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Observater Surveys and Services Group · Tema · Ghana
From the stem to the redelivery, our bunker surveyors in Tema cover the vessel’s fuel account: bunker quantity surveys, on-hire and off-hire ROB verification, intermediate soundings, bunker shortage investigations, and MARPOL sampling. Who attends, when, and on what basis is confirmed in writing before anything starts.
Shipowners, charterers, bunker buyers and traders, P&I clubs, and suppliers in dispute all instruct the same group, under one rule: one interest per matter.
Get a Surveyor Moving Email the InstructionThe tank reads full of air. Aerated fuel sounds higher than it is. Only an enforced settling time and a re-sounding show what the barge actually delivered, while the barge is still alongside.
Volume is not weight until the mathematics are honest. A wrong temperature or a wrong density on the delivery note shifts tonnes on paper. Our own instruments and our own correction tables settle it.
Redelivery ROB decides real money. The remaining-on-board figure at each end of the charter is a payment. Independent soundings with trim and list corrections turn the dispute into arithmetic.
Tema tests the fuel account its own way. Vessels stem fuel at Tema at the berth and at anchorage, and every stem is one of the largest single payments the ship makes in port. One independent surveyor on deck is the difference between paying for what was received and paying for what the paperwork says.
One matter at a port rarely travels alone. Our desks below stand at the same quay, on the same instruction line — choose the unit your matter needs.
Our highly trained bunker surveyors carry out all types of bunker surveys, bunker quantity surveys, and marine fuel inspections at Tema Port, Ghana, through our own local surveyors at the port, with every attendance confirmed in writing before work begins: stems, on-hire and off-hire ROB, intermediate soundings, redelivery, shortage investigations, and MARPOL sampling, on all fuel grades. Vessels stem fuel at Tema at the berth and at anchorage, and every stem is one of the largest single payments the ship makes in port. Also see: cargo surveyors in Tema and marine surveyors in Tema.
Our bunker quantity survey at Tema runs the stem end to end: joint soundings of every relevant tank on the receiving vessel and the barge before delivery and after it, temperatures read on our own calibrated thermometers, densities verified against the bunker delivery note, and the correction to standard volume at 15°C applied under the ASTM tables. The supplier’s figures are checked, not copied. If the calculated quantity falls short of the note, the letter of protest is issued during the attendance itself, with the barge still alongside, so the claim starts with the evidence already secured.
The on-hire and the off-hire are where a charter’s fuel money changes hands, and at Tema we attend both. Independent soundings across fuel, diesel, and lubes, corrected for trim and list from the ship’s own tables, with unpumpable bottoms identified and deducted, produce a certified ROB figure. Condition is recorded in the same visit, so redelivery is compared against a record rather than a recollection.
Stem attendance at Tema runs to the same standard: the barge gauged before and after, the shore figure reconciled, and samples drawn at the manifold, sealed, and split so a later laboratory question already has its answer waiting.
When the delivered figure and the paid-for figure refuse to meet, or fuel keeps disappearing faster than the engines burn it, the question stops being measurement and becomes investigation. Our bunker shortage investigations in Tema follow the fuel until the numbers explain themselves.
The delivery note says one figure, the settled tanks say another. We re-sound after an enforced settling time, test density from the sample, recalculate on measured temperatures, and put the difference in a letter of protest the claim can stand on.
When burn rates outrun the engines’ appetite voyage after voyage, we audit the fuel account: soundings against log entries, bunker delivery notes against measured densities, and every transfer between tanks reconciled.
Where concealment is suspected, standard sounding is not enough. Our investigators trace the transfer piping physically, check void spaces and non-nominated tanks, verify sounding pipes against alteration, and test calibration tables against the actual steel.
Every finding is photographed, timed, and placed, and the report is written in the form P&I clubs, underwriters, and tribunals accept, so what the investigation finds, the claim can use.
Fuel quality disputes are won on the sample, and the sample is only as good as its chain of custody. Our surveyors witness the continuous drip sample at the manifold, the official point of custody transfer, then seal, label, and document it on the bunker delivery note, so the vessel holds the legal armor a Port State Control inspection or a quality dispute demands. Where off-specification fuel must come off, de-bunkering is supervised and measured with the same discipline as a delivery, so every tonne leaving the ship is accounted for.
Shipowners & managers. The fuel account defended at every stem and both ends of every charter in Tema, with ROB figures that settle instead of argue.
Charterers & operators. Independent verification that the fuel paid for went into the tanks, and that redelivery quantities are calculated, not conceded.
Bunker buyers & traders. A surveyor on the manifold during the stem is the cheapest insurance a fuel purchase can carry: measured delivery, honest corrections, protest on the spot.
P&I clubs & correspondents. Impartial attendance, one appointment per matter, and shortage findings documented in claim-ready form the same day.
Suppliers with a dispute. When a delivery is challenged, independent measurement protects the honest party, whichever side of the manifold they stand on.
Lawyers & claims teams. Soundings, samples, photographs, and calculations tied to time and place: a fuel file built for the argument that follows.
Named surveyor, scope in writing. Before anything starts you know who attends, when, and exactly what they will do, on paper.
The fee agreed first. The fee is put in writing before work begins, so the decision is made with the numbers in front of you.
One interest per matter. If we act for the other side in your dispute, we tell you and decline. Independence is the product.
Work starts on your go-ahead. Nothing begins until you confirm in writing, and the findings reach you first, in confidence. We answer 24/7.
“The surveyor held the stem for settling when the tanks read high, and the re-sounding proved the shortfall. That one attendance paid for the year.”Charterer, Tema
“Off-hire ROB was heading for a deduction until the joint survey corrected the trim calculation. Both sides signed the same figure.”Vessel operator, Tema
“Density tested from the sample did not match the note. The protest was issued before the barge let go, and the invoice was corrected.”Bunker buyer, Tema
Attendance in Tema is arranged on instruction through our own local surveyors at the port, with every attendance confirmed in writing before work begins: send the vessel, the terminal or anchorage, and the stem size, and who attends, when, and on what basis is confirmed in writing before work begins.
The fee depends on the scope: the service, the stem size, and the attendances needed. Scope and fee come back in writing before work begins, and one prevented short delivery typically covers many surveys.
A bunker survey in Tema measures the fuel independently at an agreed event: tank soundings on the vessel and the barge, temperatures and densities on calibrated instruments, correction to standard volume at 15°C, verification against the bunker delivery note, and a report with the calculations and evidence attached, with a letter of protest issued where the figures do not hold.
Yes. Where the delivery is already signed, our shortage investigation reconstructs the fuel account from soundings, logs, delivery notes, and samples, and where concealment is suspected an investigative 221B survey physically traces the piping and checks non-nominated spaces. The earlier we attend, the more evidence survives.
Rarely from theft alone. Aerated fuel reading taller than it stands — the cappuccino effect — a density declared warmer than the delivery, and line and manifold contents left uncounted: each shaves tonnes on paper. Independent soundings before and after, with temperature and density verified, close every one of those doors at once.
Observater Surveys and Services Group are the bunker surveyors at Tema Port, Ghana — our own local surveyors at the port, attending at berth and anchorage on one instruction line, with the surveyor’s name, scope, and fee confirmed in writing before work begins.
Every matter is quoted on its scope before attendance — in writing, with the surveyor named. That way the instructing party knows the cost before the gangway, not after the invoice.
Tanks are sounded independently before and after, temperature and density verified against the delivery documents, samples sealed and split at the manifold, and the certified figure issued with the calculation shown — so the invoice is settled on measurement, not on trust.
Evidence is cheap while it exists, and priceless once it is gone
Send the vessel, the terminal or anchorage, the ETA, and the stem size, and we confirm who attends, when, and on what basis, in writing, before anything starts.
Get a Surveyor Moving Email the InstructionThe same group, the same report standard, along the same trade routes: Bunker surveyors in Takoradi · Bunker surveyors in Lomé · Bunker surveyors in Abidjan · Bunker surveyors in Lagos.
International Marine Cargo Surveyors, Claims Handlers and Technical Consultants in Africa. On-ground expertise, global reach: anywhere you go in Africa, we are already there, with capacity to serve globally.
Observater Surveys and Services Group · ops@observater.com · All attendances are performed under our standard terms of business, available on request. Also see: Cargo Surveyors in Tema · Marine Surveyors in Tema · Ghana bunker desk · Africa Bunker Survey Experts · Bunker Surveys in Djibouti.
From the Observater Desk
Whatever the vessel question, the cargo below has its own: outturn against the manifest, tally at the hook, condition as found, and the claims file that follows. The cargo desk at Tema answers it from the same practice, one instruction covering both.
Cargo surveyors in TemaInstruct the desk
When precision matters, Observater Surveys Group is your Partner of Choice
© 2026 Observater Surveys and Services Group. All rights reserved.