© 2026 Observater Surveys and Services Group. All rights reserved.
Observater Surveys and Services Group · Mombasa, Kenya
Sugar, rice, wheat, fertilizer, steel, containers, and project cargo: whatever lands at Mombasa, somebody’s figures decide who pays for what went missing or arrived damaged. If they are not your figures, they are the terminal’s, the carrier’s, or the other side’s. Observater Marine and Cargo Surveyors serve every berth, yard, and warehouse the port touches, and every stakeholder the trade produces.
Our cargo surveyors and claims handlers work the Port of Mombasa, Lamu Port, the CFSs, and the warehouses across Kenya around the clock, counting, weighing, sampling, and documenting, so the consignment travels with an independent record from the ship’s rail to wherever your interest in it ends. Importers and consignees, shippers and exporters, charterers, owners and shipping lines, forwarders, and the insurers, underwriters, and P&I clubs behind them all instruct the same surveyors, under one rule: one interest per matter.
Get a Surveyor Moving in MombasaEmail the InstructionObservater Marine and Cargo Surveyors carry out all types of marine and cargo surveys and inspections at Mombasa Port, Kenya, and work from Mombasa the way the port itself works: around the clock, at every berth, and on every cargo, container, and vessel.
On the cargo side: discharge surveys and discharge supervision, loading, pre-loading, and stowage surveys, tally surveys with independent tally clerks, draft surveys and bulk weight determination, container, seal, and devanning surveys, cargo damage surveys, pre-shipment inspection with certificates to letter-of-credit wording, cargo superintendence, loss control, and warehouse and stock verification.
On the marine side: ship and vessel condition surveys, on-hire and off-hire surveys, holds and hatch cover inspections, hatch cover watertight testing, hull and machinery damage surveys, casualty attendance, P&I attendance and club entry condition surveys, bunker quantity and ROB surveys with MARPOL sampling, and in-water hull inspections through approved divers.
Headquartered on Sauti ya Kenya Road with the claims office on Moi Avenue, Observater Surveys and Services Group serves Mombasa’s importers, exporters, shipowners, charterers, insurers, P&I correspondents, banks, forwarders, and traders with independent figures and clear, well-organised reports.
From the container terminals and conventional berths of Kilindini Harbour to the grain and clinker facilities, the Kipevu oil terminal, the Shimanzi and Changamwe warehouse belt, the ICDs on the SGR, and the anchorage, with Lamu attended from the same desk: one instruction covers it all, with the scope, the surveyor, and the fee confirmed in writing before work begins.
Whatever brought you here, the answer is the same team: Observater Cargo Surveyors for the cargo side, Observater Marine Surveyors for the vessel side, and the group’s claims handlers when a loss needs attention. We act for one interest per matter, and we are easy to work with: tell us the vessel, the container, or the consignment, and we take it from there.
Kilindini Harbour & the container terminals. Discharge and loading supervision, container and seal surveys, interchange condition, and devanning counts at the terminals and the CFSs behind them.
The conventional and bulk berths. Draft surveys, tally, holds inspections, and superintendence on grain, clinker, fertilizer, steel, and every breakbulk parcel the port works.
Kipevu, Shimanzi & the tank farms. Liquid cargo superintendence, ullage discipline at custody transfer, and bunker attendance at the berth and by launch at anchorage, through the group’s Mombasa and Lamu bunker desk.
The SGR, the ICDs & the Northern Corridor. The file follows the cargo inland: seal verification, warehouse receiving, and claims investigation to Nairobi, Kampala, and Kigali, on one instruction.
The weighbridge says you are 300 bags short. Are you? Shore scales drift, dispatch gets chaotic, and a shortage claim is often a paper illusion. Without an independent tally and draft survey, the terminal’s figure becomes your loss, real or not.
Your rice arrives with weevils, and everyone points backward. Infestation at the store looks the same whether it boarded at origin or bred in the warehouse. Sampling and inspection at discharge fixes when it happened, which fixes who pays.
The container seal is intact, and the cargo is short anyway. An intact seal does not mean a full box; it means the doors stayed shut since somebody closed them. Devanning attendance with seal verification points shortfall to its real leg.
Your steel is rejected over rust nobody will own. Atmospheric sweat and seawater wetting are different problems with different owners, and chemistry can tell them apart. Untested, the rejection stands and the argument is opinion against opinion.
Observater Surveys and Services Ltd is an independent marine and cargo surveying and claims handling company based in Mombasa, Kenya. Our highly trained cargo surveyors carry out all types of cargo surveys and inspections at Mombasa Port, at Lamu Port, and across Kenya: quantity verification and quality inspection, tally surveys, draft surveys, discharge surveys and superintendence for bulk and break bulk cargo, container and reefer surveys, damage surveys, pre-shipment inspection, and claims handling, working for fair and transparent business at the port. The same discipline runs through the Eastern Africa region through the group’s own companies and operations, so the standard that meets your cargo at the ship’s rail is the standard that follows it inland. The sections below take each cargo and each survey type in turn.
The commodities that feed and build Kenya land at Mombasa in bulk and in bags, and every consignment settles on a count. Our discharge surveys and superintendence run the full discipline on each: draft surveys initial, intermediate, and final so the bill of lading figure meets an independent tonnage; tally teams at the hatches and the CFS gates counting bag by bag around the clock; sampling drawn to recognized trade methods for moisture, quality, mold, and infestation; and condition recorded as the cargo lands, sound separated from damaged before the two are stacked together.
Wheat and fertilizer discharges get weight and quality verification against the contract and the letter of credit; sugar and rice get infestation and moisture inspection with sealed samples retained; clinker and bulk minerals get draft precision where shore scales vary under heavy use. The importer who instructs before the vessel berths receives a file that settles shortage and quality arguments before they become claims; the importer who calls after the problem shows still gets a file built from what remains.
When thousands of tonnes are in dispute, the vessel itself gives the most defensible weight in the port, read properly. Our draft surveyors take six-point readings, forward, midships, and aft on both sides, apply trim, list, hog, and sag corrections, sample the dock water density at the time of reading rather than assuming it, and measure the deductibles, ballast, fresh water, and bunkers, instead of taking them from a list. Initial, intermediate, and final draft surveys bracket the operation, and the full calculation is annexed to the report, so the figure can be checked line by line by anyone who wants to argue with it.
Every side of a cargo instructs draft surveys, for different money: receivers and importers, to test the bill of lading figure against the outturn and stop a weighbridge illusion from becoming a shortage claim; shippers and traders, to put an independent weight behind the contract and the letter of credit; charterers and owners, to fix the loaded and discharged quantity that deadfreight and shortage arguments turn on; P&I clubs and their correspondents, because the draft survey is often the decisive evidence when a shortage claim lands on the ship; and cargo insurers and underwriters, to quantify a loss before paying it. We attend as sole surveyor or jointly with the other side’s, at Mombasa Port, at Lamu Port, and at anchorage, and the survey reads the same to all of them: measured, corrected, and shown.
Containers are where cargo disputes hide, because the box travels sealed and everyone assumes the contents match the paper until the doors open and they do not in Mombasa. Our container surveyors attend devanning at the CFS or the receiver’s premises with seal numbers verified against the documents, the stow photographed as the doors open, count taken piece by piece, and damage apportioned between stuffing, handling, wetting, and inherent condition.
Reefer and cold chain claims are investigated past the data logger: set points, machinery function, pulp temperatures, and airflow, so a decay claim lands on the leg that caused it. Outbound, container pre-loading inspection and stuffing supervision put the count, the dunnage, the securing, and the seal on record before the doors close, in our presence, so the export file starts clean.
Steel records every handling mistake as visible damage, and the argument is always the same: was the rust there before the voyage or made during it at Mombasa. Pre-discharge condition surveys with silver nitrate testing separate atmospheric sweat from seawater wetting, so a rejection argument runs on chemistry rather than opinion. Coils, plates, pipes, and structural sections are surveyed piece by piece with the tally, damaged units carry their cause, and lashing and securing are verified so transit damage has an address.
Mombasa is East Africa’s vehicle gateway, and every unit that rolls off a RoRo carrier loses value at each handover: ship to quay, quay to yard, yard to carrier, carrier to dealer. Our surveyors record condition unit by unit at discharge against the load port record, so a scratch, a dent, or a missing mirror carries the leg it happened on instead of arriving at the dealer as an orphan. Electric vehicles, machinery on wheels, and project rolling stock get the same discipline, with photographs at every stage.
For units transiting to Uganda, Rwanda, and beyond, the survey follows the vehicle to the handover: yard condition before road or rail carriage, and the file travelling with the unit, so the cross-border consignment arrives with its history documented rather than disputed.
High-value, out-of-gauge units get engineering discipline at every point where something can go wrong: discharge and loading supervised at the port, standards checked before lift-out, the correct gear verified on the cargo, lifting plans and rigging reviewed, and lashing and securing checked against the IMO CSS Code before any leg of the journey from Mombasa. For marine warranty interfaces, the survey speaks the warranty surveyor’s language so the file passes review the first time.
And because a transformer is not delivered when it lands on the quay, the same discipline follows it inland: storage yard inspections while it waits, handling inspections before it moves, equipment suitability checks at the port and the CFS, truck suitability and transporter audits before it rolls, route surveys before the convoy commits, and port captaincy where the whole operation needs one accountable set of eyes. The unit arrives at the job site with a file that covers every hand that touched it.
Industrial inspections extend the same discipline ashore: non-destructive testing on equipment, maritime assets, and cargo integrity, so a crack or a weld defect is found by the surveyor rather than by the failure.
Every lift supervised at the quay: gear, slinging, landing, and the condition of the unit recorded as it moves, so port handling damage is caught at the port, not blamed at the site.
Units waiting at the port or an inland yard are inspected on arrival and on a schedule: supports, exposure, security, and condition, so storage time does not become silent damage time.
When a unit is struck, dropped, or found damaged, the cause, nature, and extent are documented immediately, with the custody trail pulled the same day, so the claim lands on the leg that earned it.
Sea fastening, road lashing, and crane rigging verified against the IMO CSS Code and the transport plan before each leg, with photographs before departure and after arrival.
The handover from port to road is where files usually go dark. The unit is inspected and photographed as it leaves the port, so the road leg starts from a recorded condition.
Cranes, spreaders, trailers, and lifting gear checked for capacity, certification, and condition against the unit they are about to carry, before they carry it.
The transporter’s equipment, the truck’s condition and capacity, and the driver’s documentation audited before the cargo is entrusted to them, so the weakest link is found before the road finds it.
The route driven and documented before the convoy commits: bridges, gradients, overhead clearances, road condition, and escort requirements, so the plan meets the road before the transformer does.
For operations that need one accountable set of eyes across stevedores, terminal, and vessel, our port captains coordinate and supervise the whole evolution, with the file to show for it.
Anything sold on documents is worth inspecting before it ships, because a certificate that does not match the cargo stops payment as surely as damage does. Pre-shipment inspection runs against the buyer’s specification and the letter of credit wording: quantity, quality, packing, marking, and loading supervised, with stowage factors calculated and cargo condition verified before loading, and certificates issued to the exact wording documentary credits require. Kenyan exports, agricultural produce, fruit and fresh produce inspected for condition, maturity, grade, and packing with data loggers placed and witnessed, manufactured goods, and consolidated containers, leave with a file that arrives before the argument can.
The vessel questions run alongside the cargo ones: on-hire and off-hire condition, P&I condition surveys to club requirements with statutory and class compliance reviewed, holds suitability and cleanliness inspected and reported before loading commences, hatch cover condition, and draft surveys read with the precision that makes the ship the most reliable scale in the port. The full bunker practice, BQS, ROB, intermediate, shortage, and consumption investigations, runs on its own page: Bunker Surveys in Mombasa.
Cargo spends more time in warehouses than on ships, and warehouses are where slow losses build across Mombasa. Our surveyors inspect warehousing for storage condition and security before cargo is received, monitor storage, handling, and stowing while it sits, and tally packed goods in and out with the documentation that keeps counts from drifting: cargo loaded, discharged, or cross-stuffed, counted and recorded to the documentary standards forwarders and FIATA practice recognize. For banks and traders, the same work runs as stock monitoring and collateral verification on a schedule, in writing, for as long as the exposure runs.
Weight is the number customs, invoices, and freight all settle on, and it is verified rather than assumed: quantity surveys, tally surveys, draft surveys, and ullaging for liquid cargo, so the figure used for customs clearance and invoicing is a measured one that survives inspection in Mombasa.
Condition-critical cargo gets its environment recorded as well as its count: temperature and humidity surveys monitor the conditions the cargo actually experienced during loading, discharge, and storage, so a moisture or heat claim runs on readings rather than recollection. And where the cargo itself is the hazard, dangerous goods handling is surveyed against the applicable codes: stowage, segregation, marking, and handling checked so hazardous consignments move with a file that proves they were handled correctly.
Mombasa’s liquid trade moves through pipelines, shore tanks, and tank containers, and every transfer point is a place where quantity can change on paper. Our liquid cargo superintendence covers the chain: ullaging and tank gauging before and after transfer, shore tank and vessel figures reconciled, temperatures and densities applied, samples drawn and sealed at the manifold with custody records, and the outturn stated with the arithmetic shown. Edible oils, palm products, and other bulk liquids get the same discipline whether the dispute is quantity, quality, or contamination, and the certificate reads the same to the receiver, the shipper, and the insurer.
A large share of what lands at Mombasa is not for Kenya: transit cargo for Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, and eastern DRC, railed to the Nairobi inland container depot or trucked up the northern corridor. Transit cargo changes hands more times than domestic cargo, and every handover is a place where a claim can be born without a witness. Our surveyors attend at the port, at the ICD, and at handover points along the corridor: condition and count recorded at each custody change, seals verified at each break, and the file following the cargo, so the consignment that left Mombasa sound and arrived in Kampala short has a record that says where the difference happened.
For forwarders running transit traffic, this is the service that protects the relationship with the upcountry client: independent evidence at the points where your custody ends and someone else’s begins.
Cargo that lands at Mombasa or Lamu rarely stops there: it rails to the ICD, trucks the Northern Corridor to Kampala and Kigali, and crosses into South Sudan and eastern DRC. Most surveying arrangements break at the first border, because each leg belongs to a different firm and the file restarts from zero every time. Ours does not: the group’s own companies and active operations along the corridor carry the same file forward, so the record that began at the ship’s rail is the record that arrives with the cargo.
Kampala, one file from the quay. A consignment discharged at Mombasa under our tally is received in Uganda by Observater Uganda Ltd against the same count. The border does not reset the record; the two ends of the journey are written by one team.
Kigali and Bujumbura, watched through the corridor. Transit cargo for Rwanda and Burundi is surveyed at discharge, checked at handover points, and received upcountry through the group’s active operations, with seals verified at every break in the journey.
Juba and eastern DRC, where files usually go dark. The hardest legs are where independent evidence matters most. Cargo for South Sudan and eastern DRC travels with its record, and a shortage discovered at destination reads back against the discharge file, not against memory.
The claim runs backward, too. Damage found in Kampala or Kigali is investigated where it stands, then traced back through the corridor records to the leg that caused it, one instruction covering the survey at both ends and the claim in between.
One team, one fight: the capacity behind the corridor
This is not a network of strangers exchanging emails. The group runs its own companies in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Djibouti, keeps surveyors stationed in Nairobi, Durban, Ethiopia, and Angola, and holds active operations in Rwanda, South Sudan, DRC, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Cameroon. One instruction at Mombasa or Lamu puts the whole corridor under one discipline: the same standards, the same reporting, and findings that reach you first, wherever the cargo is when the question is asked.
Instruct Across the Corridorops@observater.comA damaged cargo complaint is not a claim; it is a reported problem. Our damage surveyors establish the accurate cause, nature, and extent of damage in transit or storage, and our claims handlers move the problem to an adjustable file: evidence secured, further loss stopped by same-day segregation, custody proven from gate records and equipment logs, letters of protest issued while they matter, and recoveries pursued on documentation adjusters accept. Quantity and quality are verified against standards and documents, weight is measured for compliance and billing, and findings reach the instructing party first and in confidence, whether that party is the shipper, the consignee, the carrier, or the insurer behind any of them.
Vessel or container numbers, the commodity, and where it stands: expected, discharging, or already a problem. WhatsApp, email, or a call, at any hour.
Who attends, when, where, and on what basis, stated before work begins, usually within hours. No surprises on scope or cost.
First findings shared promptly after attendance so decisions can be taken while they still matter, then the full report in the structure adjusters and insurers work with.
Mombasa Port is a hub for global trade, and offloading operations carry risk: damage, discrepancies, and disputes. More than twenty-five years of cargo surveying at this port means the failure modes are familiar before they happen.
In-depth knowledge of the port’s berths, terminals, CFSs, and working rhythms, so attendance is placed where the risk actually sits, not where the manual says it should.
Detailed, impartial reporting written to the standard insurers and stakeholders apply: the offloaded cargo checked against the bill of lading, damage recorded with its cause, and the arithmetic shown.
To Mombasa’s forwarders and clearing agents
Forwarders and clearing agents sit closest to the cargo and carry blame that is rarely theirs. An independent survey protects you twice: the record that keeps another party’s handling from becoming your liability, and a service you can offer your own clients under your instruction. We work to forwarders’ instructions across the port and the CFSs, findings go to you, and your client remains your client.
Give us your next vessel: rice, bulk, or containers. One nomination, one attendance, and a file you can put beside any file you have ever received. The better file wins the next instruction, and the one after that. The first vessel is the introduction.
WhatsApp a Surveyorops@observater.comSugar, rice, wheat, fertilizer, steel, and containers: independent counts, quality sampling, and damage files from vessel to store, so the consignment settles on your figures.
Custody records that keep another party’s handling from becoming your liability, and survey capacity you can offer your own clients under your instruction.
Damage and shortage attendance from the first report, condition surveys to club requirements, and recovery files built to the standard adjusters apply.
Holds, hatch covers, draft, condition, and the bunker practice one link away, joint surveys managed, one interest per matter.
Pre-shipment inspection to letter of credit wording, stuffing supervised and sealed in our presence, and certificates that release payment instead of stalling it.
Stock monitoring, collateral verification, and warehouse inspection on a schedule, in writing, for as long as the exposure runs.
For shippers, proof of what was shipped and how; for consignees, proof of shortfall or damage on arrival, so the two ends of the same consignment argue from the same file.
Independent condition and count records at loading and devanning that keep a cargo claim from landing on the carrier by default, and attendance agents can call at any hour on a principal’s behalf.
Late-stage file review, cause investigation, and quantum documentation stated in a form proceedings and adjustments can use, with the arithmetic shown.
A cargo discharge survey verifies that cargo is offloaded in the correct condition and quantity: visible damage checked as it lands, the offloaded quantity confirmed against the bill of lading, and handling watched for compliance, so disputes are prevented and losses are caught while they can still be minimized.
A cargo surveyor independently counts, weighs, samples, and documents cargo at the port, the CFS, or the warehouse, and records its condition and any damage with its cause. The survey report is the evidence importers, insurers, and courts use to settle shortage and damage disputes.
A draft survey determines the weight of bulk cargo loaded or discharged by reading the vessel’s drafts before and after the operation, correcting for trim, list, and water density, and deducting ballast, fresh water, and bunkers. Done properly, it is the most defensible weight figure in the port and the standard evidence in shortage disputes.
The party who instructs it: importer, exporter, forwarder, insurer, owner, or bank. The cost is small against what it protects, because a consignment without an independent record settles on the other side’s figures, and those figures were not written to protect you.
The attendance line runs 24/7 and discharge does not wait for office hours. Who attends, when, and on what basis is confirmed in writing before work begins, usually within hours, at the Port of Mombasa, at Lamu Port, at the CFSs and ICD, and at warehouses across Kenya.
An intact seal means the doors stayed shut since somebody closed them, not that the box was full. Devanning attendance with seal verification, stow photographs, and a piece count usually points the shortfall to stuffing at origin, and the claim to the right party.
Yes. A late file is built from what remains: the cargo itself, gate and equipment records, photographs, and the documents. The advantage of early appointment is real, but it has never been the verdict; disputes settle on the better file.
Yes. Transit consignments are attended at the port, at ICD Nairobi, and at corridor handover points, with condition and seals recorded at each custody change, so a shortage discovered upcountry has a record showing where it happened, and the claim lands on the right leg.
Yes: ullaging and tank gauging before and after transfer, shore and vessel figures reconciled, temperatures and densities applied, and sealed manifold samples with custody records, so bulk liquid quantity and quality disputes settle on measurements rather than estimates.
Yes, usually together: quantity by independent tally, draft survey, and weight verification; quality by sampling to recognized trade methods, condition inspection, and where needed laboratory analysis with sealed splits and custody records behind every certificate.
Hatches, CFS gates, weighbridges, yards, and warehouses: the work as it actually looks, from files our surveyors have attended. Tap any photo to look closer.
“The tally caught a shortfall the terminal figures missed, and the claim settled on their count, not ours to prove.”
Rice importer, Mombasa
“Draft survey figures matched the contract weight within tolerance, and the shore scale argument ended there.”
Sugar trader, Mombasa
“They separated old rust from voyage damage on the coils with testing, and the rejection shrank to the units that deserved it.”
Steel importer, Nairobi
“We instruct them under our own name and our client stays ours. The reports come to us first, every time.”
Clearing and forwarding agent, Mombasa
“First findings the same evening, full report to adjuster standard. Exactly what a correspondent needs from a local surveyor.”
P&I correspondent, East Africa
“The route survey found a bridge limit that would have stopped the transformer halfway. That one attendance paid for the whole project.”
Project forwarder, Mombasa
“Fertilizer discharge with daily figures both sides could read. The receiver stopped disputing before the vessel finished.”
Commodities operations manager, Mombasa
“Pre-shipment inspection to the letter of credit wording, and the bank released payment without a query.”
Exporter, Kenya
“Stock verified monthly, in writing, on schedule. The collateral file has stood every review.”
Trade finance officer, Nairobi
Observater Marine and Cargo Surveyors attend cargo at Mombasa Port daily: discharge and loading supervision, independent tally, draft surveys, container and seal surveys, pre-shipment inspection, cargo damage surveys, and claims handling, for importers, exporters, insurers, and banks, with the attendance confirmed in writing before work begins.
Observater Marine Surveyors attend vessels at Mombasa and Lamu: condition and on/off hire surveys, holds and hatch cover inspections, hull and machinery damage surveys, casualty attendance, P&I condition surveys and club entry surveys, and in-water hull inspections through approved divers, reported in the formats clubs, underwriters, and adjusters work with.
A cargo survey at Mombasa records quantity and condition at an agreed point: count or draft survey for how much; examination, photographs, and sampling for what state; and a report with the evidence attached, issued to the instructing party first, with certificates for letters of credit written to the exact wording the credit requires.
The fee follows the scope: the cargo or vessel, the number of attendances, and what must be measured or sampled. Observater confirms the scope and the fee in writing before work begins, and a single well-documented consignment often saves far more than the survey costs.
Observater’s draft surveyors read all six marks on both sides, sample dock water at the moment of reading, sound the deductibles jointly with the Chief Officer, and determine bulk cargo weight to recognized draft survey practice with the calculation sheets annexed, at Mombasa, Lamu, and across the region’s bulk ports.
Observater’s tally teams count independently at loading, discharge, and devanning: sling by sling, bag by bag, container by container, reconciled in writing with the terminal at each shift end, so variances can be raised while the operation is still running; independent tally in Mombasa protects every bagged and containerized consignment.
Observater’s cargo damage surveyors attend while the evidence exists: cause, nature, and extent established, segregation ordered, protests issued in time, and the claim prepared in the form adjusters work with and followed through to settlement, from Mombasa through the corridor to the delivery point.
Yes. Observater attends for P&I clubs, their correspondents, and members at Mombasa around the clock: cargo claims measured before they are paid, casualty, crew injury, and stowaway matters documented, club entry condition surveys, and first findings shared quickly, one appointment per matter.
Observater’s container surveyors examine seals against substitution and re-sealing, record interchange condition at the terminal, count behind broken seals under survey, supervise stuffing with photographs before the doors close, and read reefer loggers against carriage instructions.
Observater’s vehicle surveyors record each unit at the ramp against the load port record, verify VIN, keys, mileage, and accessories, follow the fleet through yard custody, and sign delivery condition at the gate, so damage can be traced to the stage where it happened.
Observater inspects export cargo before it ships: quantity, quality, packing, and marking verified, sampling to the contract’s method with sealed splits, container stuffing supervised, and certificates issued to the wording the letter of credit requires, for coffee, tea, produce, minerals, and manufactured goods.
Observater runs warehouse inspections and stock verification across the Shimanzi and Changamwe belt and inland: condition, stacking, segregation, pest evidence, and physical count against the books, with standing monthly programmes serving banks and collateral managers as early warning on financed stock.
Discharge surveyors and loading surveyors in Mombasa attend on one instruction; tally surveyors count at every exchange; draft surveyors in Mombasa fix the weight the invoice settles on; cargo damage surveys in Mombasa are attended promptly, while the evidence is still fresh; and our ship surveyors in Mombasa cover the vessel side at the berth and at anchorage: the same standard our surveyors hold at Dar es Salaam, Maputo, and Durban, so a principal’s file reads the same wherever the voyage goes.
Importers & receivers. The consignment lands with the invoice already paid. Our count and condition record give the receiver a fair basis to claim rather than absorb the loss.
Exporters & shippers. Coffee, tea, and produce argue from documents after sailing. Weight, sampling, and certificates fixed at Mombasa are the seller’s voice at destination.
Shipowners & managers. Condition at delivery and redelivery, casualty evidence secured in the first hours, and supporting records prepared by the desk that surveyed the vessel.
Charterers & operators. Holds passed before the laycan, drafts read independently, on/off hire and bunkers fixed in one attendance: redelivery closes on documents.
P&I clubs & correspondents. One appointment per matter, impartial attendance at every hour, first findings shared quickly, quantum counted rather than accepted.
Cargo insurers & underwriters. Cause, custody, and quantum established independently, so claims settle on evidence, fairly and without delay.
Banks & trade finance. The collateral is cargo the bank never sees. Independent tally, certificates, and standing warehouse verification give lenders their own sight of the stock that secures them.
Forwarders, agents & transporters. Your client holds you responsible for every hand the cargo passes through. Our record covers the links you never controlled.
Terminals, lines & stevedores. The operational side instructs us too: independent tally and damage records protect the honest operator’s account as much as the receiver’s.
The count is happening now
Every discharge, devanning, and storage period produces a record, kept by somebody, for somebody. Put independent figures in it. Tell us the vessel or the container numbers, and our surveyors confirm who attends, when, and on what basis, in writing, before anything starts.
Get a Surveyor Moving in MombasaEmail the InstructionInternational Marine and Aviation Cargo Surveyors and Claims Handlers, Mombasa Office. Office hours 8:00 to 17:00 Mon to Sat; marine port operations attended 24 hours, every day.
Observater Surveys and Services Ltd · HQ: Amir Suites, 1st Floor Room No. B6, Sauti ya Kenya Road, Ganjoni, P.O. Box 86495-80100 Mombasa, Kenya · Claims Office: Express House, Moi Avenue, Mombasa · ops@observater.com · Tel/WhatsApp +254 776 960 820 · All attendances are performed under our standard terms of business, available on request.
When precision matters, Observater Surveys Group is your Partner of Choice
© 2026 Observater Surveys and Services Group. All rights reserved.