Wheat Into Africa: Shortage, Wetting, Infestation and Quality, and the Record That Answers Each of Them
The continent’s largest food import, examined port by port. Where the tonnes go missing between the ship’s rail and the mill, how wet and heated grain is measured rather than described, what sampling has to look like to be usable, and the calculations a claim runs on.
Eng. Daniel Esilaba, Cert CILA Technical and Operations, Observater Surveys and Services
How This Paper Should Be Read This is a working paper on wheat carried to African ports, drawn from discharge attendances, silo and mill intakes, warehouse stock work and corridor deliveries. It describes what is commonly observed, the measurements and sampling a surveyor carries out, 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 allows them to be relied on when they are tested.
The patterns described here are indications recorded across many attendances. On a live file they are read with the analysis, the documents and the circumstances, and it is that combination that carries weight when the other side examines it. Whether a recorded condition or a recorded difference amounts to damage, to a shortage, to a quality claim or to no claim at all is decided against the sale contract, the contract of carriage and the policy. Those documents are applied to a measured record made at the port, and supplying that record is the work. Analytical results quoted in the worked examples illustrate method. They are not results for any actual parcel. We accept one appointment per matter, act for the interest that instructed us, and the findings reach that party first. The Cargo, and What It Is Bought Against Wheat is the largest food import into Africa and it arrives in parcels of ten to seventy thousand tonnes on handysize, supramax and panamax tonnage, sometimes part cargo with a second grain or with fertiliser. It is bought on specification, discharged into a chain of six or seven transfer points, and consumed by a mill that measures it far more precisely than the ship ever did.
The classes that arrive Wheat classes, and what the buyer is paying for
Hard red winter The workhorse milling wheat of the region, bought on protein and moisture. Protein is the parameter most often specified and most often argued about.
Hard red spring Higher protein, used for blending and for stronger flours.
Soft red winter and soft white Lower protein, biscuit and confectionery flours. Different tolerance for moisture and for sprouting.
Durum Semolina and pasta. Vitreousness and yellow berry are additional parameters, and handling damage that cracks the kernel matters more than on bread wheats.
Feed wheat Bought to a looser specification, but not to no specification. Mycotoxin limits and foreign matter still apply.
Wheat flour in bags Arrives alongside bulk wheat in several of these ports. A different cargo with different mechanisms: bag condition, caking, infestation and moisture pickup rather than draft survey questions.
The parameters that decide acceptance What is tested, and why the number matters
Moisture Governs storability and weight. A parcel at 13.5 per cent behaves differently in a hot store than one at 11.5, and moisture also carries a direct weight consequence set out further down.
Protein Usually on a dry basis, and usually the parameter with a price scale attached.
Test weight, in kilograms per hectolitre A measure of packing density and, indirectly, of kernel soundness. Low test weight often travels with shrivelled or damaged grain.
Foreign matter and screenings Other seeds, straw, dust and broken kernels, expressed as a percentage and usually subject to a contractual maximum.
Damaged kernels Heat damaged, mould damaged, sprouted and insect damaged, each counted separately because each points to a different history.
Falling number An indication of sprout damage and enzyme activity. A number that has fallen since loading points at conditions on passage or in store.
Insect infestation Live insects, dead insects and fragments. The presence of live insects engages plant health authorities as well as the contract.
Mycotoxins Aflatoxin, deoxynivalenol and others, sampled and tested to laboratory methods because the numbers are low and the sampling error is high.
Odour and condition Recorded on opening, in words that describe rather than conclude, and photographed.
The contracts underneath Most parcels move on GAFTA terms or on a contract that borrows from them, with an incorporated sampling and analysis regime and a named superintendent. The important thing for a surveyor is to know before attending whether weight and quality are final at load port or final at discharge, because that single term decides what the attendance is for. Where quality is final at loading, a discharge analysis does not displace it, and the value of the attendance shifts to condition, handling and the establishment of what happened after loading.
Read the contract before the vessel berths. An attendance carried out without knowing where weight and quality are final answers a question nobody asked.
How Wheat Is Lost and Damaged Losses on this cargo fall into four families: quantity, wetting, biological, and contamination. Most files involve more than one, and the order in which they occurred is usually what the attendance is asked to establish.
1. Quantity, and where it goes The difference between a bill of lading figure and a shore figure is rarely one event. It is the sum of spillage at the rail, dust and wind loss on an open transfer, overflow at the hopper, sweepings that never reach a scale, short or unweighed truck trips, tare errors, scale drift, and genuine differences in the way the two figures were established in the first place. Attending only the ship or only the gate produces half an answer.
The chain from hold to mill, and the points where tonnes go missing
Hold
Grab orvacuvator
Hopper
Truck orconveyor
Weighbridgeor scale
Silo orwarehouse
spillageat the rail
wind lossand dust
overflow andquay sweepings
short loads andunweighed trips
scale drift andtare error
A figure taken only at the two ends cannot say which of these consumed the difference
The transfer points between hold and mill. Each is a place where a figure is either established or assumed.
2. Wetting Rain through an open hatch during discharge, leakage through a defective hatch cover on passage, sea water through a ventilator or a damaged coaming, and water standing in a bilge that reaches the bottom of the stow. Wetted wheat swells, discolours, then crusts as it dries, and the crust is often the first thing seen when a hatch is opened. Below the crust the grain may be sound, which is why depth is measured rather than assumed.
3. Sweat and moisture migration Grain is hygroscopic and a cargo is a moving system. Moisture migrates from warm to cool parts of the stow, condenses under a cold deckhead and returns to the surface layer, and warm grain loaded into a cold hold will sweat on its own account. The finding is usually a wet surface layer over sound cargo, which is a different signature from a wetted patch under a hatch joint.
4. Self heating Where moisture and respiration are high enough, a parcel generates heat, and a hot spot spreads. The findings are elevated grain temperature by probe, a musty or fermented odour, caking, and discoloured or heat damaged kernels. Temperature is the measurement that identifies this early, which is why probing the surface on opening is a standard step rather than an optional one.
5. Infestation Weevils, grain borers, flour beetles and moths, and in this region the additional plant health question of khapra beetle. Live insects on opening engage the importing country’s authorities as well as the buyer, and can lead to fumigation, rejection at the port of discharge or diversion. The relevant facts are what was found, where, whether live or dead, at what stage of discharge, and what fumigation history the cargo carries.
6. Contamination Residues of a previous cargo in a hold, fertiliser dust, mineral dust from an adjacent operation, oil from a grab or a hopper, rodent or bird evidence, and glass or metal from the structure. Hold cleanliness before loading is therefore a food safety control rather than a housekeeping matter, and the last three cargoes are always asked for.
7. Handling and mechanical damage Grabs and vacuvators break kernels, and heavy handling raises the broken grain and screenings figures that a mill will later measure. Where a specification is tight, the discharge method is part of the quality question and is recorded.
8. Losses ashore Open storage, unsealed warehouses, floor stacking, rain through a roof, and stock held for months in a hot climate. Bagged wheat and flour on a warehouse floor take moisture from the slab and cake from the bottom upward, which is a different picture from rain from above.
9. Fumigation and treatment In transit fumigation, treatment on arrival, and residues from either. The questions that arise are whether a treatment was applied and recorded, whether ventilation after treatment was adequate, whether the cargo was fit to enter or discharge on the day it was worked, and whether any staining or odour attributed to the cargo in fact belongs to the treatment. The certificates and the gas readings are part of the record.
10. The corridor Trucks without tarpaulins, unsealed tailgates, transhipment at borders, and long queues in the sun. On the Northern, Central, Djibouti, Beira and Lobito corridors, a share of the shortage claimed against the vessel accumulated after the port gate, and it can only be separated where the gate figures were recorded.
The Load Port Papers, and What Each One Fixes A discharge attendance is far stronger when it begins with the documents that already exist. On wheat there are usually six, and each of them fixes something that cannot be fixed later.
Document, and what it settles
Bill of lading and cargo manifest The quantity said to have been shipped, and the terms on which the carrier received it. Any clause or remark recorded at loading changes what an arrival finding means.
Load port draft survey The vessel’s own quantity figure at the other end, and the deductibles taken. Where the discharge draft survey is challenged, the load port one is the first comparison.
Certificate of quality Moisture, protein, test weight, screenings, damaged kernels and falling number as tested at loading, by a named superintendent and a named method. Everything measured at discharge is read against it.
Certificate of weight The basis on which the shipped weight was established: shore scale, draft survey or both, and by whom.
Fumigation certificate What was applied, at what dosage, when, and whether in transit fumigation was continuing on arrival. Live insects on opening mean something different where a recent treatment is recorded.
Phytosanitary certificate The plant health position at origin, which the authority at discharge will read alongside whatever is found in the hold.
Hold cleanliness certificate The condition the holds were passed in before loading, and by whom.
The retained load port sample The single most valuable document that is not a document. Where a sealed split exists, a fall in quality can be tested by the same method on both samples. Where none exists, that comparison cannot be made at all.
We ask for these before attending rather than after a finding, because two of them change how the attendance is carried out. A fumigation still in progress changes hold entry and sampling. A quality final at loading clause changes what the sampling at discharge is for.
Separating One Stage From Another The question on almost every wheat file is when the condition arose, or where the tonnage went. Four kinds of evidence answer it.
Indication, and what it commonly points to
A wetted patch directly under a hatch joint or a cover panel Water that entered from above, at that point. The cover, the gasket and the drain at that position are examined and photographed as part of the same finding.
An even wet surface layer across the whole hatch square Condensation and moisture migration rather than ingress at a point, and the ventilation record becomes the document that matters.
Wetting at the tank top with sound grain above Water that was in the hold before or below the cargo, which points to bilges, a leaking line or water taken in from below.
Chlorides in the wetted grain A screening indication of a sea water source, read with the control result from sound grain and with the position of the wetting.
A hot spot with a musty odour and caking Biological activity in the parcel, which develops over time and therefore has a history that predates the discharge.
Live insects at all stages of discharge An established population rather than a recent arrival, and the fumigation history and load port certificates become central.
Broken grain rising through the discharge The handling method, particularly where a grab is working a hard bottom or a vacuvator is running at high draw.
A difference that grows with each truck A systematic weighing or tare issue rather than a cargo event, which is why the weighbridge calibration certificate is asked for early.
None of these is treated as conclusive alone. Read together with the load port certificates, the vessel’s records and the analysis, they place a finding in time closely enough for the parties to apply their contracts to it.
Sampling, Instruments and the Laboratory On wheat the sample is the cargo, as far as any later argument is concerned. A parcel of forty thousand tonnes is judged on a few kilogrammes, so how those kilogrammes were taken decides whether the result means anything.
How the sample is built Increments are drawn from many positions rather than from one, spread across the surface on opening and then through the discharge stream as the parcel comes out. Increments are combined into a gross sample, the gross sample is divided down to a composite by riffle divider or by quartering, and the composite is split into sealed parts for the surveyor, the vessel and the receiver, with a further split for the laboratory where one is instructed. Sound grain and affected grain are never combined into the same composite.
From increment to sealed split, without a gap in the chain
Increments, spread across the lot
Bulk orgross sample
Divided to acomposite
surveyor
vessel
receiver
Each split sealed, numbered and signed for
Sound grain and affected grain are never combined into one composite
From increment to sealed split. A break anywhere in this chain is a break in the evidence.
What we carry, and what each item settles Instrument, and the question it answers
Sampling spear and probe Surface and depth sampling on opening, before the grab disturbs the parcel.
Automatic or manual stream sampler Increments taken through the discharge, which is the only way to represent the whole parcel rather than the top of it.
Riffle divider Reduces a gross sample to a composite without bias. Coning and quartering by hand is acceptable where recorded, but it is recorded.
Moisture meter Field readings during discharge, calibrated, with the model and the scale stated. Laboratory oven results govern where the number is disputed.
Grain thermometer or temperature probe Surface and depth temperature on opening and through discharge. The measurement that identifies heating.
Chondrometer or test weight apparatus Kilograms per hectolitre, taken to the method the contract names.
Sieve set and sample pan Screenings, foreign matter and insect fragments, separated and weighed rather than estimated.
Thermo-hygrometer Air temperature, humidity and dew point at the hatch and on the quay, logged through the operation.
Chloride screening kit Where wetting is found, an indication of a chloride source, with a control from sound grain.
Sealed sample containers and numbered seals Every split sealed at the point of division, with the seal numbers on the sampling sheet and on the receipt.
What goes to a laboratory Moisture, protein, test weight, screenings, damaged kernels, falling number, mycotoxins and, where the finding requires it, identification of a contaminant. Sample and control travel together, sealed, with the laboratory receipt in the file. Where the contract names a method or a laboratory, that method and that laboratory are used, and any departure is recorded before the sample is sent rather than explained afterwards.
The Calculations a Wheat File Runs On These are the figures that turn observations into a claim that can be worked with.
1. Draft survey, the cargo figure Initial survey: net displacement after deductibles = 8,420 t
Final survey: net displacement after deductibles = 46,905 t
Cargo discharged = 46,905 – 8,420
38,485 t by draft survey. Every deduction not sounded and witnessed is a hole in that figure, which is why the ballast, fresh water, fuel and constant are recorded on the same sheet.
The six readings that make a draft survey, and what is taken with them
aftmidshipforward
Port and starboard at each of the three positions, read from a boat where the marks cannot be seen from the quay
Taken at the same time
Dock water density, at the vessel’s side
All ballast tanks sounded and witnessed
Fresh water, fuel and diesel oil
Bilges and any void that can hold water
Constant, agreed or calculated
Trim and any list, recorded
Then again on completion
The cargo figure is the difference between the two
net displacements, and every deduction not sounded
is a hole in it.
The readings taken, and everything recorded alongside them.
2. Weight and moisture, the shrinkage the trade expects Bill of lading weight 38,500 t at 12.8 per cent moisture
Discharge moisture measured at 12.1 per cent
Dry matter is constant, so W2 = W1 x (100 – M1) / (100 – M2)
W2 = 38,500 x (100 – 12.8) / (100 – 12.1)
W2 = 38,500 x 87.2 / 87.9
38,193 t. A loss of 307 t, about 0.8 per cent, arises from moisture alone before a single kernel is spilled. Reporting the shortage without this calculation reports the wrong number.
3. Shortage against the contractual allowance Bill of lading 38,500 t
Shore intake, all weighbridge and silo figures combined: 38,214 t
Difference = 286 t, being 0.74 per cent
Moisture adjusted expectation from calculation 2: 38,193 t
Difference against the moisture adjusted figure = 21 t, being 0.05 per cent
The same parcel produces 0.74 per cent or 0.05 per cent depending on which comparison is made. Both are reported, with the basis of each stated, so the parties can apply the franchise or trade allowance in their contract to figures that are not in dispute.
4. Sampling, how many increments a parcel needs Lot of 38,500 t discharged over five days
Sampling frequency agreed at one increment per 200 t through the stream
Increments = 38,500 / 200
Each increment about 250 g
About 193 increments, giving a gross sample near 48 kg, divided down to a composite and split for the parties. The number and the method are stated in the report, because a result without its sampling plan cannot be weighed against anybody else’s.
A hold on opening, and where the samples come from
wetted
wetted
Sampled at the surface first, then at depth as the discharge exposes the parcel
Recorded before the first grab
Surface condition and colour across the whole hatch square
Extent and position of any crust, cake or discoloured area
Depth of the affected layer, measured at several points
Grain temperature by probe, surface and at depth
Odour on opening, before ventilation disperses it
Condensation on the underside of the hatch covers
Water in the bilges, sounded and sampled
Insect activity, live or dead, and where
Then sampled to a plan
Increments spread across the surface and through the
discharge, sound and affected grain kept separate, each
composite sealed and split three ways.
What is recorded before the first grab enters, and where the samples come from.
5. Affected tonnage in a hold Wetted area measured across the hatch square: 14.0 m by 9.5 m
Average depth of the affected layer, from six measurements: 0.35 m
Volume = 14.0 x 9.5 x 0.35 = 46.55 m3
Stowage factor for wheat, take 1.30 m3 per tonne
About 35.8 t affected, to be checked against the tonnage actually segregated and weighed. Both figures are reported, and where they differ the difference is explained rather than averaged.
6. Screenings and foreign matter, converted to tonnes Composite sample 1,000 g, sieved and hand separated
Foreign matter and screenings recovered: 21 g
Proportion = 2.1 per cent
Contract maximum 2.0 per cent, so the excess is 0.1 per cent
On 38,500 t, the excess = 38.5 t
Reported as the percentage found, the contract maximum, and the tonnage the excess represents. The deduction or allowance that follows is applied by the parties to a figure that was measured rather than asserted.
7. Test weight, and what it is telling you Chondrometer measurement on the composite: 76.4 kg per hectolitre
Load port certificate: 78.1 kg per hectolitre
Difference = 1.7 kg per hectolitre
A fall of that size is recorded alongside the moisture, the broken grain figure and the handling method, because handling, moisture change and the condition of the kernel all move this number, and the cause is established from those together rather than from the number alone.
8. Infestation, counted rather than described Composite of 1,000 g sieved over a 2 mm screen
Live insects recovered: 6
Dead insects: 14
Count expressed per kilogramme
6 live and 14 dead per kg, with the species identified where possible and the stage of discharge noted. A count is what an authority and a buyer can act on. The word infested is not.
9. Ventilation, the two rules in numbers Cargo temperature at loading, average of the hold readings: 18 C
Outside air on passage, day 6: 24 C
Three degree rule: ventilate only if outside air is at least 3 C cooler than the cargo
Dew point rule: outside dew point 21 C, hold dew point 16 C
On both rules the hold should have stayed closed that day. What the log records is what the file then rests on, which is why the ventilation record is requested before the cargo moves.
Two rules, and the record that shows which was followed
The dew point rule
Compare the dew point of the air outside
with the dew point of the air in the hold
Outside dew point lower than hold dew point
Ventilate
Outside dew point higher
Keep the hold closed
The three degree rule
Compare the average temperature of the cargo
at loading with the outside air temperature
Outside air at least 3 degrees cooler
Ventilate
Warmer, or less than 3 degrees cooler
Keep the hold closed
Whichever rule the vessel works to, the entries in the ventilation log are what show what was done and when
The two rules a vessel may work to, and why the log matters more than either.
10. Bagged wheat or flour, the weight of a stack Nominal 50 kg bags, stack said to hold 2,000 bags
Twenty bags weighed at random: average net 49.4 kg
Stack physically counted: 1,986 bags
Weight = 1,986 x 49.4
98.1 t against a nominal 100 t. Both the count and the average bag weight are established physically, because a stack accepted on its label is a stack nobody has checked.
11. Truck reconciliation across the discharge Trucks despatched over the discharge: 1,412
Sum of net weighbridge figures: 38,214 t, average 27.06 t per truck
Trucks recorded as leaving without a weighed net figure: 9
Estimated at the average: 9 x 27.06 = 243.5 t
The unweighed trips are reported as a separate line rather than folded into the total, with the basis of the estimate stated. Nine trucks is 0.6 per cent of the parcel, which is larger than most disputed shortages.
12. Scale tolerance, and what it is worth in tonnes Weighbridge verification tolerance, commonly around 0.1 per cent of the weighed load
Average net load 27.06 t, so tolerance about 27 kg per truck
Over 1,412 trucks, if every load ran at the same edge of tolerance
About 38 t, in either direction, from tolerance alone. This is not an allegation about any scale. It is the reason the calibration certificate is asked for at the start and the reason a difference of this order is reported with its arithmetic beside it.
13. Sweepings and spillage Swept up at the rail and on the quay over the discharge: 26.4 t weighed
Of which returned to the parcel after screening: 18.9 t
Condemned or unfit for the original use: 7.5 t
The three figures are reported separately. A sweepings tonnage folded into the out-turn conceals both a handling issue and a quality question.
What the File Has to Contain A wheat file is built from documents made at the time, by the person who took the reading, and it has to survive being compared with a mill’s own intake records months later.
Hold and hatch cover inspection before loading or before discharge, with the last three cargoes recorded and the cover test result where one is available. Condition on opening, hold by hold: surface, colour, crust, odour, condensation on the covers, insect activity, with photographs before the first grab. Grain temperature by probe, at the surface and at depth, repeated through the discharge. The sampling plan actually followed: number of increments, where they were taken, how the composite was divided, seal numbers and who holds each split. Moisture readings through the discharge, with the instrument and scale named. Draft survey sheets, initial and final, with soundings witnessed and the density recorded. The weighbridge or silo figures, with the calibration certificate date, and the reconciliation between them and the ship figure. Weather log and hatch closure times, including the time rain was called and the time the covers were actually closed. Segregation of affected grain, where it went, and the weight of it. Sweepings weighed and their disposal recorded. Letters of protest served in the same shift as the event they describe. The out-turn: sound tonnage, affected tonnage, sweepings, and the basis of each figure. Two habits carry more weight than the rest. Record the temperature on opening, because it is the one measurement nobody can reconstruct afterwards. And write down the sampling plan before sampling starts, because a plan described after the results are known is worth very little to anybody.
Reducing the Loss, Stage by Stage
Before loading Hold inspection and photographs, with the last three cargoes established and any fertiliser carriage treated as a cleaning and a food safety question. Hatch cover condition and test results, with the date of the last weathertightness test. Load port sampling and analysis to the contract method, with a split retained by each party. Grain temperature at loading recorded, which is the reference the three degree rule depends on. Bilges dry, covered and tested, and the sounding pipes clear. On passage Ventilate to a stated rule and log every entry, including the days when the holds stayed closed and why. Sound bilges daily and record the results, including the nil results. Where a hot spot is suspected, take temperatures and report before arrival rather than on arrival. At discharge Attend at hatch opening. The condition of the surface layer is the reference for everything that follows and it exists for about twenty minutes. Stop work in rain and close the covers, and record both the time the call was made and the time the covers were closed. Sample through the discharge rather than once, and keep affected grain separate from sound grain from the first grab that touches it. Weigh what is segregated. A tonnage that is only estimated will be argued over for a year. Sweep, weigh and record the sweepings rather than letting them disappear into the parcel or off the quay. Take the weighbridge calibration certificate at the start, not after a difference appears. Ashore Dunnage under every stack, gangways between blocks, and stacks clear of the walls so that counting, probing and treatment are possible. A roof and a floor that have been checked before the parcel arrives rather than after the first rain. Temperature monitoring on stored bulk, and a stock record that a surveyor can verify against a physical count. A fumigation and pest control record kept with the stock rather than at head office.
On the floor, wall to wall
Floor moisture reaches the bottom tiers, no air movement,
no access for inspection or for treatment
On dunnage, in blocks, clear of the walls
Timber under the stack, gangway between blocks, stack
clear of the wall so counting and probing are possible
The same parcel in the same shed. The difference is timber, gangways and access.
On the corridor Sealed and tarpaulined trucks, with the seal numbers recorded at the gate. Weighing at the gate and again at destination, and both figures kept. A condition record at the gate, which is what separates a port loss from a road loss. Flour, Bagged Wheat and Bagging at the Quay A large part of the regional trade is bagged, either shipped in bags or bulk shipped and bagged at the port for onward carriage. The mechanisms change with the packing and so does the record.
Bagging at the discharge port Bulk grain is taken from the hopper into a bagging plant on the quay or in a shed, weighed, stitched and stacked. Three figures matter and all three are established physically: the number of bags produced, the average net weight from a random check, and the number of bags actually delivered out. A bagging operation that reports only bag counts is reporting half a quantity.
Bag weights checked at intervals through the run, not once at the start, because bagging scales drift as they warm. Torn, slack and rejected bags counted separately and their contents accounted for. Spillage at the bagging point swept, weighed and recorded rather than absorbed into the stack. The stack built to a count that can be verified: uniform blocks, known bags per tier, gangways left for counting. Bagged cargo shipped as bags Flour and bagged wheat arrive already packed, and the findings are bag condition rather than grain condition: torn bags from hooks and handling, slack bags from settling or from leakage, wet bags from rain or from stowage against a sweating shell, caked bags from moisture pickup, and infested bags where the packing was already carrying a population. Each is counted, not described, and the count is by mark and by parcel.
Reconstituted and rebagged cargo Where torn bags are emptied and the contents rebagged, that operation is supervised and recorded separately: bags in, bags out, weight recovered, weight condemned. Without that record the recovered tonnage disappears into the parcel and the shortage figure becomes impossible to reconstruct.
On the floor, wall to wall
Floor moisture reaches the bottom tiers, no air movement,
no access for inspection or for treatment
On dunnage, in blocks, clear of the walls
Timber under the stack, gangway between blocks, stack
clear of the wall so counting and probing are possible
How a stack is built decides whether it can be counted, probed and treated later.
Food Aid and Institutional Consignments A substantial share of the wheat and flour moving through Djibouti, Port Sudan, Mombasa, Beira and Berbera is food aid or institutional supply. It is commercially similar cargo held to a different standard of account, and the survey work has to match that standard.
Quantity is accounted for at every handover rather than at the ends, because the audit follows the consignment to a distribution point rather than to a mill. Bag marks, donor marks and consignment references are recorded per parcel and per stack, since consignments from different donors are frequently stored together. Condition on delivery matters as much as quantity, because a consignment that arrives unfit is not simply a financial loss. Fumigation and treatment records travel with the consignment and are checked, since treated stock has restrictions on distribution timing. Damaged and reconstituted quantities are recorded separately and their disposal documented, because write-offs on aid cargo are examined closely. Warehouse condition, stack layout and pest control at the storage point are part of the record rather than a separate exercise. The practical difference from commercial work is that the file has to be readable by an auditor who was never at the port and who is checking a number against a distribution list months later. That is a matter of how the record is kept rather than of what is done on the quay.
What Each Interest Needs From a Wheat File The same attendance is read by parties asking different questions. What follows is what each of them is deciding, and what we supply so that the decision rests on measurement.
Cargo underwriters The questions are whether the loss is covered, when it arose and what it comes to. What settles them is the condition on opening, the temperature record, a sampling plan that stands up, the moisture adjusted weight comparison, and affected tonnage that was segregated and weighed rather than estimated. We report the shortage on more than one basis, with the basis of each stated, so reserves are set on a range that is understood rather than on a single number that later moves.
Traders, shippers and receivers The exposure is a price adjustment or a rejection at the mill. Where quality is final at loading, the discharge attendance protects the position by recording what happened after loading. Where it is final at discharge, the sampling method and the retained splits are the whole case, and they are built to the contract method rather than to a general standard.
Shipowners, managers and their P&I clubs The exposure is a cargo claim on a parcel that may have been loaded wet, hot or already infested. The evidence that answers it is gathered before and during discharge: hold and cover condition, the ventilation log, bilge records, the load port certificates, and the condition of the surface layer photographed before anything was moved. Where an allegation is made after the cargo has gone to silo, an attendance that begins then cannot answer it.
Charterers Two exposures. The cargo claim that follows the vessel, and time. Holds rejected on cleanliness, discharge stopped for rain, and grabs held for a fumigation decision are all hours that fall to somebody. We record each stoppage with its cause and the account it falls to, and where the cause is disputed on site we record both accounts rather than choosing one.
Millers and industrial buyers The concern is what the intake will do to the blend and to the mill. Moisture, protein, test weight, screenings and insect condition at intake, measured on a sampling plan the supplier cannot dispute, are what allow a claim to be made or, just as usefully, allow a parcel to be accepted with confidence.
Silo and terminal operators The allegation is usually that grain was lost or degraded in the terminal. Intake and outturn records, scale calibration, and condition at each transfer protect the operator as often as they expose one, which is why operators instruct this work themselves.
Humanitarian agencies and donors Food aid wheat and flour is accounted for to a standard that commercial cargo rarely faces, and the questions are quantity delivered, condition on delivery and fitness for distribution. We provide a discharge and out-turn record, a bagging and bag weight record where the cargo is bagged at the port, and condition records at the warehouse and at handover, so that an audit trail exists from the ship’s rail to the distribution point.
Plant health and food safety authorities Where live infestation or a contaminant is found, the authority acts on facts: what was found, where, at what stage, in what quantity and on what sampling. We record those facts in the form they are usually asked for, and we do not characterise the cargo beyond what the findings and the analysis carry.
Banks, trade financiers and collateral managers Grain under finance is security that degrades. We provide quantity and condition verification at discharge, stock counts against the warehouse record, temperature monitoring on stored bulk, and a record of storage conditions, so that what is on the schedule is what is in the shed.
Recovery agents and average adjusters The requirement is a file that survives challenge: sampling with an unbroken custody trail, figures traceable to a sheet signed on site, protests served in the shift they belong to, and a clear statement of what was compared with what. Where our figures differ from another surveyor’s, we say by how much and on what basis.
Lawyers Contemporaneous, signed, and reasoned in the file rather than only in the conclusion. The sampling plan, the seal numbers, the laboratory receipts and the custody record are what make a wheat report usable in an arbitration.
Freight forwarders, hauliers and clearing agents Liability attaches at handovers, and this cargo has one at every transfer point. Gate weighing and condition records place a loss on the leg where it arose rather than on the party with the thinnest documentation.
What to send us The vessel, the port, the parcel and the expected date of arrival or of discharge. The bill of lading, the load port certificates and the sale contract clauses covering weight, quality and sampling. Whether weight and quality are final at loading or at discharge. Whether another interest is expected to attend, so a joint attendance can be arranged. What you need: quantity, condition, sampling and analysis, or all of them. 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-Nine Ports, and What the Attendances Show These notes are drawn from grain attendances at ports served by the group. They describe what recurs rather than what always happens, and they are written to be useful before a vessel arrives rather than after a claim is filed.
Mombasa, Kenya Bulk wheat for Kenyan mills and for the Northern Corridor into Uganda, Rwanda, eastern DRC and South Sudan. Discharge is by grab and vacuvator to hopper and truck, with silo intake at the mills. The recurring finding is the difference between the ship’s figure and the combined weighbridge figures, and it is answered by attending both ends of the chain rather than one.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Milling wheat for Tanzania and for the Central Corridor to Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi and Malawi. Long truck queues and open hopper transfer are where spillage and sweepings accumulate, and the sweepings figure is worth recording rather than absorbing.
Djibouti The grain gateway to Ethiopia, including commercial cargo and food aid consignments. Discharge to bagging plant and to bulk trucks, then a long corridor to Addis Ababa. Bag weight and bag count at the bagging point are the figures that decide most of what follows inland.
Berbera, Somalia Wheat and flour for Somalia and for the Ethiopian hinterland. Handling is by grab to truck with limited covered storage, and rain during discharge is the exposure that produces the largest single losses.
Port Sudan Large wheat parcels for milling, with hot dry conditions and dust. Insect activity in stored grain and heating in stacks held over time are recorded more often here than wetting.
Beira, Mozambique Wheat for Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi. The rainy season and cyclone risk make hatch closure discipline the single most valuable control during discharge, and the weather log the document that proves what was done.
Maputo, Mozambique Grain for the local market and in transit for South Africa and eSwatini, with silo intake and road onward carriage. Reconciliation between the ship figure, the intake scale and the delivery weights is the recurring work.
Nacala, Mozambique Deep water discharge and a long corridor to Malawi and Zambia. Condition and weight at the port gate is what separates a sea claim from an inland one.
Durban, South Africa Bulk grain terminal handling imports and regional distribution, with conveyor intake to silo. Sampling at the intake point and the reconciliation of silo weights against the draft survey are the main areas of dispute.
Cape Town, South Africa Grain terminal serving the Western Cape milling industry. Wind and rain during discharge and the stop and start of a weather affected operation produce the stoppage record that later matters for both laytime and cargo condition.
Walvis Bay, Namibia Wheat for Namibia and for the Botswana and Zambian corridors. Fog and humid coastal air, with grain held in yard and warehouse, make moisture migration and surface caking the findings that recur.
Luanda, Angola Substantial wheat imports for local milling, with berth congestion and long discharge times. Grain left in a hold over an extended discharge behaves differently at the end than at the beginning, and sampling has to follow the discharge rather than be taken once.
Lobito, Angola Grain discharged for the interior and the corridor to Zambia and the DRC. Rail loading and transhipment add weighing points, each of which is a place a figure can be established or lost.
Pointe-Noire, Republic of the Congo Wheat for local mills and for Brazzaville by rail. Humidity is high year round, which makes ventilation practice on passage and the temperature of the grain on opening the first things we record.
Matadi, Democratic Republic of the Congo River port discharge with barge and quay handling for Kinshasa and the interior. Extra handling points mean extra transfer losses, and the record has to follow the parcel through each of them rather than compare only the two ends.
Douala, Cameroon Wheat for Cameroon, Chad and the Central African Republic. Congestion, long dwell and tropical rain, with bagging on the quay for onward carriage. Torn and slack bags at the bagging point are where the shortage argument starts.
Lagos, Apapa and Tin Can Island, Nigeria The largest wheat import volume in the region, feeding a substantial milling industry. Discharge to silo and to truck, with high daily rates. Draft survey against shore intake is the standard question, and the surveyor who attends only one of them cannot answer it.
Port Harcourt, Nigeria Wheat and grain for eastern Nigerian mills. River approach, tidal windows and lightening add movements, and each movement is a place where quantity is established or assumed.
Tema, Ghana Grain for Ghanaian mills and for the Sahel corridor to Burkina Faso and Mali. Rainy season discharge and open truck carriage inland produce both wetting and transit shortage on the same parcel.
Takoradi, Ghana Grain handled alongside bauxite and manganese exports. Airborne mineral dust settling on open grain and in hoppers is the contamination risk recorded here.
Abidjan, Ivory Coast Wheat for local milling and for the Malian and Burkinabe corridors. High discharge rates and multiple road hauliers make the gate weighing record the pivot of most shortage discussions.
Dakar, Senegal Wheat for Senegalese mills and for the Malian corridor. Salt laden air and storage close to the water make surface condition on stored bags a live issue.
Casablanca, Morocco A major grain port with silo intake and a strong milling industry. Quality parameters are tested closely at intake, which makes the sampling method and the split retained at discharge the documents that carry the argument.
Safi, Morocco Grain discharged alongside phosphate, sulphur and fish traffic. Dust from the neighbouring operations is the contamination risk on an open transfer, and the sampling point is chosen with that in mind rather than for convenience.
Lome, Togo Wheat and flour for Togo and for the Burkina Faso and Niger corridors, with transhipment traffic adding a further handling point. Bagged cargo moving inland is where the count and the average bag weight decide the shortage question.
Cotonou, Benin Grain and flour for Benin and for the Niger, Mali and northern Nigeria corridors. Long dwell in open storage during the rains, and bag condition at the point of release, are the findings that recur.
Monrovia, Liberia Wheat and flour for Liberian mills and bakeries, discharged at the Freeport with limited covered storage. Rain during discharge and the interval between hatch opening and hatch closure are the controls that matter most here.
Freetown, Sierra Leone Grain and flour imports discharged at Queen Elizabeth II Quay, with humid conditions and onward road carriage. Moisture pickup on bagged stock held in a warm store is recorded more often than wetting during discharge.
Conakry, Guinea Wheat and flour for Guinea and the interior, discharged alongside bauxite traffic. Contamination and bag condition on the quay are the recurring findings, with the anchorage and lightening operations adding a further transfer point.
Eight Disputes That Recur
The argument, and the record that decides it in practice
The cargo is short The moisture adjusted comparison, the draft survey, the shore figures with their calibration certificates, and the sweepings tonnage. Most apparent shortages shrink considerably once all four are in the same table.
It was wet before it was loaded The load port certificates, the condition on opening, the position of the wetting in the stow, and the ventilation record. Wetting under a cover joint and wetting at the tank top point in different directions.
It was ventilated wrongly The log against the two rules, with the cargo temperature at loading and the daily air readings. The log is the case, either way.
The insects came with the cargo Stage of discharge at which live insects were found, the fumigation certificates, the load port inspection, and the condition of the hold. Insects found throughout a parcel have a different history from insects found only at the surface.
The quality has fallen since loading The retained load port split against the discharge composite, tested by the same method. Where no split was retained at loading, the comparison cannot be made, which is the strongest argument there is for retaining one.
The mill’s figures are wrong Scale calibration dates, the reconciliation of intake against the gate weights, and a physical check of a sample of trucks. This is usually resolved by arithmetic rather than by argument.
The damage is in the sweepings, not the cargo Sweepings weighed and recorded separately, with what was returned to the parcel and what was condemned. A single out-turn figure hides this and invites the dispute.
It happened on the road The gate weight and the gate condition record. Without them the question cannot be answered and the party with the weaker documents carries it.
The Reports This Cargo Calls For
Report, and when it is the right one to order
Hold and hatch cover condition report Before loading or before discharge. Cleanliness, previous cargoes, cover condition and test results.
Draft survey report Initial and final, with all soundings and the density, and the cargo figure derived rather than asserted.
Discharge supervision and out-turn report Through the operation: condition on opening, sampling, temperatures, weather and stoppages, segregation, sweepings, and the final split of sound against affected.
Sampling and analysis report The plan, the increments, the division, the seals, and the results with the method named.
Damage and cause report Where a loss is found, with the evidence bearing on when and how, and the quantification.
Warehouse and stock condition report Periodic count and condition on stored bulk or bags, with temperature records and a verification against the stock ledger.
Bagging and delivery record Where cargo is bagged at the port, bag counts, average bag weights and condition at handover.
Two of these are worth ordering when nothing has gone wrong. The hold condition report and a load port sample properly retained cost a fraction of a claim, and neither can be recreated afterwards.
Notice, Time and the Records That Expire
What is running while the parcel moves inland
Notice to the carrier Apparent damage notified at or before removal, and damage that is not apparent within the period the carriage regime allows. Late notice shifts the burden onto the party bringing the claim.
Time bar Suit against the carrier is commonly barred one year from delivery. Extensions are granted routinely and have to be asked for.
Contractual claim periods Trade contracts frequently set their own short periods for quality and condition claims, measured from discharge or from the date of the analysis certificate.
The samples Retained splits have a useful life. Where a contract sets a retention period, it is diarised, and where it does not, the splits are kept and their condition recorded.
The cargo itself Grain is milled. Once a parcel has gone through a mill, the only evidence of its condition is the record made at intake.
Segregated material Affected grain sold, treated or destroyed before it is weighed and sampled cannot be brought back for measurement.
Questions We Are Asked Before Every Grain Vessel
Is a difference between the bill of lading and the shore weight a shortage? It is a difference, and it is reported as one. Moisture change, the basis on which each figure was established, sweepings and weighing tolerance all sit between the two numbers, and they are set out so the parties can apply the allowance in their contract.
How much moisture loss is normal? There is no normal, there is arithmetic. The dry matter stays constant, so the weight follows from the moisture at loading and the moisture at discharge, and the calculation is shown in full in the report.
What does a crust on the surface mean? That the surface layer was wet at some point and has dried. It is recorded, its depth is measured, and the grain beneath it is sampled separately, because a crust frequently sits on sound cargo.
Live insects were found. What happens now? We record what was found, where, at what stage of discharge, whether live or dead, and in what numbers per kilogramme, and we obtain the fumigation history. The plant health authority and the parties then act on those facts.
Can you carry out a draft survey and supervise the discharge at once? Yes, with the right number of surveyors, and the number is confirmed in writing before we travel. A draft survey done properly is not something to fit around a tally.
Who holds the samples? Each split goes to the party it was drawn for, sealed and signed for, and the surveyor’s split stays in our custody with its seal number recorded. Nothing is sent to a laboratory unsealed and nothing is sent without a control.
Quality is final at load port. Is a discharge survey worth anything? Yes, but for a different purpose. It records what happened after loading, which is the only way to separate a condition that travelled with the cargo from one that arose on passage or ashore.
The mill says the protein is low. Can you check it? We can sample to the contract method, retain splits and instruct the named laboratory. Protein results move with the sampling far more than most people expect, which is why the plan and the division method are reported alongside the number.
How fast can you attend a grain vessel? We confirm the attending surveyor and the time before he travels, and grain discharges run around the clock, so the shift pattern is confirmed at the same time.
The cargo was fumigated in transit. Can your surveyor still enter the hold? Not until the space has been cleared for entry and gas readings support it. We record the certificates, the readings and who cleared the entry, and we attend as soon as it is proper to do so. Where entry is delayed, the delay is recorded with its reason.
Can you attend the bagging plant as well as the ship? Yes, and on bagged deliveries it is where the quantity is actually established: bags produced, average net weight checked through the run, and bags delivered out.
We are a donor agency. Can you provide an audit trail rather than a survey report? The same attendance produces both. The record is kept so that quantity and condition can be followed from the ship’s rail through the warehouse to the handover point, with each stage signed and dated.
How do you deal with a parcel that is part wheat and part another grain? As separate parcels, sampled separately and reported separately, with the stowage recorded so that any cross contamination at a bulkhead or in a hopper can be identified.
Do you carry out the analysis yourselves? Field measurements yes: moisture, temperature, test weight, screenings and infestation counts. Protein, falling number and mycotoxins go to a laboratory, and where the contract names a laboratory or a method we use that one.
What single thing would reduce our grain claims most? Attending at hatch opening and retaining a proper load port sample. Between them they fix the two conditions that everything else is measured against.
Terms Used in This Paper
Working definitions
Increment A single portion of grain taken at one point and one time, combined with others to form a gross sample.
Gross sample All increments combined, before division.
Composite The sample obtained by dividing the gross sample down, from which the splits are taken.
Split A sealed portion of the composite issued to a party or a laboratory.
Riffle divider A device that halves a sample repeatedly without bias.
Test weight Mass of grain filling a known volume, in kilograms per hectolitre.
Falling number A measure of enzyme activity, used as an indication of sprout damage.
Screenings Material separated by sieving: broken kernels, small seeds, dust and light matter.
Stowage factor Volume occupied by one tonne of the cargo, used to convert a measured volume into a tonnage.
Three degree rule Ventilate only where the outside air is at least three degrees cooler than the cargo temperature recorded at loading.
Dew point rule Ventilate only where the dew point of the outside air is below the dew point of the air in the hold.
Self heating Temperature rise generated within the parcel by respiration and microbial activity.
Sweepings Grain recovered from the deck, the quay and the hopper area during and after discharge.
Out-turn The quantity and condition actually landed, as established at the discharge port.
Franchise or trade allowance The margin in a contract within which a difference in weight is not treated as a shortage.
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.
Three Hundred Tonnes Are Missing, the Surface Layer Is Crusted, and the Mill Says the Protein Is Down. Whichever of Those Is Yours, It Is Answered With Figures or Not at All Receivers and millers carry the intake that does not blend and the tonnage that never arrived. Traders and shippers carry the price adjustment that cannot be answered without a retained sample. Owners and charterers carry the claim when there is no hold record, no ventilation log and no bilge sounding to point to. Underwriters carry the number nobody adjusted for moisture. Terminals and silo operators carry the allegation when the scale calibration was never produced. Hauliers carry the difference that was never weighed at the gate. Humanitarian agencies carry an audit on tonnage that left the quay without a record. Banks carry stock that is heating quietly in a shed nobody has probed. Whichever seat you hold, send the vessel, the port, the parcel and the date. 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.
