The Claims Review - Issue 36, April 2017

13/04/2017

Off duty messages

It was the weekend and a member of a tanker broker’s operations staff was not on duty. A message was received on their phone, which was linked to their individual email address.

13/04/2017

An underestimated letter of guarantee

A South American port agent acted for a ship that discharged a bulk cargo at his port. There was a cargo shortage in an amount that exceeded the customs allowance, which meant that there would be customs duty and possibly a fine to pay.

13/04/2017

Jack-up barge punches through sandy bottom

In 2007, an offshore consultant performed a site assessment for a jackup crane barge. The site was known to have some inherent difficulties for jack-up operations due to the underlying layer of soft clay which could potentially lead to a “punch-through” of the one of the jack-up’s legs.

13/04/2017

February is the shortest month

Ship broker fixed a vessel for an initial period of 3 months with subsequent optional periods of 3 months. The optional periods were declarable 30 days prior to expiry of the preceding period.

13/04/2017

The forgotten tug costs

A Scandinavian port agent was asked by the owners of a ship to provide a proforma disbursement account for a call at their port.

13/04/2017

Employment terms

A commercial manager fixed a ship that had been under his management for several years for a project voyage to Finland.

13/04/2017

An unacceptable tanker

A pool manager misdescribed a tanker as being acceptable to a specific oil major, even though he had received an email from the head owners prior to fixing that stated she had been rejected by them. This email was overlooked by the pool manager when the tanker was fixed for a spot voyage to load ULSD (ultra low sulphur diesel).

13/04/2017

Towing trouble

A ferry operating in North America was due to be towed to a shipyard to undergo a refit. A marine surveyor was engaged by the shipyard to undertake a “fit for tow” survey and provide a certificate of approval confirming that the towage arrangements as between the tug and the ferry were satisfactory. The marine surveyor completed his survey and issued the certificate of approval.

Not a negligent design

A Canadian naval architect contracted to provide design advice for the modification to a refrigeration system in the refrigeration-compressor room of a fishing vessel.

13/04/2017

A floating but listing restaurant

A naval architect was appointed to design a barge, that was intended to be used as a floating restaurant. There were stability issues stemming from the fact that the architect had failed to take into account the weight of the vessel’s mooring system and access footbridge, and this led to a visible list.

13/04/2017

A protected password

The clearance of import containers discharged at a Saudi Arabian port was delayed by two months due to the local ship agent’s inability to submit the import manifest in respect of the containers and cargo to the Saudi customs authority via their SAUDI ELECTRONIC DATA INFORMATION (SEDI) system.

13/04/2017

New protection from unexpected financial losses

Ship agents can predict their financial exposure to the usual costs of a port call but there are occasions when unexpected developments mean the final disbursement account is far greater than could have been anticipated.

13/04/2017

New agency appointment agreement

FONASBA and BIMCO have recently published a new agreement for use by ship agents.