are negotiable, to enable the cargo to be traded while en route.
It is normal for three negotiable copies of the bill of lading, stamped 'Original' to be issued. Historically, this allowed the owner of the cargo to despatch copies by different routes to ensure that at least one copy would reach the discharge port in sufficient time to be presented when delivery of the cargo was claimed.
Although this is rarely a problem nowadays, the prac- tice still continues. When one negotiable copy of the bill of lading has been presented, the other copies of the same bill of lading are thereby cancelled (null and void). The existence of three copies of the bill of lading does give opportunity for error or fraud and a variety of precautions are recommended to reduce the risk.
In some trades, to ensure that a set of original bills of lading are available in the discharging port, a sealed envelope containing one set of negotiable bills of lading is left in the master's care for delivery to the agents at that port. When this is done it is recom- mended that all the original bills of lading should be endorsed with the words:
One original bill of lading retained on board against which bill delivery of cargo may properly be made on instructions received from shippers/charterers.191
A non-negogitable bill of lading, stamped 'Copy', is evidence of the contract to carry the cargo and of the cargo loaded on the ship, but it is not proof of owner- ship of the cargo.
Delivery of cargo in return lor bill of lading
When the ship has arrived in the discharging port, the cargo must be safely discharged into the care of the correct person before the voyage can be considered successfully concluded.
When the cargo has been received aboard ship and the master has issued a bill of lading in respect of it, he becomes responsible for ensuring that it is delivered to those whom he reasonably believes to be entitled to its possession. The master should only give delivery of cargo against production of one of the three original bills of lading or under specific instructions from owners. It is extremely bad practice to assume that the agent has attended to this matter on the owner's behalf, as this is often not the case.
As noted earlier, the master should give plenty of advance warning to the discharging port agent that he will require to see the original bills of lading. This ensures that the agent has time in which to arrange to comply.
When original bills of lading have not reached the discharge port the owners may agree to discharge the cargo against letters of indemnity provided by the receivers, shippers or charterers, but that is a decision for the owners and not for the master. When the owners instruct the master to accept a letter of indemnity (LOI), they will take steps to ensure that the wording of the LOI presented to the master is the same as that which they have proposed. The master 172 THE NAUTICAL INSTITUTE
should then check carefully that the LOI presented matches the one supplied to him by owners.
'Accomplished' bills of lading: An 'accomplished' bill of lading is one which has been cancelled, upon delivery of the cargo to its owner. The fact of the delivery accomplishes all the original bills of lading for that cargo. To make the situation clear and to reduce opportunities for fraud, shipowners often instruct masters to write or stamp 'Accomplished' on each side of each bill of lading which is presented to them, to stamp them with the ship's stamp and to sign below this endorsement.
Strictly, the bills of lading are only accomplished when the cargo has been discharged, but if it is accept- able to the receivers it is convenient to endorse them as accomplished when they are first presented. Accom- plished bills of lading should be retained by the master for the owners or, failing that, photocopies should be retained.
Proper delivery of cargo against bill of lading
There are three situations in which the master must be particularly alert to ensure the proper delivery of the cargo. These are change of destination, tranship- ment/lightening, and split bills of lading and/or part cargoes.
Change of destination: If the master receives an instruction to proceed to some port or place other than the one which appears in the bill of lading, he should draw this fact to the attention of all concerned as soon as possible. This rule applies regardless of whether the instruction comes from owners, time charterers, voyage charterers or agents.
There is no P&I cover for misdelivery of cargo, so change of destination is usually the subject of a letter of indemnity (LOI). Provided that the change of destina- tion is confirmed, the master should contact the agent at the new destination to ensure that he has in his possession at least one original bill of lading. Although this document names the original destination, it will still be delivered to the master and accomplished in the normal way, provided that the LOI has been issued and accepted by the owner. The owner will retain the LOI.
Transhipment/lightening: On receiving the instruction to tranship or lighten all or part of his cargo, the master should always ask himself whether this instruction is consistent with the bill of lading. If it is not, he must immediately notify all concerned.
On parting with all or part of his vessel's cargo other than at its final destination, the master should ensure that he receives a clean and plainly worded receipt for it, signed by a qualified person such as the master or chief mate of the other vessel. The master should ensure that the receipt states the full quantity trans- ferred, this being particularly important in the case of part discharge or lightening, as if the vessel has actually discharged more cargo than stated in the receipt there will be a shortage at the next port.
In the event that there is some dispute concerning the quantity transferred at such lightening or tran- shipment and the master feels that the receipt reads low, he should note this in protest at all subsequent ports of discharge.
Split bill of lading and/or part cargoes: There are two types of split bill of lading. The first occurs where a consignment of cargo described in one bill of lading is split at the discharge port and sold partly to one receiver and partly to another. In these circumstances, delivery is given against delivery orders to which all the conditions of the original bills of lading apply.
Usually, the required number of delivery orders is issued by the owner's agent when all the original copies of the bill of lading are presented to him. The master will give delivery of the cargo against produc- tion of all the originals plus all the delivery orders.
Delivery orders are made out in original only, with no copies, and are often unacceptable to banks, which severely limits their use.
More difficult is the situation in which the chart- erers require bills of lading for several parcels of cargo when the master originally issued a single set of bills of lading for the entire consignment. For example, it might be that one set of bills of lading was issued for the entire cargo, but the charterers and their traders require three sets of bills of lading, each for one-third of the total cargo. This differs from the first case because three sets of negotiable bills of lading are required. The procedure for dealing with this is simple in theory and difficult in practice. The one set of originals is collected and delivered to the owners or their nominated agents, together with the required number of replacements. The owners destroy the original set and sign and issue the replacement sets. If the master is requested to authorise the issuing of split bills of lading, he should refer the matter to owners and await orders.
The practical point for the master to remember when a cargo has been divided into separate consign- ments for different ports is that, as with transhipment or lightening, the receiver who receives too much cargo will usually say nothing, whilst the receiver who is short will always claim. Even if the discrepancy can be traced, owners may still find themselves responsible for shortlanding. Every effort should be made to keep an accurate check on the tonnages discharged and to maintain full records of measurements taken, calcula- tions completed and precautions adopted to ensure correct delivery.
Phytosanitary certificate
Most countries of the world have plant health regu- lations which seek to regulate the import of products such as grain, plants, seeds and fruit. Importing countries require such products to satisfy certain requirements, which vary according to the country and the product.
To meet these requirements, exporting countries must ensure that their exports satisfy the regulations of the importing country. Phytosanitary certificates are issued by inspectors in the exporting country to certify that the requirements of the plant health regulations of the importing country have been met. The inspectors are normally members of the country's plant protec- tion service which, in the UK, is part of the Minsitry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
In some cases the importing country issues an import permit which specifies the information which the phytosanitary certificate must contain. In these
cases the import permit is the primary document to which the phytosanitary certiticate is attached. With effect from mid-1993 phytosanitary certificates are not required for trade within the European Community.
Instead, a plant passport scheme will operate.
The phytosanitary certificate (Appendix 14.6) was issued by the Primary Protection Department of the Republic of Singapore, in respect of a cargo of rice.
The certificate informs readers of the details of the consignment, and certifies that the plants or plant products described have been inspected according to appropriate procedures and are considered to be free from quarantine pests and practically free from other injurious pests, and that they are considered to conform with the current phytosanitary regulations of the importing country. If the cargo had been dis- infested or disinfected that information would also be given.
It is normal for the master to receive a copy of the phytosanitary certificate with the other cargo docu- ments. This should be retained and presented to the authorities at the discharge port, if requested.
Certificate of compliance with exemptions to trade sanctions
When trade sanctions have been imposed on a country, it may still be allowed to import certain commodities such as food and medicines. Ships carrying such exempted cargoes will be required to produce a certificate of compliance to the authorities enforcing the sanctions to demonstrate that the cargo qualifies for exemption. Certificates of compliance are issued by the exporting government. The example provided (Appendix 14.7) is a permission to export issued by the Government of Australia. A UN approval certificate is also required.
UN approval certificate
The example attached (Appendix 14.8) takes the form of a letter from a UN official to the government of a country which proposes to export exempted goods to a country which is the subject of UN sanctions. The letter states that the prohibitions in respect of these shipments no longer apply and that the captains of the ships engaged in the trade should be provided with copies of the letter. Particularly, this letter is provided so that it can be produced to the naval ships operating the blockades against countries against whom sanctions are in force.
Certificate of origin
A certificate of origin of a cargo may, for example, be required when the authorities in the destination port are applying an embargo against another country and require to be satisfied that the cargo does not originate there, or where the origin of the cargo must be documented for the purposes of the underlying sale contract.
The certificate of origin, often issued by a govern- ment department, states the country of origin of the cargo. It should be issued to the master and will be required by the authorities in the discharging port and possibly in transit ports if they are also applying an embargo. The example (Appendix 14.9) is issued by the Republique de Guinee in respect of a cargo of bauxite.
BULK CARRIER PRACTICE 173
In some cases the authorities will accept the ship's cargo manifest as evidence of the origin of the cargo, but it is important that the master knows in advance what is required.
Declaration by shipper
The declaration by shipper (Appendix 14.10) is made in compliance with the recommendation of the BC Code22 that before loading the shipper or his appointed agent should provide to the master details, as appropriate, of any bulk cargo in order that any safety precautions which may be necessary can be put into effect. The layout of the declaration and the information it contains will vary with commodity and with shipper, but is becoming increasingly standard- ised in some trades.
The information which the declaration contains is necessary for the safe planning and supervision of the loading of the cargo and is a Solas requirement from 1 January 1994. The master should, if necessary, demand the declaration in writing and insist on being provided with it before commencement of loading.
The information contained in the declaration will help the master to make decisions such as whether it is necessary to trim the cargo reasonably level to the boundaries of the cargo space and whether cargo work should be stopped and the hatches should be closed during periods of rain.
The master or his representative should sign for receipt of the declaration, and should when planning, loading, carrying and discharging the cargo take account of the information provided. The master and the shipper will each retain a copy of the declaration.
Certificate of transportable moisture limits
The transportable moisture limit of a cargo which may liquefy is the maximum safe moisture content of the cargo when carried in a conventional bulk carrier.
In practice this figure is normally included in the declaration by shipper.
Certificate of moisture content
The moisture content of a sample of cargo is the quantity of water, ice or other liquid which the sample contains, expressed as a percentage of the total wet mass of that sample22. In practice, this figure is normally included in the declaration by shipper. If the moisture content is higher than the transportable moisture limit, the cargo may liquefy and cause the ship to become unstable. In these circumstances the cargo cannot be carried safely.
Complete reliance should not be placed upon the certified value of moisture content. As mistakes in providing the figure can be made and cargo can be wetted by heavy rain whilst stored in the open or during loading, the moisture content of the cargo should be monitored. If there is any reason to fear that it may be close to the transportable moisture limit, the moisture content should be checked using one of the methods described in the BC Code22. Particular care should be taken when the climate is moist and temperatures are below zero.
174 THE NAUTICAL INSTITUTE
Master's response sheet
This document (Appendix 14.11) is issued by some coal shippers to encourage masters to comply with recommendation 3.12 of the coal section of the BC Code. This states: 'If the behaviour of the cargo during the voyage differs from that specified in the cargo declaration (i.e. the declaration by shipper), the master should report such differences to the shipper.
Such reports will enable the shipper to maintain records on the behaviour of the coal cargoes, so that the information provided to the master can be reviewed in the light of transport experience.'
For the safety of ships and their crews there is a need to know more of how consignments of coal behave during the voyage, and masters should be encouraged to complete and return these forms to report any unexpected experiences with coal cargoes.
Certificate of IMO classification
A certificate of IMO classification must be issued to the master by the shipper before shipment of a cargo which is listed in the IMDG Code. This is essential so that he can apply the correct emergency procedures, should they be necessary. Such a certificate is usually in the form of a standardised dangerous goods bill of lading.
On receipt of a certificate of IMO classification, the master should study the emergency procedures, ensure that the ship can carry the cargo safely and confirm that the proposed stowage complies with IMO recommendations. Such precautions as are necessary for the safe carriage of the cargo must be observed throughout the voyage.
Copies of the certificate of IMO classification may be required by the receiver and by the port authority in the port of discharge and also in ports visited en route.
Certificate of lashing
The master or his representative may be required to sign a certificate of lashing to state that the stowage of a timber deck cargo or a cargo of steel coils or other cargo which requires lashing has been to his satis- faction.
Before signing he should be satisfied that the deck cargo is securely stowed and lashed. If in doubt as to how the cargo should be stowed and lashed he should consult the Code of Safe Practice for Ships Carrying Timber Deck Cargoes18, or that for Cargo Stowage and Securing96.
After signing the certificate the master retains one copy and the other copies go to the foreman respon- sible for the lashing.
Certificate of readiness to load
The certificate of readiness to load (Appendix 14.12) is issued by the marine authorities (such as the Canadian Coast Guard, the National Cargo Bureau in the USA, and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority) in respect of cargoes of grain and concentrates and timber deck cargoes, each of which has special loading requirements.
The certificate is issued after satisfactory inspection of the cargo spaces and the pre-loading calculations, and contains reminders of restrictions that must be imposed upon the loading. The restrictions in ques- tion are those imposed by international regulations
and by the EC Code22. The master must ensure that all the restrictions are observed.
Copies of the document go to the master, the port authority, the ship's agent and the port warden. The
Copies of the document go to the master, the port authority, the ship's agent and the port warden. The