Survey services

Survey.

Survey means  inspection, examination; respectively, surveyor is the marine or transport inspector-expert. Examples of conducting a survey are the following: pre-purchase inspection of the technical condition of vessels , on-hire/off-hire survey of vessels, pre-insurance surveys, occasional surveys following accidents, damage to vessels, inspection of cargo in case of damage or shortage, etc. Customers of inspections and surveys can be and usually are owners or buyers of vessels, cargo owners, consignees, charterers.
Insurers should be mentioned separately: any insurance company, before making a decision concerning insurance case, seeks to obtain a report and and conclusion of the surveyor to this case, whether it is damage or shortage of cargo, damage to a vessel, or another case provided for by the terms & conditions of insurance. Moreover, the customer may be interested in both a description of the size and nature of the damage, as well as the alleged (possible or probable) causes of the event, and in many cases also the calculation of amount of the loss. This is especially actually when determining the amount of loss in relation to damage or shortage of cargo: in such cases the survey itself is often combined with the work of an appraiser.
In addition, a survey of a vessel or other object is often appointed before accepting it for insurance in order to make sure that the insured property is in good condition and to fix existing defects and deficiencies that may be important for risk assessment.
For cargoes in respect of which claims often arise due to  condition of cargo packages and in connection with various damages, a survey is assigned during loading and unloading. In deals between the assured and the insurer, the insurance company usually nominates a surveyor, and the assured must  provide him with access to the subject of the survey and provide the necessary assistance. The cost of the surveyor’s services is included in the amount of the insurance indemnity as “necessary and expediently incurred expenses to determine the amount of the loss”. And the conclusion of the surveyor can often be the winning argument when making a decision by insurers. It should be noted that since 1st January 2006 the licensing of survey activities has been cancelled in the Russian Federation. Therefore, the customer (shipowner, car owner, cargo owner, insurance company, charterer) has the right, at its own discretion, to choose any person or company in the market of these services as a surveyor – following just considerations of business reputation and professional quality of the surveyor.
At the same time, it would be wrong to interpret the surveyor as the inviolable owner of the cherished truth in the last instance, and his conclusions should be considered obviously indisputable. The surveyor should be considered as an independent expert who gives his judgment based on his professional knowledge, experience and objective data collected or provided: measurement results, calculations, photographs, drawings, documents, etc. And his written survey report should be considered as one of the objective evidences in establishing the truth – for example,  before court. And any conclusion or judgment of the surveyor can be reasonably challenged or questioned. The strength of the surveyor’s position lies in his strong professional approach and in the soundness of his conclusion. Usually, when receiving a soundly compiled survey report with impeccable professional justification, there is no temptation to try to challenge it.

Survey of vessels:

Pre – purchase survey
Survey for P&I Clubs
Insurance cases
Preparation of the vessel for loading
Draft survey (determination of the weight of the loaded/unloaded cargo by the draft of the vessel)
on-hire/off-hire survey of vessels for time charter and bareboat charter
Bunker Survey

Cargo survey:

Control of quantity and quality of loaded and unloaded cargo (tally, draft survey, supervisor’s monitoring) Control of fulfillment of special requirements during loading and transportation (bulk, timber, other deck cargoes, project transportation, cargo stowage and securing, dangerous goods). Our surveyors are able to control the quantity of cargo during loading and unloading, assess the nature, size and causes of cargo damage, not only on ships in seaports, but also at any stage of the transport chain, including the land component (road, railway transportation, cargo inspections in warehouses and works). We also provide surveyors for general monitoring of cargo operations and issuing recommendations to the ship master on loading various types of special cargoes (preparation of preliminary cargo plans, stowage ans securing of heavy cargoes, towage ans securing of deck timber cargo in compliance with stability requirements, etc.)

Classification and statutory surveys of vessels:

Classification and statutory surveys of vessels on behalf of classification societies, Recognized Organizations of Maritime Flag Administrations, audits of vessels and shipping companies according to international maritime codes.

SOLAS
MARPOL
International Load Line Convention
International Tonnage Convention
ISM
ISPS
MLC
Class, hull
Class, machinery
and others.

Our surveyors are located in Moscow, major ports of the Russian Federation (including the Far East region) and Eastern European countries, and are ready to travel to any place on request.