Steel Coils in African Ports: How the Damage Happens, How It Is Measured, and How It Is Prevented
Field notes from steel cargo attendances at twenty-four African ports. What causes coil damage, how to tell voyage damage from pre-shipment condition, how to measure and quantify it, and what each party can do before the vessel arrives.
Eng. Daniel Esilaba, Cert CILA Technical and Operations, Observater Surveys and Services
How This Paper Should Be Read This is a general working paper on steel cargo, written from attendances at African ports. It sets out the mechanisms that are commonly observed, the tests and measurements a surveyor takes, and the practices that reduce loss. Findings on an individual cargo are made file by file, on the evidence at that attendance, which is what makes them useful when they are tested.
Every finding on a file rests on evidence gathered at the time and place of the attendance. That is what allows it to be relied on months later, when the cargo has gone and memories have not held. The patterns described here are indications recorded across many attendances. On a live file they are read together with the tests, the documents and the circumstances, and it is that combination, rather than any single observation, that carries weight when the other side examines it. Whether a recorded condition amounts to damage, to a rejection, to a shortage or to a claim is decided against the contract of sale, the contract of carriage and the policy. Those documents are applied to a measured record of what the cargo actually was on arrival, and supplying that record, in a form that holds up, is the work. Where we are instructed to address cause, we do so on the physical evidence, and we say what the evidence supports and where it stops. A report that overstates its own reach is the one that fails when it is challenged. Figures given in the worked examples are illustrations of method. They are not values for any actual parcel. We accept one appointment per matter, act for the interest that instructed us, and the findings reach that party first. What Actually Arrives Steel reaches African ports in more forms than any other cargo class we attend, and the form influences both the way it is damaged and the way the condition has to be recorded. A mark that carries no consequence on hot rolled black coil may be the subject of a rejection on prepainted material. Surface rust that a re-rolling buyer accepts on rebar may be raised as a quality issue on tinplate. Which of those outcomes follows is decided against the contract of sale, and the contract is applied to the condition recorded at the port. Where that record does not exist, the decision is made on assertion and the party with the weaker documents carries it.
Coil, by product Coil types and what each one cannot tolerate
Hot rolled coil, black Mill scale is normal and is not damage. Edge buckling, telescoping and heavy pitting are what matter. Light surface rust is often accepted by re-rollers.
Hot rolled pickled and oiled The oil film is the protection. Once it is washed off by rain or wash water, corrosion starts within days.
Cold rolled coil Surface finish carries most of the value. Handling marks, dents and water staining are measured and recorded because buyers of this product commonly treat them as material.
Galvanised coil White rust, the powdery zinc corrosion product, forms wherever moisture sits between laps. It is not red rust and is not recorded as such.
Galvalume and aluminium zinc coated Same mechanism as galvanised, with staining that is harder to remove and more visible in the finished product.
Prepainted, PPGI and PPGL Paint film damage, edge chipping and abrasion between laps. Contact damage to the film is not recoverable by cleaning, so it is measured and photographed lap by lap where found.
Tinplate and electrolytic coated Highly sensitive to surface contact and moisture. Marking from handling and from condensation is recorded in detail. Usually shipped in containers or under close packing.
Silicon and electrical steel Coating integrity and flatness govern magnetic performance. Distortion is recorded and measured, and buyers of this product commonly treat it as affecting fitness for the intended use.
Stainless coil Contamination by carbon steel particles causes surface rusting on a metal that should not rust. Contact with black steel dunnage or chain is the usual source.
Slit coil and narrow strip Higher surface to weight ratio, more edges, more strapping. Strap failure and edge damage are the recurring findings.
Wire rod coil Delivered in loose or compacted coils. Deformation, contamination and rust in the interior of the coil where it cannot be seen without opening.
The other steel forms that travel with it Non-coil steel and its damage profile
Plate and heavy plate Bending during lifting, edge damage, corrosion at contact points where plates are stacked without spacers.
Sections, beams and channels Distortion from incorrect lifting points, bent flanges, coating loss on galvanised sections.
Rebar and mesh Bundle strapping failure, contamination, surface rust that in most specifications is acceptable and is claimed anyway.
Billets, blooms and slabs Robust, but heavy point loads and dropped landings damage the vessel more often than the cargo.
Line pipe and casing Bevel damage, coating damage, thread protector loss, ovality. Inspection is measurement led rather than visual.
Tube and hollow section End damage, water inside the bore, rust from the inside out.
Wire and cable drums Drum failure, wire contamination, moisture inside the wrap.
Steel in containers Condensation inside a sealed box, incorrect securing inside the container, floor damage from concentrated weight.
How the product was made, and why it matters to a claim Every coil on a vessel has a route behind it that decides what will damage it. Slab is reheated and hot rolled, and comes off the mill with mill scale on the surface and a black finish. Some of it is then pickled in acid to remove the scale and oiled to protect the clean surface, which is why pickled and oiled coil arrives with a film that must not be washed off. Cold rolling reduces thickness and produces the smooth bright surface that most finished products need, and it removes the tolerance for handling marks at the same time. Annealing softens the steel again. Galvanising adds a zinc layer, aluminium zinc coating adds a different one, and painting on top of either produces the prepainted material that is rejected for a scratch. The further along that route a coil is, the smaller the damage that destroys its value.
Specification, certificate and what acceptance actually turns on A steel parcel is bought against a specification, not against a general idea of soundness. Common references on cargo arriving in these ports are EN 10025 for structural steel, EN 10346 for continuously coated flat products, ASTM A1011 and A653 for hot rolled and galvanised sheet, and the JIS G3101 and G3302 series on material of Asian origin. Each specifies dimensional tolerance, coating mass and surface class. A mill test certificate to EN 10204 type 3.1 states the chemical and mechanical results for the heat, and a type 3.2 certificate adds an independent verification. The heat number stamped or labelled on the coil ties the physical item to that certificate.
This matters because rejection is a contractual event, not a visual one. A coil with light surface rust may be perfectly acceptable to a re-roller and completely unacceptable to a galvanising line or an automotive stamper. The survey records the condition and the measurement. The specification decides whether that condition is a failure, and any report that skips over which specification applies leaves the most important question open.
Packing, and what each element is for Coil packing and the job each part does
Inner and outer circumferential wrap Sheet or paper wrapped around the body. Keeps water and dust off the laps. Once torn, it holds water against the steel instead.
Eye wrap and eye protectors Protect the bore from prong and hook contact and stop water collecting in the eye when a coil is stored eye to sky.
Edge protectors Steel or board angles at the edges, which is where strapping and chain pressure concentrates.
Circumferential straps Hold the outer laps together. Loss of these is what allows a coil to unwind or to telescope.
Radial straps through the eye Hold the coil body against axial displacement. Fewer of these than circumferential straps, and their loss is easier to miss.
VCI paper or film Vapour corrosion inhibitor. Releases a compound that protects the surface inside a sealed package. Loses its effect once the package is opened, wetted or breached.
Desiccant Used inside containers and inside sealed coil packages on long voyages. Spent desiccant is evidence of how much moisture the package had to deal with.
Skids, cradles and battens Hold the coil off the deck or floor and spread the bearing load. They are part of the cargo protection, not part of the dunnage bill.
Marks, numbers and the tally that follows them A steel tally that counts pieces is of little use later. What matters is that each coil carries its own number, that the number is recorded against the condition found, and that the number ties back to the packing list, the mill certificate and the bill of lading. Where labels are torn off in handling, which happens constantly, the position in the stow and a photograph of the adjacent coils are what allow the item to be identified afterwards. The moment a damaged coil cannot be identified by number, the claim moves from a measured quantity to an argument about proportions.
Coil dimensions are worth committing to memory because they are the basis of every quantification. Inside diameter is usually 508 mm or 610 mm, outside diameter between about 900 mm and 2,100 mm, width between 600 mm and 1,550 mm, and unit weight between three and thirty tonnes. Density of carbon steel is 7.85 tonnes per cubic metre.
The Nine Ways Coils Are Damaged Across steel attendances in these ports, the causes recorded fall into nine groups. Most losses involve more than one of them, and the order in which they occurred is usually what the file is later asked to decide.
1. Mechanical handling Lifting gear that is wrong for the product does most of the visible damage. A wire sling round the body of a coil crushes the outer laps. A forklift prong entering a bore without a sleeve scores the inside and deforms the eye. A C hook that is too narrow bears on one lap instead of the full width. Landing a coil on a hard surface without timber deforms the lower laps. Damage from handling is usually sharp edged, localised and clean, and it does not follow the pattern that water damage follows.
2. Stowage and securing Coils stowed eye fore and aft, correctly cradled and chocked, and lashed to a securing plan that has been calculated, are rarely damaged in transit. Coils stowed on a flat tank top with a few boards, or with lashings tensioned once at the load port and never checked, move in a seaway. Once one coil moves, the tier moves. Collapse of a coil stow is the single most expensive cargo casualty we attend in this trade.
3. Bearing pressure and structural overload A coil on its side rests on a contact strip perhaps 50 mm wide. The load per square metre is then many times a normal tank top rating, and flattening at the contact line and damage to the vessel are both foreseeable outcomes. The arithmetic is set out further down this paper.
4. Water Rain during loading or discharge, hatch cover leakage, sea water on deck, water standing in a hold bilge, puddles on a quay and untarpaulined trucks. Each leaves a different pattern. Rain from above wets the top of the stow and runs down. Standing water leaves a horizontal boundary at a constant height. Sea water leaves chlorides that can be tested for.
5. Condensation The cause most often misread in this trade. Ship sweat forms when the structure cools and moisture already in the hold condenses on the deckhead and shell, then drips onto the cargo. Cargo sweat forms when cold steel meets warm humid air, and it forms on the cargo itself, frequently under intact wrapping. A coil can arrive with sound packing and heavy rust beneath it, which is why packing condition is recorded but is not treated on its own as establishing the condition of the steel inside.
6. Contamination Fertiliser residue is the worst of them. Urea and ammonium compounds left in a hold, or carried in the same hold, are hygroscopic and aggressive to steel, and the rust they produce is fast and deep. Sulphur, salt, mineral dust and previous cargo residues all do their own version of the same thing. Hold cleanliness before loading is therefore a cargo protection measure and not housekeeping.
7. Packing failure Wrapping torn during handling, straps cut or missing, edge protectors displaced, VCI paper wet, timber dunnage with high moisture content in direct contact with the steel. Wet timber against a coil face will mark it. Packing is often treated as unimportant because it is not the cargo, but the condition of the packing at each stage is one of the few things that can place a loss in time.
8. Storage ashore Coils placed directly on ground, in an open yard, in the rainy season, with no chocks and no cover, for three weeks. That sentence describes a large share of what we photograph. Rust found in those conditions commonly runs from the bottom upward, which is the reverse of the pattern rain produces, and where that pattern is recorded it is one of the more useful indications of where the deterioration occurred.
9. Inland transport Chains over unprotected edges, coils carried on a flat bed without a coil well or cradle, tarpaulins that lift at speed, road shock on corridor roads, and rail lashing points that were designed for something else. In the corridor markets served through Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, Djibouti, Beira and Lobito, a large part of the damage claimed as sea damage happened after the cargo left the port.
10. Heat, welding and hot work Hot work on deck or in an adjacent hold, welding spatter, and cargo stowed against a bunker tank that is heated all leave marks on steel that are easy to misread. Spatter produces small fused spots that will not polish out. Heat against one face of a coil can drive moisture out of packing and deposit it elsewhere in the same stow.
11. Container and deck stowage Coil in a container concentrates a large weight on a small area of a floor that was not built for it, and a coil that is not secured inside the box will move in handling. Containers also breathe. Warm humid air enters at the load port, cools at sea, and the water it carried condenses on the inside of the roof and falls onto the cargo. Deck stowage adds direct sea water, spray and continuous salt, and tarpaulins that lift on passage are a recurring cause rather than an unusual one.
12. Interference in the yard Straps cut for convenience so that a coil can be turned, wrapping opened for inspection and not closed, edge protectors taken off and not replaced, and covers borrowed for another parcel. None of it is dramatic and all of it converts a protected coil into an exposed one. The photograph of the coil as delivered into the yard, and again on collection, is what shows when it happened.
Edge dent and buckled lap
Clamp pressure, hook contact or a dropped landing
Telescoping
Inner laps displaced along the axis, from slack winding or a side impact
Rust bloom under the wrapper
Water held against the steel by intact packing, often mistaken for sea water
Water line and tide mark
A horizontal boundary shows standing water, not rain from above
Strap failure
Circumferential bands broken or missing, laps free to move
Eye deformation
Prong or C hook contact inside the bore, out of round on measurement
Where to look on a coil, and what each finding usually means.
Eye to sky
Load spread over the full annular face
Lowest bearing pressure, poor resistance to rolling
Eye fore and aft
On cradles or chocked timber
Standard for coil stowage in a hold
Eye athwartships
Rolling axis across the vessel
Avoided except where the securing plan calls for it
The three stowage orientations. The middle one is the standard for coil in a hold.
Voyage Damage or Pre-Shipment Condition Almost every steel dispute turns on this question, and it is answered by pattern, by test and by document, not by opinion.
Pattern Rain during discharge typically wets the exposed top surface and the outer laps, and is seldom found at the bottom of a stow. Standing water commonly leaves a level boundary across a coil face, or across several coils at the same height. Condensation is commonly associated with even, widespread light rust, often under wrapping and often across a whole tier at once. Ground contact in a yard is commonly associated with rust from the lowest lap upward, with a cleaner upper body. Handling damage is typically local and sharply defined, and it often bears no relation to the position of the coil in the stow. Rust present before shipment commonly appears at a similar level on coils in every part of the stow, including those shielded throughout discharge, and that distribution is recorded. Test Silver nitrate on a swab of the wetted surface gives a white precipitate where chlorides are present. A positive result is an indication of a chloride source and is read together with the control result, the location and the pattern, rather than on its own. A moisture meter reading taken on timber dunnage in contact with the coil shows whether the timber is the source. pH of a rust and water sample shows whether an alkaline or acidic contaminant is involved, which is one of the indications relied on where fertiliser residue is suspected. Coating thickness measurement on galvanised material distinguishes zinc loss from surface staining. Where the parcel is disputed, a rust sample and a control sample from a sound coil go to the laboratory together, sealed and split. Document The load port survey report and its photographs, if one was carried out. Mate’s receipts and any remarks, and whether a clause covering rust, wet before shipment or atmospheric rust was applied to the bill of lading. Hatch cover weathertightness test records and their date. The deck log for weather on the voyage, and the ventilation record. Bilge sounding records. The three previous cargoes carried in the hold. A clause on the bill of lading covering rust is not the end of the question. It records that some rust was present at loading. It does not by itself record how much, or where. The measurement at discharge, read with whatever exists from the load port, is what allows the parties to consider the two positions separately.
Tests, Instruments and What Each One Answers A steel attendance is not a walk round with a camera. The instruments are cheap, the tests take minutes, and each of them closes a question that would otherwise be argued for a year.
What we carry to a steel vessel and what each item settles
Silver nitrate solution and swabs Chloride screening. A white precipitate on a swab of the wetted surface indicates the presence of chlorides. A control swab from a sound coil is taken at the same time and photographed alongside, and the two results are reported together.
Chloride test strips or a Bresle patch kit Quantifies surface salt in milligrams per square metre to ISO 8502-6 and 8502-9. This turns a positive or negative into a number, which is what matters when the question is whether the level is enough to explain the corrosion found.
pH paper and distilled water Rust and water from the affected area is tested for acidity or alkalinity. Fertiliser residue moves the reading and is identified this way rather than by smell.
Thermo-hygrometer and surface temperature probe Air temperature, relative humidity, dew point and the temperature of the steel itself. Without the last of these the condensation question cannot be answered.
Coating thickness gauge Zinc coating mass on galvanised material. Distinguishes loss of coating from staining on top of an intact coating.
Timber moisture meter Moisture content of dunnage, cradles and battens in contact with the steel. Above roughly twenty per cent, timber will mark a coil face.
Steel rule, calipers and depth gauge Depth of dents, width of the damaged band, ovality of the bore. Everything that later becomes a percentage begins as a millimetre reading.
Rust grade comparator Surface condition against the standard photographic scale in ISO 8501-1, grades A to D, so that two surveyors describe the same surface the same way.
Sealed sample containers Rust product, water from the hold bilge, and a control sample of sound material, all sealed at the point of sampling and split.
The rust grade scale, and why we use it ISO 8501-1 sets out four rust grades with photographic references. Grade A is mill scale intact with almost no rust. Grade B is mill scale beginning to flake with rust starting. Grade C is a surface where the scale has rusted away and light pitting is visible. Grade D is a surface where the scale has gone and pitting is general. Recording a grade rather than an adjective allows a load port condition and a discharge port condition to be compared, and it allows two people who never met to describe the same surface in the same terms. It also gives the buyer’s specification something precise to be applied to, which is what shortens the argument about acceptance.
Grade A
Mill scale intact
Almost no rust
Grade B
Scale flaking
Rust beginning
Grade C
Scale rusted away
Slight pitting visible
Grade D
Scale gone
General pitting
Grades follow the photographic references in ISO 8501-1. Record the grade, not an adjective.
The four rust grades, used so that a load port record and a discharge record can be compared directly.
What we send to a laboratory, and what we do not Chemistry that decides a question goes to a laboratory: chloride quantification where the screening test is positive, identification of a contaminant where a residue is present, and coating analysis where a coated product is disputed. Sample and control travel together, sealed, with the seal numbers recorded on the sampling sheet and the laboratory receipt in the file. Nothing is sent unsealed, and nothing is sent without a control, because a result without a comparison rarely settles anything.
Measurement and Calculation This is the part of a steel attendance that decides whether the file survives a challenge. Six calculations do most of the work.
1. Coil weight from its geometry Weight = pi / 4 x (OD squared minus ID squared) x width x density
OD 1.85 m, ID 0.61 m, width 1.25 m, density 7.85 t/m3
Annular area = 0.7854 x (3.4225 – 0.3721) = 2.396 m2
Volume = 2.396 x 1.25 = 2.995 m3
Weight = 2.995 x 7.85 = 23.5 tonnes. Compare with the manifest figure for that coil number.
2. Bearing pressure, coil on its side without cradles Contact strip about 50 mm wide across the coil width of 1.25 m
Contact area = 0.05 x 1.25 = 0.0625 m2
23.5 t over 0.0625 m2 = about 376 t/m2, which is well above normal tank top ratings. Where a coil is carried in that condition, deformation of the coil, of the plating, or of both is a foreseeable outcome.
3. Dunnage area required Permissible tank top loading, typical range 12 to 25 t/m2. Take 15 t/m2
Required bearing area = weight divided by permissible loading
Required = 23.5 / 15
1.57 m2 of properly bedded bearing area per coil. That is what a cradle and spread dunnage are for, and it is why a few loose boards are not a stowage plan.
Line contact on bare plating
Contact strip about 50 mm wide
23.5 t over 0.06 m2 = about 376 t/m2
Far above any tank top rating
On cradles and spread dunnage
Bearing area built up to 1.6 m2
23.5 t over 1.60 m2 = about 15 t/m2
Within a normal tank top rating
The same coil, on bare plating and on cradles. The difference is a factor of twenty five.
4. Securing, transverse balance Transverse force = mass x transverse acceleration. Take 0.4 g for a hold stow amidships
Force = 23.5 x 0.4 = 9.4 t
Friction resistance = friction coefficient x mass. Steel on sawn timber, take 0.3
Friction = 0.3 x 23.5 = 7.05 t
Shortfall to be taken by lashings = 9.4 – 7.05 = 2.35 t
Two wire lashings, maximum securing load 8 t each, angle factor 0.5 at 60 degrees
Provided = 2 x 8 x 0.5 = 8.0 t
Provided 8.0 t against a shortfall of 2.35 t. The balance is satisfied. Change the angle to 80 degrees and the same wires provide about 2.8 t, which is where securing plans quietly fail.
alpha
transverse force
Balance to satisfy
Lashing capacity + friction >= transverse force
Friction = mu x m x g
Lashing = MSL x f, f from the angle alpha
Transverse force = m x a, a from the CSS Code table
Worked case, 23.5 t coil
a = 0.4 g force = 9.4 t
mu = 0.3 on sawn timber friction = 7.05 t
Shortfall = 2.35 t
Two wires, MSL 8 t each, f 0.5 at 60 deg = 8.0 t
Balance satisfied with margin
The force balance a securing plan has to satisfy, and the angle that governs it.
5. Condensation risk, the dew point check Record outside air temperature and relative humidity, and derive the outside dew point
Record hold air dew point and the temperature of the steel itself
Ventilate when the outside air dew point is below the dew point of the air in the hold
Do not ventilate when the outside dew point is above the temperature of the cargo
The second rule is the one that is broken. Admitting warm humid air onto cold steel produces cargo sweat, and the ventilation log is what shows whether it happened.
6. Trim loss from edge damage Damaged band measured 40 mm inward from the edge on both sides
Trim allowance 45 mm each side to reach undamaged material
Total lost width = 90 mm on an ordered width of 1,250 mm
Proportion = 90 / 1250 = 0.072
7.2 per cent of the coil, which on a 23.5 t coil is 1.69 t of steel, plus the cost of the re-rolling pass. Recording the depth of the damaged band in millimetres is therefore worth more than describing the coil as damaged.
Usable width after trimming
damage
damage
Ordered width 1250 mm
Trim 45 mm each edge = 90 mm lost = 7.2 per cent of the coil weight
Edge damage converted into a percentage, which is the form an adjuster can use.
7. Condensation, worked with real numbers Outside air 31 C, relative humidity 82 per cent, dew point about 27.5 C
Steel surface temperature measured at 19 C after a temperate load port
Steel is 8.5 C below the dew point of the air being admitted
Water will form on the cargo as soon as that air reaches it. Ventilation in this condition carries a foreseeable risk of forming water on the cargo, and the ventilation log is what shows which decision was taken and when.
8. Coil in a container, floor loading Standard 20 ft container floor, permissible concentrated loading roughly 4.5 t per running metre unless the maker states otherwise
One 23.5 t coil bearing across 1.2 m of floor through a cradle
Load per running metre = 23.5 / 1.2
About 19.6 t per running metre against a permissible figure near 4.5. The load has to be spread over bearers along the length of the box, which is why coils in containers are shipped on purpose built cradles and why floor damage is common when they are not.
9. Tier height in the stow Bottom coil carries the weight of every coil above it at the contact line
Three tiers of 23.5 t coils, contact area at the lowest interface about 0.09 m2
Load at the bottom contact = 2 x 23.5 = 47 t above the lowest coil
About 520 t/m2 at the lowest contact line. Where the bottom tier of a high stow is found deformed, this calculation is one of the matters examined, alongside the cradle arrangement and the tier limits set in the securing plan.
10. Affected proportion of a parcel Parcel of 1,240 coils, average unit weight 19.4 t, manifested 24,056 t
Coils with measurable damage on the register: 148
Of those, 96 with edge damage measured at an average trim of 70 mm on 1,200 mm width
Trim loss on those 96 = 70 / 1200 = 5.8 per cent of 96 x 19.4 t = 108 t
52 coils with water damage recorded for assessment rather than trim
Reported as: 148 coils affected out of 1,240, being 11.9 per cent by number and 2,871 t by weight, of which 108 t is quantified trim loss and the balance is recorded for assessment. The adjuster is given a split, not a single alarming number.
11. Salt on the surface Bresle patch area 12.5 cm2, extraction volume 15 ml
Conductivity converted to chloride concentration of 12 mg/l
Surface density = concentration x volume / area
12 x 0.015 / 0.00125 = 144 mg/m2. Read against the client specification, which for many coated products sits between 20 and 50 mg/m2, this is a level that explains continuing corrosion after delivery.
Corrosion by time of wetness Where a parcel has been in an open yard, the length of exposure matters and can be estimated. Under ISO 9223 the corrosivity of a humid coastal location with airborne salt falls in the higher categories, where first year loss on unprotected carbon steel runs from about 25 to more than 80 micrometres. Over a thirty day dwell that is roughly 2 to 7 micrometres of general loss, which is not a weight issue but is more than enough to change the surface condition of coated and cold rolled product. Recording the dwell days, the cover, and the daily humidity is what allows that argument to be made or answered.
Ship sweat
Warm moist air already in the hold
Cargo
Vessel enters colder water, steel structure cools
Moisture condenses on the cold shell and deckhead
Water drips down onto the top of the stow
Cargo sweat
Cold steel loaded in a temperate port
Cold cargo
Warm humid air admitted on approach to the tropics
Air meets steel below its dew point
Water forms on the cargo itself, under the wrapping
Ship sweat and cargo sweat. The second forms on the cargo, often under intact packing.
What the File Has to Contain A steel file that holds up is built from documents made at the time, not from a report written afterwards. The following is what our surveyors complete on a steel attendance.
Hold and hatch cover inspection before discharge, with the ultrasonic or hose test result where one is available, and the date of the vessel’s own weathertightness test. Coil by coil tally against coil number, heat number and marks, not against parcel totals. A damage register with one line per damaged coil: coil number, position in the stow, type of damage, measurement in millimetres, and the photograph reference. Photographs in a set order, with the coil number legible in the frame before the damage is photographed. Chloride test results where wetting is found, with the control result alongside. Temperature, relative humidity and dew point readings, taken and logged rather than recalled. The weather log with hatch closure times: the time rain was called, and the time the covers were actually closed. Dunnage, cradle and lashing condition as found on opening, photographed before anything is disturbed. Letters of protest issued and served the same shift as the event they describe. The out-turn: sound coils, damaged coils, and the tonnage of each, with the basis of the split stated. Two habits matter more than the rest. Photograph the coil number before you photograph the damage, so that every image can be tied to a line in the register. And measure in millimetres. A report that says severe edge damage can be argued with. A report that says the damaged band extends 40 mm from the edge over 60 per cent of the circumference cannot.
Prevention, Party by Party Most steel damage is prevented before the vessel sails, and by decisions that cost very little compared with the value of the parcel.
Twelve days before the vessel, the things that cost nothing Confirm the specification the parcel was bought against, and put it in the survey instruction. Acceptance is judged against that document and against nothing else. Ask the shipper for the load port survey report and photographs, and for the packing specification. If none exists, ask for one to be carried out. Ask the vessel for the date of the last hatch cover weathertightness test and the last three cargoes carried in the holds nominated for steel. Nominate and prepare the storage ground, in writing, with bearers and covers on site before the first coil lands. Agree who will call rain and who will close hatches, and write the sequence into the discharge plan. Confirm the handling gear the terminal will use, and whether sleeved prongs and correctly sized C hooks are available. Book the surveyor for hatch opening rather than for the middle of discharge. Before loading Inspect and photograph the holds and hatch covers, and test the covers before cargo is worked. Establish the last three cargoes. Where fertiliser has been carried, wash and dry to a standard and record it. Agree the stowage and securing plan before loading rather than during it, with cradle and dunnage quantities stated. Check timber moisture content. Wet dunnage in contact with steel will mark it. Survey the coils at the load port and photograph packing condition coil by coil, so that the arrival condition has something to be compared against. Specify packing to the trade: circumferential and radial strapping, edge protectors, inner and outer wrap, VCI where the product needs it. During the voyage Ventilate to a rule and log it. The log is the evidence, and its absence is usually decisive. Sound bilges daily and record the results. Check lashing tension after the first heavy weather and record when it was re-tensioned. At discharge Attend before the first coil is lifted. The condition on opening is the fact that everything else is measured against. Stop work in rain and close the covers. Record the time the call was made and the time the covers closed. Use C hooks or coil tongs sized to the coil, and sleeved prongs where forklifts enter a bore. Land coils on timber, never on bare quay. Segregate damaged coils on discharge and keep them separate, weighed separately where a weighbridge figure is available. Deliver to a prepared yard: bearers off the ground, chocks against rolling, cover clear of the coil face so that air can move.
Ground contact
Standing water and ground moisture reach the lowest laps
Rust starts at the bottom and works upward
Elevated, chocked, covered
Timber bearers, chocks against rolling, cover clear of the coil face
Air moves under the cover instead of trapping moisture
The same parcel in the same yard. The difference is timber, chocks and a cover that does not lie on the steel.
Coil landed on the floor
Weight concentrated over about 1.2 m of floor
About 19.6 t per running metre
Coil on a cradle over bearers
Load spread along the length, coil secured against movement
Floor within its rating, coil cannot roll
Steel in a box. The floor rating is a running metre figure, not a total weight.
Inland Coil wells or cradles on the trailer, not a flat bed and hope. Edge protection under every chain or strap. Tarpaulins secured for corridor speeds, checked at the first stop. A condition record at the port gate. Without it, damage found in Nairobi, Kampala, Addis Ababa, Lubumbashi or Harare cannot be placed at the port or on the road. Eight Disputes That Recur, and What Settles Each One The same arguments come round on steel. Each one has a fact that decides it, and the fact is almost always something that had to be recorded at a particular moment or not at all.
The argument, and the record that decides it in practice
The rust was there before loading The load port survey and its dated photographs, the mate’s receipts and any clause applied at loading, and the pattern at discharge. Pre-shipment rust is usually uniform across the whole parcel, including coils that were never exposed at the discharge port.
It was sea water, so the vessel is liable A chloride result with its control. Where the screening test is negative on both, the wetting came from rain or condensation and the argument moves to the ventilation record and the weather log.
The packing was intact so the coil must be sound The dew point and steel temperature readings, and photographs taken as the wrapper was opened. Cargo sweat forms under intact packing condition on its own is recorded but is not treated as establishing the condition of the steel inside.
The stevedores damaged it on the quay Condition photographed in the hold before lifting, and again as landed. Two records taken twenty minutes apart give the parties a measured comparison on a question that otherwise runs for a year.
The damage happened on the road, not at sea The condition record at the port gate. Without it the question cannot be answered, and the party with the weaker documents carries it.
The quantity is short The coil by coil tally against numbers, the weighbridge figures for each parcel, and the geometry check on unit weight. Short weight on steel is frequently a weighing or documentation as often as from missing pieces, and both are checked.
The damage is severe and the parcel is a total loss Measurement. Depth of the damaged band, proportion of the circumference affected, number of coils, converted into trim loss and tonnes. Once the parcel is measured, the total loss argument is answered on figures rather than on the appearance of the stow, and the measured position is often far better for the cargo than the first impression suggested.
The hold was dirty and contaminated the cargo The pre-loading hold inspection with photographs, the record of the last three cargoes, and a pH and residue test on the material found. Where residue is present it is sampled and tested rather than described from sight.
The Reports a Steel File Produces Five documents cover almost every steel instruction. They are separate because they answer different questions and are commissioned by different parties, and because commissioning all five on a parcel that needs one is a waste of money.
Report, and when it is the right one to order
Pre-loading and packing survey At the load port, before the cargo crosses the rail. Records condition, packing and marks coil by coil, and establishes the baseline that every later argument is measured against.
Hold and hatch cover condition report Before loading or before discharge. Cleanliness, previous cargoes, cover condition and test results. Ordered by owners, charterers and clubs, and by receivers who want to know what their cargo travelled in.
Discharge supervision and out-turn report Through the operation. Tally by coil number, handling method, weather and hatch closure, segregation of damaged material, and the final split of sound against damaged with the basis of the split stated.
Damage and cause report Where a loss is found. Condition, measurement, tests, the evidence bearing on when and how it happened, and the quantification. This is the document that goes to an adjuster or into a recovery.
Stock condition monitoring Where the parcel sits in a yard or a warehouse under finance or awaiting delivery. Periodic condition and quantity records that show whether the material is being kept in a way that preserves it.
Two of these are worth ordering when nothing has gone wrong. The pre-loading survey and the hold condition report cost a fraction of a claim and they are the only two that cannot be recreated afterwards.
Steel Leaving Africa, Not Only Arriving Most of this paper deals with imported coil, because that is most of the traffic. The export side raises its own questions and is handled by the same file discipline.
Ferrochrome and ferroalloys out of Durban, Richards Bay and Maputo. The cargo is robust but the loading record matters: moisture, contamination and weight are what arrival disputes turn on. Pig iron and semi-finished product out of the southern ports. Point loading and stow distribution are the vessel’s concern, and the load port draft survey is the quantity record everybody later relies on. Ferrous scrap out of South African and East African ports. Density, contamination and the presence of prohibited material are the recurring findings, and radiation screening is part of the attendance on many contracts. Structural steel and fabricated sections moving out on project cargo. Coating damage during loading and lashing is the loss that recurs, and the method statement and lifting plan are reviewed before the lift rather than after it. Coil and sheet moving between African ports, particularly out of South Africa into the east and west coast markets. The same rules apply in reverse, and the load port record here is the one the receiving surveyor will ask for. On any export, the useful discipline is to produce at the load port exactly the document you would want to receive at the discharge port. It is the cheapest insurance available on a steel parcel.
Terms Used in This Paper
Working definitions
Telescoping Displacement of the inner laps of a coil along its axis, so that the coil takes the shape of an extended telescope. Caused by slack winding, side impact or a coil dropped on one edge.
Coil collapse Loss of the coil’s cylindrical form, usually after strap failure or after a coil has been crushed by the tier above it.
Eye The bore of the coil. Its condition matters because handling gear enters it.
Eye to sky Coil stowed with its axis vertical, resting on its annular face.
Eye fore and aft Coil stowed with its axis along the length of the vessel. The standard orientation for coil in a hold.
Mill scale The oxide layer formed during hot rolling. Normal on black hot rolled coil and not, by itself, damage.
White rust The corrosion product of a zinc coating. A white or grey powder between laps on galvanised material.
Ship sweat Condensation forming on the vessel’s structure and dripping onto the cargo.
Cargo sweat Condensation forming on the cargo itself when warm humid air meets cold steel.
Time of wetness The cumulative period during which a surface is wet enough for corrosion to proceed. The controlling variable in yard storage.
Trim loss The width of material that has to be cut away at the edges to reach undamaged steel, expressed as a proportion of the ordered width.
MSL Maximum securing load. The load a lashing may be designed to carry, taken as a stated proportion of its breaking load.
Angle factor The proportion of a lashing’s capacity that acts in the direction the force is applied, governed by the angle at which the lashing is rigged.
Chloride screening A field test indicating the presence of chlorides, used to distinguish sea water from rain and condensation.
Bresle test A method of extracting soluble salts from a measured area of surface so that contamination can be quantified in milligrams per square metre.
Rust grade A surface condition classified against the photographic references in ISO 8501-1, grades A to D.
Out-turn The quantity and condition actually landed, as established at the discharge port.
What Each Interest Needs From a Steel File A steel survey is one attendance, but the file it produces is read by parties with different questions. The paragraphs below set out what each of them is actually deciding, and what we provide so that the decision can be made on measurement rather than on argument. We accept one appointment per matter and act for the interest that instructed us.
Cargo underwriters The question is whether the loss is covered, when it happened, and what it is worth. What settles it is a condition record at hatch opening, a chloride result with its control, a dew point and ventilation history, and damage measured coil by coil and converted into tonnes. We provide a first advice within 24 hours of attendance so that reserves can be set on something better than a telephone call, and a final report that separates quantified trim loss from cargo held for assessment. Where the parcel is large we report the affected proportion by number and by weight, because those two figures are rarely the same and the difference between them is often the whole argument.
Recovery agents and average adjusters The question is whether the file will survive being tested by the other side. That means every figure traceable to a sheet signed on site by the person who took the reading, photographs tied to coil numbers, samples sealed and split with a recorded chain of custody, and letters of protest served in the same shift as the event they describe. We keep the field records and produce them on request, including long after the report has issued. Where our figures and another surveyor’s differ, we say by how much and on what basis, rather than restating our own.
P&I clubs and their correspondents The exposure is the cargo claim against the owner and the cost of defending it. What helps is evidence gathered before the vessel sails: hold condition on opening, hatch cover test records, the state of dunnage and lashings as found, the last three cargoes, and photographs of pre-existing rust taken while the cargo is still in the hold. Where an allegation is made after discharge, an attendance that begins at the yard cannot answer it. We attend at short notice, report to the club or its correspondent alone, and take no other appointment on the same casualty.
Hull and machinery underwriters Steel cargo can damage ships. Tank top plating deformed by point loading, tween deck damage from coil movement, hatch coaming and cover damage from grabs and clamps, and stevedore damage recorded against the wrong party. We measure the deformation, photograph it against a straight edge, record the position by frame number, and separate what the cargo did from what the shore equipment did. That distinction is usually what the parties need in order to decide whether the matter is a hull claim or a stevedore damage claim.
Shipowners and managers The interest is in not carrying somebody else’s pre-shipment rust, and in a discharge that ends without a cargo claim. Before loading we inspect and photograph the holds, record the last three cargoes, test the hatch covers, and survey the cargo on the quay before it is lifted so that any condition already present is on record with a date. During discharge we log the weather, the hatch closure times and the handling method. If the vessel is being asked to accept cargo that is already rusted, the time to record it is before it crosses the rail, not after a claim arrives.
Time charterers Two separate exposures. The cargo claim that follows the vessel, and off-hire or delay if discharge is stopped, holds are rejected on cleanliness, or the stow has to be reworked. We provide a hold condition record at delivery and redelivery, a discharge log with every stoppage and the account it falls to, and a clear statement of what caused each hour lost. Where a stoppage is disputed on site we record both accounts rather than choosing one.
Voyage charterers and disponent owners The concern is laytime, demurrage and the condition in which cargo was tendered. A statement of facts, weather record and hatch closure log made independently is worth more in a demurrage argument than the same facts asserted afterwards, and the same document also answers the cargo condition question if a claim follows.
Traders, shippers and mills The exposure sits at both ends. At origin the risk is shipping a parcel whose condition is not documented, which makes every later allegation hard to answer. At destination the risk is a buyer who rejects on appearance. We survey at load port and photograph packing coil by coil, and at discharge we record condition against the specification the parcel was sold on rather than against a general standard. Where a buyer rejects, the file shows what the material actually was on arrival.
Receivers, importers and end users The loss is commercial: a re-rolling line that cannot use the coil, a galvanising line that rejects it, a construction programme that stops. What protects the position is an independent record at discharge and a second record at the port gate before the cargo travels inland, because damage found at the works is worthless as evidence if nothing recorded the condition before the road. We also supervise segregation so that damaged material is weighed separately, which converts a dispute about proportions into a weighbridge figure.
Terminals and stevedores The allegation, when it comes, is that the damage was done on the quay. An independent record of condition on discharge, of the handling gear used, and of the state of cargo as landed protects the operator as often as it exposes one. We are appointed by terminal operators for exactly this reason, and the record we produce is the same record whoever instructs it.
Freight forwarders, NVOCC and transport operators Liability attaches at the point of handover, and handovers on this cargo are numerous: vessel to quay, quay to yard, yard to truck, truck to border, border to works. Each one is a place where condition can be recorded or lost. We provide condition records at the handovers that matter to the operator, which is what allows a claim to be placed on the leg where it belongs.
Banks, trade financiers and collateral managers Steel under finance is security, and security that is corroding is worth less every week it stands in an open yard. We provide condition and quantity verification at discharge, stock condition monitoring while the parcel is held, and a record of storage conditions that shows whether the collateral is being kept in a way that preserves its value.
Lawyers The requirement is admissible, contemporaneous and consistent material: records made at the time, signed by the person who made them, photographs that can be tied to items, samples with an unbroken custody trail, and a surveyor who can explain in a witness statement how each figure was arrived at. We write reports on the basis that they may be read out and questioned, which is why the reasoning behind every number appears in the file rather than only in the conclusion.
Brokers The interest is a client who is looked after quickly when a casualty happens. We confirm attendance and the name of the attending surveyor before the surveyor travels, and we report to the party who instructed us and to nobody else, which keeps the broker in control of the relationship.
What to send us, whichever seat you hold The vessel name, the port, the parcel and the expected date of arrival or the date of discharge. The bill of lading and packing list if you have them, and the specification the parcel was sold against. Who else is expected to attend, so that a joint attendance can be arranged where it helps. Any load port survey report or photographs already in existence. What you need out of it: condition, quantification, cause, or all three. What comes back before anyone travels is the name of the attending surveyor, the time he will be there, and the fee in writing.
Twenty-Four Ports, and What the Attendances Show These notes are drawn from steel attendances at ports served by the group. They describe what recurs, not what always happens, and they are written to be useful before a vessel arrives rather than after a claim is filed.
Mombasa, Kenya Coils arrive as part cargo on multipurpose tonnage and in containers for the Northern Corridor. Discharge is to open yard before delivery to Nairobi, Kampala, Kigali and Juba, and the long rains from March to May coincide with the busiest steel months. The damage most often recorded is edge denting from clamp handling on the quay, followed by rust staining that starts under a torn wrapper during yard dwell.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Steel for Tanzania, Zambia, DRC and Malawi moves through here, and coils frequently sit in open yard while transit documents are cleared. The recurring finding is water ponding under stacks placed directly on the ground and rust forming from the bottom coil upward, which is the reverse of the pattern rain produces.
Dakar, Senegal Coil, rebar and sections for local construction and for the Malian corridor. Cargo is worked into a congested general cargo area and moved several times before delivery, and the findings that recur are strap loss and edge contact from repeated lifts rather than water.
Djibouti The discharge port for most Ethiopian import steel, with road and rail carriage to Addis Ababa through Galafi and Dewele. Damage is often caused after the port: chain lashings without edge protection bite into coil edges over a corridor of more than 900 km. Condition has to be recorded at the port gate as well as at the hold.
Berbera, Somalia Hot, arid and heavily salt-laden air. Coils in open storage develop surface corrosion faster than the calendar suggests, and any packing already breached at load port deteriorates quickly. Covering and elevation off the ground matter more here than almost anywhere on the coast.
Port Sudan Dust and high chloride loading combine. Fine dust settles on damp coil faces and holds moisture against the steel, which is a different mechanism from direct wetting and produces a distinctive even film of rust rather than run marks.
Beira, Mozambique The gateway for Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambian steel imports. The cyclone season and heavy seasonal rain make hatch closure discipline during discharge the single most important control, and a documented weather log is the difference between an arguable claim and a decided one.
Maputo and Matola, Mozambique Steel arrives alongside a heavy minerals trade. Contamination from adjacent bulk operations, particularly dusty cargo carried on the wind across an open yard, is recorded more often here than mechanical damage.
Nacala, Mozambique Deep water and a long inland corridor. Coils that are sound at discharge frequently show damage on the corridor, and without a condition record at the port gate the loss cannot be placed in time or place.
Durban, South Africa Large volumes both ways: imported coil and exported plate and sections. Humid, high rainfall and windy, and the coils most often found damaged are those stowed against a bulkhead where ship sweat runs down onto the top of the stow.
Richards Bay, South Africa Bulk-dominated, with steel handled alongside abrasive dry bulk. Grit contamination on coil faces is the finding that most often turns into a quality dispute at the mill.
Ngqura and Port Elizabeth, South Africa Automotive-driven steel, much of it cold rolled and coated, where surface appearance is the whole value. Marks that carry no consequence on hot rolled coil are commonly raised as rejections on prepainted material.material.
Walvis Bay, Namibia Fog, cool humid air and a high salt load. Coils and structural steel held in open storage show corrosion out of proportion to the number of days elapsed, and the dew point record is the evidence that explains it.
Luanda, Angola Project steel, pipe and reinforcement for construction and the energy sector, with long customs dwell. Damage recorded is usually cumulative: several small handling events across repeated movements within the port area.
Lobito, Angola The corridor to the Zambian and DRC copperbelt. Steel moves inland by rail, and rail lashing points and chain tension are where coil edges are lost.
Pointe-Noire, Republic of the Congo High humidity almost year round. Condensation inside a container or under a tightly sealed wrapper is a more common cause of loss here than rain, and it is the cause most often mistaken for sea water wetting until the chloride test is done.
Matadi, Democratic Republic of the Congo River port, with the passage up the Congo river and additional handling at barge and quay. Every extra lift is an opportunity for mechanical damage, and the tally has to follow individual coil numbers rather than parcel totals.
Douala, Cameroon Congested, humid, with steel for Cameroon, Chad and the Central African Republic. Long yard dwell under tropical rain, and coils delivered without a documented condition at discharge become impossible to defend once they leave for N’Djamena.
Lagos, Apapa and Tin Can Island, Nigeria The largest steel import volume on the list. Handling intensity is high, storage space is tight, and coils are frequently moved several times before delivery. Mechanical damage from clamp trucks and prong penetration through the eye are the dominant recorded causes.
Onne, Nigeria Oil and gas project steel: line pipe, casing, structural sections. The damage that matters here is coating damage and bevel or thread damage rather than body denting, and it needs a different inspection method from coil work.
Tema, Ghana Coil for local re-rolling and galvanising, plus construction steel. Discharge to open yard during the rainy season is the recurring exposure, and the interval between hatch opening and hatch closure on a rain call is what decides the outcome.
Takoradi, Ghana Steel handled alongside bauxite and manganese exports. Airborne mineral dust settling on coils in open yard is the local contamination risk, and it is visible on a wiped sample long before it is visible on the coil.
Abidjan, Ivory Coast A transhipment and distribution point for the region, so steel is lifted more than once and stored between movements. Cumulative handling damage and lost or broken strapping are the findings that recur.
Lome, Togo A transhipment hub where coils are moved between vessels and held in yard between them. Damage sustained during transhipment is the hardest to place without a survey at each leg, which is why attendance at both discharge and reloading is worth more here than at a direct port.
Notice, Time and the Paperwork Clock Steel claims are lost on timing more often than on facts. The physical evidence deteriorates, the cargo is moved, the coils are sold on, and the notice periods run whether or not anybody is looking at them.
What is running while a parcel sits in a yard
Notice of loss or damage to the carrier Under the Hague and Hague-Visby regime, notice at or before removal where damage is apparent, and within three days where it is not. Late notice does not extinguish the claim but it shifts the burden onto the claimant.
The one year time bar Suit against the carrier is time barred one year from delivery under Hague-Visby unless extended by agreement. Extensions are asked for and granted routinely, but they must be asked for.
Joint survey The right moment is before the cargo moves. Once a parcel has been split, delivered and partly consumed, a joint attendance settles far less.
Deterioration Corrosion continues while the argument runs. A yard record dated weekly is what separates the condition on discharge from the condition six weeks later.
Sale of affected material Once damaged coil is sold, re-rolled or trimmed, the evidence of its condition exists only in the survey record.
Two practical consequences. First, an attendance is worth ordering before the vessel berths rather than after a problem appears, because the cheapest survey on a steel parcel is the one that records a sound condition and closes the question. Second, where damage is found, the protest, the notice and the request for a joint survey go out in the same shift, not at the end of the week.
Questions We Are Asked Before Every Steel Vessel
Is surface rust on hot rolled coil a claim? Not by itself. Light atmospheric rust is commonly found on black hot rolled coil and is frequently accepted by re-rolling buyers. What we record is depth, whether it is pitting rather than film, the rust grade, and whether the material is coated or cold rolled. That record is what the contract of sale is applied to, and it is the difference between a claim that is measured and one that is merely alleged.
What is white rust and is it worse than red rust? White rust is the corrosion product of the zinc layer on galvanised material. It is not red rust and is not recorded as such. Its presence indicates that moisture was in contact with the coating, which is consumed as it corrodes.
How do you tell sea water from rain? Chloride screening is the usual first step. Silver nitrate applied to a swab of the wetted surface gives a white precipitate in the presence of chlorides, and a control swab from an unaffected coil is taken at the same time. The results are read together with the pattern and the temperature record rather than in isolation.
The packing is intact. Does that mean the coil is sound? No. Cargo sweat can form under intact wrapping, and it is one of the more common findings on steel arriving in tropical ports from a temperate load port. Packing condition is recorded, but it is not treated on its own as establishing the condition of the steel inside.
Who is responsible when the damage is found in the yard, not at the hold? That turns on when the condition arose, which is why we record the condition at hatch opening and again at the port gate. Two dated records make the answer obvious. Without them the question is argued rather than answered, and it is usually the party without documents who absorbs it.
Can the affected quantity be expressed as a percentage? Yes, and it should be. Edge damage measured in millimetres converts into a trim loss percentage, and that converts into tonnes. A percentage arrived at by measurement is far harder to argue with than an adjective.
Does a rust clause on the bill of lading settle the question? It records that rust was present at loading. It does not by itself record how much or where. The discharge measurement, read with the load port record where one exists, is what allows the two positions to be considered separately.
How long should a coil parcel be left in an open yard? As short a time as the documents allow, and never on bare ground. Where dwell is unavoidable, bearers, chocks and covers clear of the coil face slow the deterioration and, just as usefully, the yard record shows what care was taken.
Is a joint survey better than a separate one? A joint attendance settles more facts on the spot and narrows the dispute. It does not change who we act for. We take one appointment per matter and report to the party who instructed us.
What rust grade is acceptable? That is a contract question, not a survey question. We record the grade against the ISO 8501-1 scale and the specification decides. A re-roller often accepts grade B on hot rolled coil. A galvanising line usually does not.
Can you attend at the load port as well as at discharge? Yes, and on disputed trades it is the better spend. A condition and packing record made before loading gives the arrival record something to be compared with, and it usually shortens the argument rather than adding to it.
Our coils arrived in containers. Is the survey different? The mechanisms differ. Condensation inside the box, floor loading, and securing inside the container replace hold and stow questions. Seals, desiccant condition and the position of the coil in the box are recorded, and the box itself is inspected before it is stripped.
Who pays for the survey? The party who instructs us. Fees are earned for the attendance carried out and are not contingent on the findings or on any recovery.
How quickly can you attend? We confirm the attending surveyor and the time before he travels. In the ports where we have our own people that is usually the same day, and attendance is confirmed in writing before work begins.
Do you value the damaged cargo? We record condition and quantify what can be measured, which is the basis an adjuster or a claim handler needs and cannot produce from a desk. Valuation and adjustment are then made on figures nobody has to guess at.
The other side has appointed its own surveyor. What then? A joint attendance is usually the better course. Facts agreed on site narrow the dispute, and where the two surveyors disagree the disagreement is recorded rather than smoothed over. We continue to act for the interest that instructed us.
What is the single most useful thing we can do before the vessel arrives? Decide where the cargo will be stored and prepare that ground: bearers, chocks, drainage and cover. More steel is lost in the first fortnight ashore than in the whole sea passage.
When should we call a surveyor? Before the hatches are opened. An attendance that begins after discharge is an inspection of what is left, not a record of what arrived.
Where We Attend, Country by Country The desks below cover the ports named in this paper and the other places the group attends. Each carries the local detail: the terminals worked, the corridors served, and the way an instruction is taken.
Instructions for any of these places are taken on one line, and attendance is confirmed in writing before work begins.
Rejected Parcels, Trim Loss, Off-Hire Bills and Rust Claims: on Steel, the Loss Falls on Whoever Cannot Show the Condition Receivers carry the rejection when the mill refuses coated coil that was marked in a yard. Shippers and traders carry the price deduction when arrival condition cannot be separated from condition at loading. Owners and charterers carry the claim when there is no hold inspection, no ventilation log and no hatch cover test to point to. Clubs and underwriters carry the figure that nobody measured in millimetres. Lines and forwarders carry the cost of damage that happened on a road they did not choose. Terminals carry the allegation when nothing recorded the condition at the gate. Banks carry the exposure when the security is a parcel of steel whose condition nobody documented. Whichever seat you hold, send the vessel name, the port, the parcel and the date of arrival. What comes back is the name of the attending surveyor, the time he will be there, and the fee in writing. One interest per matter: when we take your appointment, we act for your side only, and the findings reach you first.
