Marine service
On-hire off-hire surveys record a ship's state at the start and end of a time charter, so disputes about damage, cleanliness and bunkers can be settled with evidence. Surveyors on Surveyor Index attend delivery or redelivery, measure fuel on board and issue a report that both parties can rely on. Both parties can then rely on one agreed record.
Directory
20 Years in business
Anclar Engineering & Logistics is a Colombian port operator based on Calle 7 in Buenaventura, offering integrated maritime, river and port services. Its survey work includes on/off-hire, bunker and draft surveys, condition surveys and inspection of cargo before loading, alongside its port operations.
18 Years in business
Lashline Marine Services was founded in 2008 by Sanjeewa Wickramarachchi and a group of marine professionals and works from Biyagama Road in Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. It is a marine survey, cargo inspection, consulting and contracting firm serving local and foreign clients, with services including on/off-hire, condition, draft and bunker surveys, quality and quantity checks and project cargo work.
16 Years in business
HarperMac Marine Survey is an independent cargo survey company in The Hague, founded in 2010 by Eric van Oosterom. It carries out draft surveys, pre-loading and loading surveys, lashing and securing checks, bunker surveys and on-hire and off-hire condition surveys for charterers, owners and traders. The firm also takes on cargo superintendent and port captain assignments.
14 Years in business
Equatorial Maritime Services is a Brazilian inspection company based in Barcarena, founded in 2012 by partners who each have at least 20 years in inspection, including time at SGS, Bureau Veritas and Intertek in Brazil. It covers maritime inspections, production monitoring and loss prevention, including draft, cargo, damage, on/off-hire, hold and container surveys. Its laboratory is accredited by MAPA, the agriculture ministry, to classify maize and soybeans and issue certificates.
9 Years in business
North Maritime AS was founded in Narvik on 21 August 2017 and works from Havnegata 2 in the harbour. It is a ship agency and port services company that, with partner surveyors, arranges condition, on-hire and off-hire, bunker, hatch, draft, cargo, lashing and damage inspections for ships calling in northern Norway. Since March 2019 it has been an approved Recognised Security Organisation, preparing ISPS port facility security assessments and plans.
Everest Consultants, Inc. surveys ships and cargo and consults for the marine and offshore sectors, with round-the-clock service from New Orleans and Houston. Its clients include underwriters, insurers, logistics and shipping firms, owners, managers and commodity traders, and its master mariners and chief engineers share more than a century of combined experience on bulk carriers, tankers, container and reefer ships. It is a NAMS member with an office on West Esplanade Ave.
Trinity Maritime Consultancy provides offshore vessel inspections, surveys and consultancy at Gulf ports such as Sharjah, Fujairah, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Doha and Dammam. Its surveyors hold Class 1 Master Mariner certificates with recent offshore time, H2S, HUET and BOSIET tickets, and its DP surveyors are unlimited DP operators; several are OVID accredited. It also offers advice on autonomous vessel operation, and lists IMCA.
Shetland Maritime Ltd draws on experience gained in Shetland and Orkney to work for clients in Norway, the UK and mainland Europe across the North Sea and the Atlantic frontier. Its consultancy work began through Noble Denton for the oil and gas industry in the North Sea and Nigeria, and it has trained fishermen, ferry and tug crews and pilots through the NAFC Marine Centre in Scalloway. Its current clients are in offshore oil and gas, aquaculture and renewable energy.
NE Marine Survey Services Ltd is an independent survey and consultancy firm working in both the commercial and superyacht sectors from Clavering House in Newcastle upon Tyne. Its team includes David Ormston LL.M, a chief engineer with more than 30 years on many vessel types, and Roy Elliott, a master mariner who sailed 21 years mainly on crude oil tankers before coming ashore in 2014 to work on cargo superintendence, cargo audits and oil loss control. Services include condition, on/off-hire and H&M surveys, audits and investigations.
ERA Shipping Agency Co. Ltd. is an Istanbul ship agency based in Tuzla on the Asian side of the city. It handles transit agency for the Turkish Straits, port and shipyard agency, crew changes, spare parts and stores, and keeps a line open 24 hours. Through its marine survey service it attends bunker supply and bunker quantity surveys, vetting surveys, time-charter on-hire and off-hire surveys, condition surveys and pre-loading cargo condition surveys.
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About this service
On-hire off-hire surveys are joint or independent inspections carried out when a vessel is delivered to a time charterer and later redelivered to the owner. Under a time charter the ship is hired for a period, so the parties need a neutral record of what was handed over and what came back.
Either side can appoint the surveyor, or both can agree on one. The charterparty determines the obligation. Many standard time charter forms say the vessel must be delivered and redelivered in the same good order and condition, fair wear and tear excepted, and require quantities of fuel on board at each point to be recorded. A surveyor's report is the evidence for that.
At on-hire the surveyor inspects the cargo spaces for cleanliness and readiness for the first intended cargo, notes visible hull and deck damage, tests essential equipment such as cranes, and records bunkers on board by grade, with soundings, temperatures and densities. Photographs and a date-time stamp are important. At off-hire the same ground is covered again, and the surveyor compares the two sets of records to separate new damage from pre-existing condition. Details such as lube oil quantities, fresh water, and the condition of lashing and dunnage gear can be included if the charter requires it.
Before appointing, ask whether the surveyor will attend both events or just one, whether they can attend outside normal hours at an anchorage, and whether they will agree figures with the chief engineer on the spot. Confirm who receives the report.
The deliverable is an on-hire or off-hire report with bunker calculation sheets, photographs and a statement of damages observed.
Common disputes involve hold cleanliness, small scratches or dents left unrecorded at delivery, and differences in fuel measurement.