Samples and sampling in the carriage of liquid bulk cargoes


The period of the carriers’ responsibility for liquid bulk cargoes is essentially the same as that for bulk or general cargo. Under the Hague and Hague Visby Rules, the period extends from the time when the goods are loaded until the time they are discharged and includes the loading and discharging operations. Under the Hamburg Rules, which came into effect 1992, the carrier, his servants and agents will be responsible from the time the goods are received by them at the port of loading until the time the goods have been delivered at the port of discharge.


Having received the goods, the carrier, the master or agent is required to issue to the shipper a bill of lading showing, among other things, the apparent order and condition of the goods as received onboard. With the exception of cargoes carried in the deep tanks of liner vessels, which may be loaded by the shipper and discharged by the consignee, most loading and discharging operations with bulk liquid cargoes are performed by the actual carrier. There may be different practices in the loading and discharging ports and these together with the nature of the cargo are important factors. Most bills of lading include the words “shipped in apparent good order and condition”. Can order and condition be ascertained by ship’s officers when loading takes place via a closed pipeline system?


The answer lies in an effective sampling system!


By reason of the wide variety of liquid cargoes that are carried and the vastly different types of ships involved, it will be appreciated that the subject of sampling is a very wide one. This article is confined to the general principles of how to ascertain the apparent order and condition of goods when they are shipped and, just as importantly, how to preserve the evidence.


Many parcel-tanker owners have issued instructions to their masters to sample each type of cargo at the ship’s manifold on commencement of loading, after the first test-load (so called ‘first run’ sample) and from the ship’s tank after completion of loading. Such samples are numbered and entered in a special sample log book An additional advantage of this procedure is that the ship’s officers who attended the sampling, or who actually drew the samples, are available for questioning at the port of discharge. It is so often the case that unilateral sampling by shippers at the loading port is not


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witnessed by ship’s officers and samples allegedly drawn from ship’s tanks are handed to the ship’s staff just prior to departure. These problems confirm absolutely the need for a joint sampling procedure between shippers and carriers and carriers and consignees.


Owners are strongly recommended to instruct their ship’s officers that whenever they are in doubt as to the apparent good order and condition of a liquid bulk cargo, they should notify both the shipper and the Club’s correspondents so that expert advice may be sought and samples analysed at the loading port. In case of serious doubt as to the condition of the cargo the results of the analyses should be awaited before any bills of lading are signed.


It should be emphasised that as with bulk or general cargo, the description on the bill of lading relates to the external and apparent condition of the goods. Claims on liquid bulk cargoes often involve the question of quality, which is not usually apparent and these claims may be based on a detailed analysis which the carrier has no means of checking. Furthermore, in the majority of instances, the ship’s staff cannot question the condition of a product upon loading, except perhaps where the presence of free water, haziness or dull appearance, the presence of a strong foreign odour or an obvious deviation in the colour of the product is readily apparent.


It is therefore important that samples carefully taken at the time of loading and prior to discharge are truly representative of the condition of the cargo and are available in the event that any dispute arises. Where loading port samples have been drawn and retained onboard, any uncertainty about the quality of the cargo at the time of loading can be clarified at relatively low expense.


The shipper however, is in quite a different position because apart from the sampling and analysis which takes place prior to loading he may consider it necessary to take ‘first run’ samples from the ship’s tanks at the commencement of loading operations and suspend loading until analysis is attained. The ship’s staff may not be involved or even informed about the results of this analysis. Bona fide shippers will usually provide this information, however, and will require the ship to discharge the ‘first run’ of cargo if this analysis shows it to be ‘off specification’.


When loading operations are resumed it should not be assumed that the ‘first run’ of cargo will be in good order and condition. This may not necessarily be the case as the shipper may have found the product to be


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