An expert’s view on the carriage of soya bean cargoes from Brazil to China


By Dr Stephanie Heard


Stephanie joined the CWA Food and Agricultural Commodities Department as a consultant scientist in 2013 after completing a PhD in field and molecular plant pathology at Rothamsted Research. She has specific expertise in understanding the deterioration of crops, grains and feed ingredients as well as associated problems regarding mould growth and mycotoxin contamination. She is involved in the forensic investigation of damage causation and mitigation of claims made against agricultural commodities. She regularly attends on-site to undertake such investigation. Dr Heard provides advice for the care of agricultural cargoes during storage and carriage and has acted as an Expert Witness in Chinese courts.


80 | The Report • June 2021 • Issue 96


Soya beans are big business and Brazil has now


become the world’s leading producer, surpassing the United States. Dr Stephanie Heard worked in association with Gard P&I Club to produce this insight into carriage of soya beans in bulk between Brazil and China and some of the problems that may be encountered due to moisture content at loading.


Gard has seen many claims arising from soya bean cargos transported from Brazil to China for damage and alleged damage at discharge. The claims are made by receivers and/ or cargo insurers under bills of lading against the vessel and often involve very large security demands. These claims are often passed to charterers, particularly when the Interclub agreement terms have been incorporated in the charterparty. We would like to understand more about the trade, the cause of the damage and some advice for mitigation of losses where damage is established.


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