ON AND OFF HIRE BUNKER / CONDITION SURVEYS

Bunker on board ship for ships consumption or carried as cargo is an essential part of shipping and a vital part in charter party agreements as the custody of bunker fuel onboard a vessel is transferred from the Owner of the vessel to the Charterer of the vessel when the vessel's charter begins, the reverse is the case when the vessel is redelivered to the owner at the end of the charter.

As bunker is often referred to as a consistent and expensive consumable in the operation of the vessel, an exact quantity onboard at the start of the charter and at the end of the charter needs to be established to avoid dispute.

Depending on the charter party agreement between the owners and the charterer, the quantity of all liquid consumables which includes but not limited to the below are recorded and reported on during on hire survey; FO (Fuel Oil), DO (Diesel Oil), LO (Lubricating Oil), MFO (Marine Fuel Oil), MGO (Marine Gas Oil), MO (Marine Diesel Oil), IFO (Intermediate Fuel Oil), HFO (Heavy Fuel Oil.

Same will be surveyed during off hire in other to ascertain any difference in bunker quantity as any excess between the OFF hire quantity and the ON hire quantity is payable by the vessel Owner to the vessel Charterer and any shortage of same is payable by the vessels Charterer to the vessels Owner.

A bunker Surveyor is often employed to sound the tanks independently with well calibrated measuring tools against the approved tank calibration referencing the actual tank height with consideration to the vessels trim and listing conditions, physically check each tanks temperature and bunker viscosity and carefully apply the correction factors when calculating the quantity.

On hire and off hire survey is not only limited to the bunker, it is also required that the charterer redelivers the vessel in good working condition as delivered by the owner, normal wear and tear excepted.

It is very important for a charterer to limit their liability by ensuring that all important information concerning the vessels condition is surveyed and reported on by an independent surveyor acting on behalf of the charterer or owner and final report utilized as an evidence for their liability during the charter period, this is where JOCL comes in to proffer an independent and unbiased bunker/condition survey solution that ensures that both parties (owners and charterer) ends the venture with assurance of an unprejudiced deal.