Section 13: Name of Ship

(1)
Every ship shall be registered by name in the register and accordingly, no two or more ships shall bear the same name.
(2)
The Registrar may refuse to register a ship by a name proposed for registration if the name is already the name of a Nigerian ship or a name calculated to deceive or to offend the public interest.
(3)
A Nigerian ship shall not be described by any name other than that by which the ship is for the time being registered.
(4)
Where a foreign ship, not having at any previous time been registered in Nigeria, becomes the property of persons qualified to own a registered Nigerian ship, no person shall apply to register that ship at a port of registry in Nigeria except by the name which the ship bore as a foreign ship immediately before the ship became the property of persons qualified to own a registered Nigerian ship:
Provided that no registrar at any port of registry in Nigeria shall knowingly register the ship by any other name without the prior approval in writing of the Agency.
(5)
A person who acts or permits any person under his control to act, in contravention of this section or omits to do or permits any person under his control to omit to do, anything required by this section, commits an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine not less than one hundred thousand Naira; and, except in the case of anapplication being made under this section with respect to a ship which has not at any previous time been registered in Nigeria, the ship may be detained until this section is complied with.