General Principle

Tally Inspections on soft commodities are mainly performed at discharge ports, to ascertain the quantity and quality of the cargo at the discharge port.

This is usually where the insurance cover comes to an end. Depending on the terms and conditions of the insurance policy, cover ends upon arrival (even prior to discharging operations), under tackle, at entry warehouse, or sometimes upon delivery out of warehouse (eventually within a given time period).

At the same time, this is where the contract of carriage comes to an end. Depending on the terms and conditions of the contract of carriage, discharging operations may be ordered and paid by the receivers (under “Free Out” terms). 

This implies that the receiver concludes a contract with the stevedores, and assumes responsibility towards the vessel for stevedore damage to the cargo during discharging operations. Unless the contract of carriage is on “Liner Terms”, in which case the carrier assumes responsibility for damage during discharging operations.
Last but not least, it frequently happens that the cargo has not yet (fully) been paid by the receivers, and that the goods are being held under custody of the banks of the receivers, who are at that moment the physical holders of the Bills of Lading. Release of the cargo will only be done after payment has been received by the bank, who then orders the party appointed to perform the Collateral Management Agreement to release the corresponding quantity of goods to the person indicated by the bank. Consequently, the banks will be concerned about the warehousing conditions of the cargo after landing, until such time as the receiver has paid for the goods and can collect them from the warehouse.

Therefore, these three or four different contracts are inter-linked, and it is important for the tally-supervisor to acknowledge the various stages and various parties involved in these three or four contracts, since they may not have the same interest.

Working methods

We believe that we can only perform correct jobs by having one tallyman positioned in each hold, and one on each truck under tackle.

On top, we have always one supervisor on deck to supervise the tallymen in the holds and one on the quay to supervise the tallymen ashore.

This is more expensive, but is the only way to be able to obtain reliable tally sheets.
All other methods that limit the number of tallymen (and reduce the costs) are not reliable.

The supervisors will report on a daily basis to their local office and to Operations Control Center in Antwerp, where all figures are constantly being reconciled. Any sudden increase in damage or loss will be notified by Operations Control Center to our Principals.

Joint Tallies

It is important that these tally inspections are performed on a joint basis with all parties involved, to avoid any subsequent discussions.
Operations Control Center will follow-up on a daily basis.