Marine surveys

General Average

We’ve overseen General Average proceedings serveral times, where Loss or damage to a ship or its cargo is shared among the shipowners and all the cargo owners, applying long-standing general average principles that have been agreed between the shipping and cargo industries and basing on the terms of the contract of carriage of the cargo or the charterparty.

Damage surveys on behalf of P&I Club

We carry out several Damage Surveys on behalf of P&I Club in order to investigate cause , extend of damages and losses that may have occurred during shipment and to assist in mitigating further losses.

Marine casuality investigations

Marine Casualty Investigations are carried out to examine and if necessary investigate into all types of marine casualties to, or on board, such as fire, collision, grounding, salvage, wreck removal and pollution, with the objective to determine its circumstances and its causes with a view to making recommendations.

Bunker survey

Bunker survey, also known as Bunker Delivery Survey or Bunker Quantity Survey (BQS) forms a critical part of preventing bunker delivery losses with the mainly scope of a bunker surveyor’s employed to independently check and determine the barge delivered quantity and the vessel received quantity. These two quantities should be within acceptable tolerance (usually 0.5% of received quantity) and if not, the surveyor must investigate the cause of the discrepancy.

On Hire/Off Hire survey

Moreover, for the Charter and the Owner of a vessel, it is important to have the vessel’s bunker quantities assessed at the start and close of a charter period. In order to state the quantity of bunkers on board our independent surveyors will carry out an on-hire survey on delivery and an off-hire survey on redelivery, sounding the tanks, calculating and certifying the fuel that is on board with a detailed report which can be of assistance to substantiate claims. In addition to these, delivery and redelivery surveys can be carried out by our surveyors to inspect the condition of the ship on delivery and redelivery.

Vessel & Yacht Condition Survey

Vessel & Yacht Condition Survey for “Hull & Machinery Insurance companies” and P&I Condition surveys ( pre-entry, follow up) are carried out on behalf of P&I Clubs or others H&M Insurance companies, in order to inspect pre-entry, follow up vessel condition and find ship’s defect and the state of safety equipment, machineries and structures for warning to Clubs and Insurance companies.

Pre-purchase Condition survey

A pre-purchase survey is usually requested us by a potential buyer and is focused on areas where defects are likely to considerably reduce the value of the vessel and perhaps require extensive investment to correct. This survey includes a short sea trial, inspection of the underwater areas after haul out, topsides, deck and interior structures, spars, machinery and safety equipment, vessel’s structural and watertight integrity, system’s installations, operating condition and performances, in this way marks values are assigned to the vessel.

Fixed and floating object claims

We also carry out Fixed and floating object claims which arise from liability for interference with or damage to an object that is not a vessel i.e. dock, bridge, damage to any other object and, depending on the nature and the extend of the damage to ensure that reasonable steps are taken by claimants to mitigate the loss and to carry out prompt repairs.

Customary and Non-customary towage

Our office is often approached for advice regarding Customary and Non-customary towage such as when a vessel requires the urgent assistance of a tug due to machinery failure or when a vessel is being towed to a ship yard for repair, ocean towage and associated towing surveys – also known as towage warranty/Fitness to Tow carried out by our experienced and independent surveyor to evaluate all the risks associated with the towage operation and to establish if the towage arrangements, including the suitability of the towing vessel or tug/s, the towed unit/s and any cargo on board, are fit for the intended voyage.