© 2026 Observater Surveys and Services Group. All rights reserved.
Observater Surveys and Services Group · Any Port · Any Hour
One message reaches every desk in the group, for any port in Africa and beyond. Tell us the vessel, the container, or the consignment, and the surveyor’s name, the scope, the attendance time, and the fee come back in writing before work begins.
Email the Instruction WhatsApp the Desk Say Hello To Our Experts 👋Start Here: Email
The instruction desk’s home channel, watched around the clock: instructions, documents, nominations, B/Ls, charterparties, and claims files all land here, and either address reaches the group.
By phone
Speak to the desk directly. If a line is engaged, the other rings through to the same team.
On the Move: WhatsApp
Handy from the quay or the road, and good for photos of cargo, seals, and documents. For instructions, an email to the desk is the surest route; WhatsApp works alongside it.
You do not need to know which survey you need, and you do not need all the details. Send what you have, and we will ask for the rest. If it helps, copy the lines below into an email or WhatsApp and fill in what you know:
That is enough for the desk to come back to you with the surveyor’s name, the scope, the attendance time, and the fee, in writing, before anything starts.
Every field is optional: complete what you can and press send. Clients, surveyors joining the network, and partner firms can all use this form; it routes to the right desk on its own. Your message opens in WhatsApp or your email app, addressed to the desk, ready to go.
Nothing is stored on this page: the button simply opens your own email or WhatsApp with the message written for you. The surveyor’s name, scope, attendance time, and fee come back in writing before work begins.
Corporate desks, P&I files, and tender procedures sometimes want the instruction on paper. Download the Observater Survey Instruction Form (Word), fill in what you know, and attach it to an email to ops@observater.com, or send a photo of the filled form by WhatsApp. Partial information is enough to start.
1. You send the matter. WhatsApp, phone, or email, any hour of any day, in whatever detail you have.
2. We confirm in writing. The surveyor’s name, the scope, the attendance time, and the fee reach you on paper before anything starts.
3. The attendance happens. Findings recorded as found, photographed, timed, and placed, with protests issued while they matter.
4. You read it first. First findings shared quickly where the matter is live, and the full report issued to you before anyone else.
Cargo does not wait, and neither does evidence
The first hours decide what the file will ever contain: the seal before it is broken again, the drafts before the operation ends, the damage before it spreads, the protest while it still carries weight. Whichever seat you hold, send the matter now and the attendance details come back in writing, so the decision is made with the numbers in front of you, not after the evidence has left.
Email: Urgent Attendance Call the DeskImporters, receivers & traders. A count and condition record that gives you a fair basis to claim rather than absorb the loss.
Exporters & producers. Weight, sampling, and certificates fixed at loading: your voice at a destination you will never visit.
Owners, managers & charterers. Condition, holds, drafts, and bunkers fixed in writing at every hinge of the charter.
P&I clubs & correspondents. One appointment per matter, impartial attendance at any hour, first findings shared quickly.
Insurers, adjusters & banks. Cause, custody, and quantum established independently, and financed stock verified where it sits.
Forwarders, agents & terminals. Independent records that protect the honest operator and cover the links you never controlled.
The desk covers far more than the quay. We offer all round cargo and marine survey services in ports, cargo yards, warehouses, and job sites, and the same instruction line carries inland assignments: warehouse and stock verification, receiving and delivery counts at ICDs and depots, road and rail transit damage, project sites days from the coast, and claims investigated wherever the loss actually sits. It also carries technical and engineering assignments: equipment, plant, and machinery inspection, project cargo and warranty surveys, insurance risk surveys, technical inspections, and engineering consultancy, alongside aviation cargo surveys where the freight flies instead of sails. If the matter needs an independent set of eyes and a report that holds, describe it and send it: the desk will tell you what it needs and who attends.
Djibouti Office
Djibouti. Bunker, cargo, and marine attendance at the crossroads of the Red Sea trade, from the group’s own desk in the port city.
Mozambique Office
Maputo. Serving Maputo, Beira, and Nacala and the Southern Gates corridors, with the group’s own people on the ground.
West & Central Africa
Lagos to Dakar, Douala to Matadi. The gateways of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic coast, attended through the group’s active operations and stationed surveyors.
Rest of Africa & Worldwide
Any port, one line. More than 64 ports across over 35 African countries, and worldwide on the same instruction line: name the port, and the desk that covers it answers. See Africa coverage and global coverage.
Tanzania Office
Dar es Salaam. Serving Dar es Salaam, Tanga, Mtwara, and Zanzibar, and the Central Corridor behind them, with the group’s own people on the ground.
Kenya · Headquarters
Mombasa. Amir Suites, 1st Floor, Room B6, Ganjoni, Sauti ya Kenya Road; claims office at Express House, Moi Avenue. The desk that answers around the clock. Get directions.
The instruction desk is answered around the clock, every day of the year, and urgent matters are treated as urgent: if a vessel is alongside or cargo is moving, say so, and the attendance is arranged to the operation, not to office hours.
The fee follows the scope: the cargo or vessel, the attendances, and what must be measured or sampled. It reaches you in writing before work begins, so the decision is made with the numbers in front of you, and a single well-documented consignment often saves far more than the survey costs.
Yes, and please do: describing the problem is enough. Tell us what is happening and where, and the desk will tell you what the matter needs, what it will cost, and who will attend, before you commit to anything.
The group attends more than 64 ports across over 35 African countries, with worldwide reach on the same instruction line. Name the port in your message and the desk that covers it answers.
Yes. Enquiries and instructions are handled in confidence, and we act for one interest per matter: if the other side of your dispute has already instructed us, we say so and stand aside rather than hold both files.
Yes: matters beyond the continent run on the same instruction line, under the group’s standard and quality review, so you deal with one desk from origin to destination.
No. The same desk handles inland and non-marine assignments: warehouses, cargo yards, ICDs, project sites, road and rail transit, equipment and plant inspection, insurance risk surveys, and engineering consultancy. If it needs independent eyes and a report that holds, it belongs on this line.
Careers: surveyors across Africa. Marine and cargo surveyors who hold themselves to our standard are welcome to write with a CV and the ports they know: careers@observater.com.
Partnerships & agency. Firms and correspondents who want to work under the group’s instruction line and reporting standard: partners@observater.com.
Accounts, suppliers & everything else. Invoices, statements, vendor matters, and any enquiry that is not an instruction: gen@observater.com.
One interest per matter, in writing before work begins
Every operation produces figures, and the figures always serve somebody. One message to this desk puts an independent set of them on your side: taken by our surveyors, recorded as found, and reported to you first. Send the vessel, the consignment, or the dispute, and who attends, when, and at what fee comes back in writing before anything starts.
Email the Instruction WhatsApp the DeskInternational Marine Cargo Surveyors, Claims Handlers and Technical Consultants in Africa. On-ground expertise, global reach: anywhere you go in Africa, we are already there, with capacity to serve globally.
Observater Surveys and Services Group · ops@observater.com · +254 776 960 820 · All attendances are performed under our standard terms of business, available on request. Also see: About the group · Africa coverage · Global coverage.
When precision matters, Observater Surveys Group is your Partner of Choice
© 2026 Observater Surveys and Services Group. All rights reserved.