© 2026 Observater Surveys and Services Group. All rights reserved.
Observater Surveys and Services Group · Lagos · Apapa • Tin Can • Lekki • Anchorage
Our marine surveyors in Lagos attend vessels at Apapa, Tin Can Island, Lekki, and the Lagos anchorage 24/7: vessel condition surveys, on-hire and off-hire surveys, hull and machinery damage surveys, marine casualty investigation, P&I attendance, holds and hatch cover inspections, and bunker surveys, with who attends, when, and on what basis confirmed in writing before work begins.
The vessel is the most expensive thing in every maritime dispute, and the party without an independent marine surveyor argues about it from the other side’s report. Shipowners, managers, charterers, H&M underwriters, P&I clubs, buyers, and sellers all instruct the same surveyors, under one rule: one interest per matter.
Get a Marine Surveyor Moving Email the InstructionThe off-hire condition is a memory. A vessel redelivers and the damage argument starts: was the dent there at delivery? Without an on-hire survey to compare against, the answer is whoever shouts longest.
The casualty evidence sails away. After a grounding, a collision, or an engine room fire, the vessel leaves and the evidence leaves with it. The first hours on board decide what the file will ever contain.
The holds fail after the cargo is booked. A vessel presented for loading with holds not clean, dry, and fit costs laytime, rejection, and claims. A pre-loading inspection finds it while there is still time to fix it.
The repair bill arrives without a referee. After machinery damage, the yard’s scope and the owner’s scope rarely match, and the underwriter is asked to pay the difference. An independent survey of cause and extent is the figure all three can argue from.
Our highly trained marine surveyors carry out all types of marine surveys, ship surveys, and vessel inspections at Lagos Port, Nigeria, and across the country: vessel condition, on/off hire, hull and machinery, casualty, P&I, holds and hatch covers, and bunker surveys, at the berth and at anchorage, with the same reporting standard on every file. Cargo surveys, tally, draft, and claims run from our dedicated page for cargo surveyors in Lagos, and the full country practice from Marine and Cargo Surveys in Nigeria.
Every charter starts and ends with a condition question, and the answer should be written down while both sides can still look at the ship. Our surveyors attend on-hire and off-hire surveys at Lagos berths and anchorage: hull, decks, holds, hatch covers, cranes, and accommodation recorded compartment by compartment, existing damage photographed and listed, and bunkers established at the same attendance, so delivery and redelivery are compared against a record instead of a memory. Holds and hatch cover inspections before loading confirm the spaces are clean, dry, and fit to receive the booked cargo, while there is still time to correct what is not.
When a vessel suffers damage in Lagos waters, a grounding, a collision, heavy weather, or machinery failure, our hull and machinery surveyors investigate the cause, nature, and extent for underwriters and shipowners, stated in the form adjusters and average agreements use, with repair scopes reviewed and costs followed to completion.
Marine casualty investigators attend while the evidence is still on board: statements taken, records and data secured, physical condition photographed and measured, and the sequence of events reconstructed in a report that stands up wherever the dispute goes next, whether that is a negotiation, an adjustment, or a courtroom.
For P&I clubs, their members, and other marine insurers, our surveyors provide impartial attendance across the Lagos port complex: cargo claim surveys on the vessel’s side, condition surveys, crew and stevedore incident attendance, and casualty response, with flash findings inside a day and the full report to the standard the club applies. One appointment per matter is the standing rule: if we act for one interest in a dispute, the other side gets a different firm, which is exactly what makes the report worth instructing.
Fuel disputes are vessel disputes, and our bunker surveyors in Lagos attend the two points where fuel is paid for: on/off hire bunker surveys establishing the exact quantity on board at delivery and redelivery, and bunker quantity surveys measuring the vessel’s and the barge’s tanks before and after supply, with the bunker delivery note verified against what was actually measured. Soundings are taken on our own instruments, temperatures and densities applied, the calculation attached, and shortage investigations pursued to their source.
One team, one fight
The same marine surveying discipline runs at every Nigerian port: Lagos, Port Harcourt, Onne, Warri, and Calabar, so a vessel calling more than one port keeps one file, one standard, and one point of contact for the whole rotation. Findings reach the instructing party first, and the report reads the same wherever it was written.
WhatsApp a Marine Surveyor ops@observater.com“The off-hire report read like the on-hire report: same order, same compartments, same photographs. The redelivery dispute lasted one phone call.”
Fleet manager, shipowner
“Flash findings the same evening, and the full report in the club’s format inside the week.”
Claims executive, marine insurer
“They were on board before the other side’s surveyor had even been appointed. That order decided the file.”
Ship operator, Lagos
We answer 24/7, and a surveyor can be moving to any Lagos berth or the anchorage at short notice, with who attends, when, and on what basis confirmed in writing before work begins, usually within hours of instruction.
Yes. Attendance runs at the berths of Apapa, Tin Can Island, and Lekki, and at the Lagos anchorage, with boat transfer arranged as part of the attendance.
The vessel’s condition recorded compartment by compartment, existing damage photographed and listed, holds and hatch covers inspected, and bunkers established at the same attendance, so delivery and redelivery are compared against a record instead of a memory.
Yes: groundings, collisions, fires, heavy weather, and machinery failures, attended while the evidence is still on board, with the sequence of events reconstructed in a report written to be used in a negotiation, an adjustment, or a courtroom.
Yes, from a dedicated team: container, tally, draft, bagged cargo, vehicle discharge, damage, and cargo claims, on our page for cargo surveyors in Lagos.
Named surveyor, scope in writing. Before anything starts you know who attends, when, and exactly what they will do, on paper.
The fee agreed first. The fee is put in writing before work begins, so the decision is made with the numbers in front of you.
One interest per matter. If we act for the other side in your dispute, we tell you and decline. Independence is the product.
Work starts on your go-ahead. Nothing begins until you confirm in writing, and the findings reach you first, in confidence. We answer 24/7.
The fee depends on the scope: the vessel, the matter, and the number of attendances it needs. Tell us the vessel and the situation and we reply with the scope and the fee in writing before work begins, so the decision is made with the numbers in front of you.
When precision matters, your partner of choice
Tell us the vessel and the matter, and our marine surveyors in Lagos confirm who attends, when, and on what basis, in writing, before anything starts.
Get a Marine Surveyor Moving Email the InstructionInternational 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 · All attendances are performed under our standard terms of business, available on request. Also see: Cargo Surveyors in Lagos · Marine & Cargo Surveys in Nigeria.
When precision matters, Observater Surveys Group is your Partner of Choice
© 2026 Observater Surveys and Services Group. All rights reserved.