Examples of Ship-shore difference

Example 1
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A Japanese Vessel loaded 6000 mt off Dumai port from certain infamous installation. Ship shore difference 29mt or 0.48% (<0.5%). Everybody is happy. Shipping document signed & vessel release and info relay to Principal at 0800hr. GM, FM, OM and yrs truly received info and equally happy & filed the fax. Very rarely one got good loading figure from Dumai

At about the same time, our workaholic CEO flew off to HK for meeting and flew back on the same day after the meeting. Understanding he went back to the office to pick up the faxes (yes, it's correct. Those day no email and he read all faxes. When we have email, he read all email and faxes). Before midnight all the above 3M receiving screaming call from the CEO. One of them did not pick up the call as he is soundly asleep. The luck did not last - next morning at 7am while driving to work, the screaming call arrived

At discharge port, as expected, outturn lost is 30mt and buyer scream

Lesson learn

a) Japanese vessel have good vef - u dont even have to check
b) take 0.5% with a pinch of salt - supposedly meant for skin loss - if 30mt is about the weight of 2 trucks and that's a lot of oil
c)Beware of the infamous installation - u have no hope of good ship-shore figure. If you do, you must be mistaken

Example 2
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It is no more 1980 - we have enter int0 21st century. But we never learned

Loaded 20,000mt CPO at Indon port by barges (yes, B/L still based on shore) to India and discrepancy is 100mt or 0.5%. Again everybody is happy and vsl reached India and discharged. Outturn short by 100mt. A a lot of screaming from buyer but everybody say it is VEF but nobody bother to check

Vel second voyage now calling different port and again another 100mt short but this time it is bound for china. People tend to forget that China is Communist Country despite its growth & prosperity. When China Insurance learn of the ship-shore difference, it obtain a court order to arrest the vessel (Court Order to arrest vsl is commercially not possible in Msia, doable in Spore but in China anyone can arrest the vessel, even CCIB, the govt surveyor). Vsl PNI have to put forward Bank Guarantee before vessel can be release. Shipper indemnify ship's owner and cargo is discharge and as expected, short 100mt

If one analyze the loading figure, the VEF is ok for the set of tanks loaded for China and one should take preventive action

Example 3
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Funny example

Loading completed on a lazy saturday afternoon in leisure East Malaysia Port. We have a gain in ship's figure even thought VEF is good. There should not be any problem but to make record looks good, hei, Master, why dont we lower the ship figure to match the the shore/bl figure. Well, why not, Master say ok

Come monday factory come to life and stock take showed 100 mt short and this trace back to the loading on saturday. Oops, there is a calculation mistake on the shore figure

Panic call to ship owner to adjust the BL figure. Adjust BL is already a no-no, what more with a huge ship-shore difference and the vessel is destined to another infamous snake-hole in the Sub-continenet. It is easier to ask Sister Theresa to post center page for Playboy

Vessel is then asked to divert to Singapore, discharge into the shore to re-established the B/L, and then loaded back into the vessel. All at the cost of shipper

Lesson learn - go back to basic - plse check the shore figure before venture into complicated area like vef


Example 4
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Actually some yr before that, the same factory actually send a CPOL vessel to associate company in that show a gain of 100mt as compare to VEF

After discharge, the China factory manager call the shipper thanking him for the 100mt extra but wish that the 100 mt to be CPOL instead of CPO

U cannot say they did not learn - they did and know the implication of VEF and a little knowledge is a very dangerous thing

Example 5
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This is a god-bless-me example

U r attending the CEO 60-something birthday with all traders and Chief Treader and Senior Chief Trader and sb senior chief trader

Phone call and Dumai again - 150mt short for a 20,000mt vessel. Its a infamous snake hole at right but some people have overlooked a simple precaution steps - to load shipper by shipper so as to pint point the king copra. No, its commingle and all shipper oil are rojak into few common tanks.

Letters of Protest are issued to all shipper and all shipper say "not me"

The vessel is sold based land quantity to some gentleman buyer - manage to convince the ship's owner to use shore figure as BL figure

On arrival to destination,prior to unloading, some ship's crew open the wrong valve and contaminate the whole cargo (yes the 20,000 + some other oil on board) and we claimed total loss

Praise the Lord and pass the ketchup