Dias Marine Consultants Co Ltd, our correspondents in Ukraine, has provided us with the following information

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We regret to inform you about yet another outrage upon justice in one of the largest Ukrainian ports, namely port of Yuzhny, not far from Odessa. The authorities of the port thought it possible not only to hamper the activity of P&I surveyors (which would not be surprising any more) but seem to decide to outset them completely from the territory of their port. The permits to enter the port’s territory are being taken away from the surveyors representing the interests of the Shipowners and P&I Clubs. We know about two surveying companies which were already deprived of their permissions.

The background of such a barbaric innovation might be that a certain time ago there occurred two rather serious conflicts between the Shipowners and the Charterers / Shippers concerning condition of the cargo of iron ore concentrate. In both cases the vessels loaded the cargo of Iron Ore Concentrate and P&I surveyors detected that the moisture content of the cargo loaded on board exceeded the declared Transportable Moisture Limit (TML) and this was a breach of the requirements of IMSBC Code (Cargoes Subject to Liquefaction).

As it became known to us from reliable sources in the very near future the state-owned enterprise of the port of Yuzhniy is to be bought out by private investors who it appears decided to protect themselves against losses related to rejected cargo and to prevent the Shipowners from having their interests protected by stopping the activity of their surveyors.

At that though the cargoes of Iron Ore Concentrate (IOC) are being loaded at Piers 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the port, the surveyors are not allowed to enter the whole territory of the port and not only these piers. As you may appreciate, it means that any vessel entering the Ukrainian port of Yuzhny will be unable to get P&I surveyor’s attendance and thus will be exposed to any types of claims.

We regret to have to ask the Clubs to inform their Members of such situation for them to get prepared to respective problems and difficulties. We can only recommend the Shipowners to be insistent and positively demand inviting a P&I surveyor, and even to stop cargo operations till the moment P&I surveyor will be allowed to board the vessel. A Letter of Protest to the Port Authorities should be issued and handed over to ship’s agent.

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