Flag State Summary - Belgium

Congratulations to UK Club board member Nikolaus H Schües, who has been named the 46th President of BIMCO.

Hold preparation is probably the most vital part of bulk carrier operations; if it is not undertaken properly, it can result in substantial cargo claims, delays, additional cleaning, survey costs and expensive off-hire disputes.

In this lessons learnt video the crew were instructed to clean the vessel's cargo holds in preparation for the next cargo, during the procedure a seaman on top of the staging fell down suffering serious injuries.

Founded in 1543, Santos has been long known as a port city – first through the export of coffee and then other commodities. Santos was significantly modernised and expanded in the 1990s to incorporate new technologies, operating with specialised terminals for containers, general cargo, and dry and liquid bulk, and it is responsible for almost 27% of the country’s trade. Santos is considered the largest port in Latin America, with its docks being 25 km long and able to accommodate about 50 ships at a time.