Further to LP Bulletin 119 which detailed the unwarranted delays to ships discharging bulk cargoes; we have been advised of further cases of shortage claims involving cargoes of wheat, yellow corn, soya bean meal, fodder wheat and feed barley throughout most of the Algerian ports.

It is believed that the reported shortages are a result of:

1  The use of a non-tight grab used to discharge the cargo directly into trucks.

2  The overloading of trucks which results in further spillage during the transit to the shore scales.

3  The questionable accuracy of some of the shore scales.

4  The care taken in reading and recording the weight from the shore scales.

It has been reported that when a surveyor has attended the discharge operations the receiver has not claimed any discrepancies, the final outturn recorded by the shore scale being similar to the figures entered in the bill of lading. The absence of a surveyor has resulted in shortage claims being regularly raised on completion of the cargo discharge.

We would like to remind Members of the above situation and recommend that to prevent discrepancies of weight between draft surveys, shore scale readings and bills of lading they should appoint a surveyor to perform joint surveys, maintain a tally of the receivers’ trucks and to control the cargo weighing.

A full detailed report on the general recommendations for alleged shortage of grain cargoes in bulk when being discharged in Algerian Ports is available for Members on the Encyclopaedia.

Source of information: 

AMCS – Algeria P&I Services

 Club correspondent