability to deviate from the course she is following(Hereafter “vessel constrained by her air draft”) are increased. This paper reviewed whether the current sailing and steering rules in International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972(COLREG) can be properly applicable to the navigation of vessel constrained by her air draft. Firstly, the possibility of application of the sailing rules of ‘vessel not under command’ and ‘vessel restricted in their ability to manoeuvre’ was examined. Secondly, sailing and steering rules of ‘vessel constrained by her draft’ was considered because she has the similar limitation of navigable water as that of a vessel constrained by her air draft. Finally, it was concluded that she is not a vessel that has lost her manoeuvrability or a vessel whose ability is restricted due to the nature of her work to the extent that she is unable to keep out of the way of another vessel. In addition, compared to a vessel constrained by her draft, she may take more responsibility to give a considerable duty of care to the conduct of other vessels under the present rule. Therefore, for the sake of seamen who operate a vessel constrained by her air draft, a separate definition needs to be included into COLREG such as that of ‘vessel constrained by her draft’, and importantly the respon-sibility relation over other vessels must be enacted in terms of the equal status with that of ‘vessel constrained by her draft’.