© 2026 Observater Surveys and Services Group. All rights reserved.
Kenya · Mombasa · Lamu · Nairobi · Head Office of the Group
Our highly trained marine cargo surveyors carry out all types of cargo and marine surveys and inspections at the Port of Mombasa, Kenya — and from this head office the same discipline covers Lamu, Nairobi, every ICD, warehouse, and industrial site in the country, and every consignment moving through Kenya to the nations behind it. We offer all round cargo and marine survey services in ports, cargo yards, warehouses, and job sites. One interest per matter: we act for your side only, and our surveyors write what the evidence shows — which is why the report in your hands holds when the other side pushes back.
Kenya is where Observater Surveys and Services Group stands at full strength. The head office of the group sits in Mombasa, minutes from the gates of Kilindini, with the claims office on Moi Avenue and surveyors resident where the work is. That means attendance in Kenya is not arranged through anyone: the surveyor who boards, tallies, samples, and signs is ours, on our own ground, under the reporting standard the group carries across Africa. Whether you are a Kenyan importer, an underwriter in London, a trader in Dubai, or a receiver in Kampala whose cargo only touches Kenya on its way home, the desk that answers is the head office itself — and it answers around the clock.
Once the last sling is landed and the vessel sails, the numbers that were never recorded can never be recovered. What our surveyor writes at the hook and at the weighbridge is what the claim, the charterparty debate, and the bank file stand on.
Notice periods on sea carriage are short, and a damage found in a Nairobi warehouse weeks after discharge is a claim already bleeding. The earlier the survey, the stronger every option that follows.
A certificate that does not match the credit wording is a payment delayed or refused. Our pre-shipment and loading certificates are written against the instrument, so the documents move as cleanly as the cargo.
Shortage, wetting, crushing, pilferage, contamination — every one of them argues about where it happened. An independent record at each custody point pins the loss where it belongs, so you do not pay what the evidence supports laying at another door.
East Africa’s gateway: container terminals, conventional berths, bulk grain and clinker discharge, oil terminals at Kipevu and Shimanzi, and the anchorage where stems, STS operations, and waiting vessels sit. Our surveyors are minutes from every berth, any hour, every day of the year.
Bunker stems, ship-to-ship transfers, pre-loading condition checks, and surveys on vessels waiting for a berth — attended by launch, with the same evidence standard that holds alongside.
The new deep-water berths at Lamu are drawing transshipment, project cargo, and corridor traffic north toward Ethiopia and South Sudan. We attend Lamu on the group’s own line — the Lamu desk is below.
ICD Nairobi and Naivasha, the SGR railheads, JKIA air cargo, the industrial belts of Athi River and Ruaraka, and the Northern Corridor to Malaba and Busia — surveyed by the same head office, the Nairobi desks are below.
Discharge is where Kenya’s cargo story is decided. Our discharge surveyors attend from first hatch opening to last delivery: outturn against manifest and bill of lading, condition on the hook, damage segregated and photographed as it is found, slack and torn bags counted rather than estimated, and a Statement of Facts that stands when the vessel, the terminal, and the receiver each remember a different day. Rice, wheat, sugar, fertilizer, clinker, steel, bagged and bulk alike — discharge survey and damage investigation is the desk this office was built on.
Supervision continues beyond the quay: tallies reconciled at the gate, weighbridge results checked against draft figures, and delivery to CFS, ICD, or warehouse witnessed so the custody chain never goes dark between ship and store. Loading, stowage and discharge surveys run under one instruction.
Exports leave Kenya against instruments that read words precisely: letters of credit, sales contracts, phytosanitary and quality clauses. Our pre-loading, cargo and container inspection desk verifies condition, quantity, marking, and packing before the seal goes on, and issues certificates written against the credit wording — tea and coffee lots, fresh produce, minerals, steel, machinery, and containerised general cargo. The exporter is paid on the documents; we make sure the documents deserve it.
Pre-shipment inspection also protects the buyer abroad: an importer in Jeddah, Rotterdam, or Karachi can hold Kenyan cargo to specification before it sails, with our report as the independent eye at origin.
Kenya’s exports are not only grown — they are also built and reclaimed. Machinery and plant from decommissioned sites, manufactured goods from the industrial belt, steel fabrications, and used equipment sold on to buyers across the region all leave through Mombasa, and each carries its own pre-shipment questions: identity and serial numbers against the contract, completeness, condition and preservation for the voyage, dismantling and packing fit to survive handling, and lashing and securing checked before the doors close or the deck is lashed. Our surveyors inspect and certify these cargoes at the site, the yard, and the port — so a turbine from a retired plant or a container of manufactured goods sails with the same defensible paperwork as a season’s tea.
For bulk cargo, the draft survey is the scale of the ship itself. Our surveyors read drafts fore, aft, and midships, apply density and deductibles, and certify quantity loaded or discharged — the figure the freight, the shortage claim, and the charterparty settlement all turn on. Dry cargo discharge supervision, draft survey and tally count in Mombasa is a dedicated desk, and its numbers are defended line by line.
Tally teams run parallel at the hook and the gate: sling counts, bag counts, unit counts on vehicles and steel, reconciled daily so a discrepancy is caught while it can still be explained — not discovered in an outturn report weeks later.
Containers argue in silence: an intact seal against a short box, a clean EIR against wet cartons. We attend stuffing and devanning at Mombasa, the CFSs, ICD Nairobi and Naivasha — seals verified and photographed, condition recorded as doors open, damage segregated with the liner and depot on notice the same day. Container cargo damage and shortage inspection is among the oldest lines this office runs.
For reefer boxes, the record extends to set points, supply air, and the download that shows what temperatures the cargo actually lived through — the difference between a rejected claim and a paid one.
Cross-stuffing and transloading are supervised end to end: cargo counted and condition-checked out of one box and into the next, seals broken and applied on record, and the new container inspected before it takes the load — so the shipment’s paperwork survives the change of box.
Every vehicle that rolls off at Mombasa is a claim waiting to be argued: yard scratches blamed on the voyage, voyage dents blamed on the yard. Our vehicle discharge surveyors inspect each unit as it lands — dents, scratches, chips, glass, mirrors, interiors, keys, batteries, and mileage recorded against the VIN on a unit-by-unit checklist — then follow the custody chain from ship’s ramp through the port yard to CFS and delivery, so damage is identified at the point it happened, while the party responsible is still standing beside it.
The same discipline covers RORO units of every kind: trucks, buses, machinery on wheels, trailers, and boats on cradles. Tallies reconcile units landed against the manifest, missing accessories are recorded before the yard swallows the question, and the file reads clean for the importer, the insurer, and the line alike.
Bagged rice from the East is Mombasa’s daily bread: slack bags, tears, hook damage, wetting, and infestation are found at the hook, counted honestly, and segregated before they contaminate the sound stack.
Bulk wheat and grain move by grab and pipeline into silo: draft figures against shore scale, sweepings recorded, moisture and contamination sampled at the point where responsibility can still be assigned.
Caking, wetting, and shortage travel with fertilizer everywhere it sails. Fertilizer discharge, tally and condition survey is a named desk of this office: condition on opening, tally through discharge, and caked or hardened tonnage quantified rather than argued.
Sugar takes water; clinker takes everything else. Both are surveyed hatch by hatch with the same rule: measure, photograph, and record while the evidence still exists.
Steel coils, pipes, and structurals are damage magnets from stow to store: rust grading, dents, cut edges, and handling marks are recorded coil by coil with the tally, so the steel survey file speaks for every unit. For the loads that stop traffic — transformers, turbines, plant modules, wind energy components — the Kenya project cargo desk attends lifting, lashing, transport, and delivery, with wind energy component inspections as a dedicated line and warranty-style attendance on request through the project cargo file for Kenya, Lamu and Uganda.
Kenya exports freshness and imports it too: fruit, vegetables, fish, meat, and pharmaceuticals live or die by the cold chain. Our reefer surveyors read the container before the cargo — set point, delivery air, defrost record, the download — then the cargo itself: pulp temperatures, packing, pre-cooling, and condition at stuffing or devanning. Fruit inspections, cold container damage surveys, and cold store audits run from the same desk, at the port and inland.
On the vessel side, Mombasa’s marine desk carries every survey an owner, charterer, or club instructs in Kenyan waters: bunker quantity surveys, ROB surveys, condition surveys, hatch and hold inspection, and hatch watertight testing at berth and anchorage; on-hire and off-hire condition and bunker surveys where charters begin and end; holds and hatch covers passed fit before loading; P&I attendance and club entry condition surveys; and casualty response through the Mombasa port desk with marine claims handlers behind it. MARPOL sampling and ullage work run alongside liquid cargo superintendence at the oil terminals.
Cargo damage surveys in Kenya cover every way a consignment loses value — found at the hook, in the box, in the warehouse, or on the road:
Every damage file ends at a decision: claim, recover, or defend. The Kenya claims management desk quantifies the loss, ties cause to custody, and hands insurers, receivers, and lawyers a file built to be paid on — and where the claim lands on our client’s side, defended with the same evidence. Insurance surveys and risk management close the loop before the next shipment.
A number without a sample is an opinion. Our surveyors draw representative samples at discharge, loading, and in store — grain, fertilizer, sugar, tea, coffee, edible oils, fuels — sealed, labelled, and split with counterparts so no side can question the chain. Moisture, contamination, quality, and infestation testing is coordinated with accredited laboratories in Mombasa and Nairobi, and the certificate lands in the same file as the survey it supports.
Deliveries from the port witnessed in: counts at the door against the outturn, condition on arrival, and discrepancies raised while the transporter is still in the yard — from Mombasa go-downs to Nairobi distribution centres.
Stuffing supervised, quality checked, seals applied and certified — so what the documents promise is what the container carries, for tea, coffee, produce, and consolidated general cargo.
Physical stock counts against books for banks, insurers, and owners; periodic monitoring programmes; warehouse condition audits covering infrastructure, security, and environmental controls — the quiet work that keeps financed stock financeable. Cargo superintendence runs continuous custody where the exposure justifies it.
Equipment inspection, receiving surveys on imported machinery, damage attendance, and technical and cargo inspections at factories from Athi River to Eldoret — with engineering consultancy where the question goes deeper than condition.
Weighbridge audits, bagging checks, and reconciliation between ship figures, gate figures, and store figures — the three numbers that must agree before anyone is paid.
If cargo of value sits in it, moves through it, or leaves from it, it can be surveyed: silos, tank farms, cold stores, yards, and sites days from the sea.
Warehouse inspection in Kenya is its own discipline, separate from counting what sits inside. Before cargo is received, the store itself is surveyed; before a warehouse is selected for rice, sugar, fertilizer, tea, electronics, or project spares, its suitability for that cargo is tested; and before an insurer binds cover, the risk inspection tells the underwriter what the premium is actually carrying. Our warehouse inspectors examine structure and roof integrity, water and damp paths, ventilation, floor condition and load capacity, odour and taint that would ruin sensitive cargo, pest history, segregation, fire protection and escape, security and theft exposure, access, and housekeeping — the categories where warehouse losses actually begin.
Silo inspections run alongside: condition, cleanliness, moisture behaviour, and fitness for the grain about to enter. Findings land as a clear report with photographs and recommendations, written for the owner choosing a store, the trader committing a season’s stock, or the insurer pricing the risk — and repeat inspections track whether what was promised stays true.
Inside the EPZs at Athi River and beyond, exports are born under bond: we inspect and verify production lots, witness container stuffing at the zone, check condition, count, and marking against the export documents, and issue the certificates buyers and banks abroad instruct — so zone cargo ships with independent evidence from behind the fence.
Cement, steel, and the EPZ cluster: receiving surveys on imported plant and raw materials, equipment and machinery inspection, damage attendance, and pre-shipment work at the factories themselves — the industrial belt’s own survey desk.
Thika’s factories and agro-processors, and their kin across the country: raw material receiving, stock verification, warehouse and silo inspection, and condition surveys on machinery and manufactured goods — attended on the head office’s own line.
Lamu is Kenya’s newest deep-water gateway, and cargo that chooses it deserves the same witness Mombasa gets. We attend the LAPSSET berths for discharge and loading surveys, transshipment condition checks, project cargo moving north toward Ethiopia and South Sudan, and vessel-side work at berth and anchorage — on the group’s own instruction line from the Mombasa head office, with project cargo attendance at Lamu already a named file. Instruct once; the desk handles the distance.
Nairobi is where Kenya’s cargo is bought, financed, insured, cleared, flown, and consumed — and where damage discovered late usually goes unclaimed. Cargo surveys in Nairobi run from the head office’s own line, in the capital the day they are needed: cargo inspection at JKIA and ICD Nairobi, warehouse and stock surveys, damage surveys, pre-shipment inspection, and plant and equipment inspection across the industrial belt.
When the freight flies, the evidence must move at aircraft speed. At Jomo Kenyatta International Airport we survey air cargo on arrival and before uplift: condition and count at the transit sheds, damage to high-value consignments recorded before clearance scatters the proof, temperature-sensitive and pharmaceutical shipments checked against the cold chain the airway bill promised, and export perishables — flowers, vegetables, fish — verified before they board. Airlines, ground handlers, consignees, and insurers instruct the same desk; the report reaches you before the next rotation.
The dry port is where Mombasa’s custody chain reaches the capital: we witness devanning at ICD Nairobi and Naivasha, verify seals after the rail leg, record condition as boxes open, and tie any loss to ship, rail, or depot — while each can still answer for it. The container that left the quay clean must open clean; when it does not, our report says where it stopped being so.
Distribution centres along Mombasa Road, Ruaraka, and Industrial Area receive what the port sends: we attend deliveries in, count and condition-check against outturn documents, run stock verification and monitoring programmes for banks and insurers, and audit warehouse conditions — so financed and insured stock in the capital is never a number on trust.
Coffee from the mills, avocado and fresh produce from the packhouses, manufactured goods from the industrial belt: inspected against contract and credit wording before departure, with certificates written to move payment, not delay it. The buyer abroad gets an independent eye at origin; the Kenyan exporter gets documents that clear the bank first pass.
Imported machinery received at Athi River, plant inspected before commissioning, equipment condition surveyed for sale, finance, or insurance — the technical inspection desk works the capital’s factories with engineering consultancy behind it for the questions that need calculation, not just observation.
From Naivasha and Kiambu packhouses to the JKIA freight aprons, Kenya’s flowers and fresh produce race the clock: we verify pre-cooling, packing, and pulp temperatures at origin, audit cold stores, and attend rejections and temperature claims with the download in hand — because in this trade the difference between profit and loss is measured in degrees and hours.
Damage discovered in Nairobi — on devanning, in store, after road transit — is attended within the capital, photographed, quantified, and tied to its cause, with the Kenya claims desk carrying the file from first finding to settlement. Late discovery is not lost ground if the survey moves the day you call.
From Mombasa through Voi, Nairobi, and Nakuru to the Malaba and Busia borders: transit damage attendance, escort and custody surveys for sensitive cargo, and road accident response where the loss happens at kilometre marks, not berths.
Devanning, seal verification, and receiving surveys where the SGR hands cargo to the road — the newest custody point in the chain, witnessed like the oldest.
Lake Victoria traffic to Uganda and Tanzania, fuel and general cargo at the pier, and warehouse work across western Kenya — attended from the same instruction line.
Grain stores, fertilizer distribution, industrial receiving, and airport cargo at Eldoret International — the upcountry desks reach where the cargo actually lives.
Malaba, Busia, Namanga, Taveta, Moyale: condition and count where custody changes country, so a dispute two nations later has a record from the line itself.
If it is in Kenya and it matters enough to argue about, it is close enough to survey. Distance is our problem, not yours.
Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, eastern DR Congo, Ethiopia: most of what Mombasa and Lamu handle belongs to nations beyond the border, and the owner in Kampala or Juba carries the longest custody chain with the least visibility. Instruct the head office once and the chain lights up: discharge witnessed at the port, condition recorded into rail or road, seals verified at the border, and damage attendance beyond it on the group’s own line — one file, one standard, from ship’s hook to your gate. Your goods move through Kenya; your evidence moves with them.
People reach this desk from every direction: searching for a surveyor in Kenya or a cargo surveyor in Nairobi, a marine surveyor in Mombasa, fertilizer discharge surveyors, grain and bulk commodity surveyors, container and seal inspectors, or independent surveyors for pre-loading inspection, cross-stuffing supervision, and cargo damage surveys at the port. Fertilizer importers, grain and edible oil receivers, traders in every commodity, clearing and forwarding agents instructing for their clients, insurers, banks, and shipowners — every one of them lands at the same head office, and every instruction gets the same answer: the surveyor’s name, the scope, and the fee in writing before work begins. If cargo or a vessel in Kenya needs independent eyes, this is the desk that sends them.
Outturn, condition, and shortage evidence at discharge and delivery — before you accept, pay, or claim.
Pre-shipment, loading, and LC certificates that move payment and defend your price at destination.
Damage surveys, cause analysis, and quantified claim files across every port, ICD, and warehouse in Kenya.
Attendance on members’ vessels at Mombasa and Lamu: cargo claims, condition, casualty, and everything alongside.
Bunker, on-hire, off-hire, holds and hatch covers, draft — the vessel-side record where charters begin, end, and disagree.
Stock verification, collateral condition, and independent certificates behind financed cargo and warehoused goods.
A surveyor at the point of trouble the same day, and a report your principal accepts without argument.
Quantity and quality determined independently at each transfer, so the contract argues less and settles faster.
Evidence gathered to litigation standard, from first photographs to the file that decides the matter.
Discharge surveyors, loading surveyors, tally surveyors, and draft surveyors in Mombasa; cargo damage surveys in Kenya from the quay to the furthest warehouse.
Ship surveyors in Mombasa and Lamu, at berth and at anchorage, any hour of any day.
We act for your side only. No tally for the receiver while adjusting for the insurer; no divided loyalty anywhere in the file.
Surveyor’s name, scope, attendance time, and fee confirmed before boots move — and first findings shared promptly.
Kenya is where the group lives: Mombasa HQ, Moi Avenue claims office, surveyors resident at the coast and reaching the capital and corridor daily.
Photographs, figures, causes, and custody — written for the bank, the underwriter, the club, and the court, not the shelf.
Both, and everything between. The head office is in Mombasa; Nairobi has dedicated desks for JKIA air cargo, ICD Nairobi, warehouses and stock, pre-shipment certificates, plant and technical inspections, and perishables — attended from our own line, not through third parties.
Yes. Discharge at Mombasa or Lamu, rail or road custody, border seal verification, and attendance beyond the border run as one instructed file, so the owner inland sees the whole chain, not just the port.
Yes. The LAPSSET berths are attended on the group’s own line for discharge, loading, transshipment, project cargo, and vessel-side surveys.
Attendance at the operation, count and condition against documents, photographs, sampling where quality is in play, segregation of damage, and a report tying quantity, condition, and cause together — scoped to the instruction and confirmed in writing before work begins.
Daily. Bunker quantity, ROB, and stem surveys at berth and anchorage, and draft surveys certifying bulk quantity — both with dedicated desks and their own detailed pages.
The desk is answered around the clock, every day of the year, and urgent matters are treated as urgent: attendance is arranged to the operation, not to office hours. Scope and timing are confirmed in writing when you instruct.
Most of our instructions come from abroad: underwriters, traders, clubs, and receivers instruct by email, and the report reaches them the same way — with the certificate, sample, or evidence their instrument requires.
Daily, and gladly: C&F agents are among this desk’s most frequent instructing parties. You instruct, we attend — damage, devanning, pre-loading, cross-stuffing, or any port inspection — and the report is written so your principal accepts it without argument. Your client relationship stays yours; the evidence work is ours.
Yes — zone and bonded inspections are arranged through the instructing party’s access: production verification, stuffing supervision, and export certificates issued from inside the fence at Athi River and other zones.
Fees follow scope: a container devanning differs from a week of bulk discharge. Describe the matter and the fee comes back in writing with the surveyor’s name and attendance time, before any work begins.
From the hook at Kilindini to a warehouse door in Kampala, every pair of hands on your consignment answers to someone else — the terminal, the line, the transporter. The surveyor is the one pair that answers only to you, and the report is the one record that follows the cargo itself.
Observater Surveys and Services Group — Marine & Cargo Surveyors and Claims Handlers. Head office: Mombasa, Kenya. Related: Bunker Surveys Mombasa · Draft Survey & Tally Mombasa · Mombasa Cargo Surveyors · Loading & Pre-Shipment Kenya · Project Cargo Kenya · Kenya Claims Management · Technical Inspections · Africa Cargo Inspections · Contact
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