←  Writing

3 days at a loading port

A diagram of the three day cycle at a loading port, from the inspection at anchor, to the terminal and port State checks alongside, to the paperwork that clears the vessel to sail, and then the discharge port and the cycle again

3 days at a loading port. Count what happens to the crew on board.

Day 1, break of dawn, a Cape vessel on a regular run between two ports anchors. The charterer’s inspector boards 30 nautical miles out to inspect the vessel against the charterer’s standards, and the owner has sent a representative to attend the same inspection. The report is submitted to all parties by the same afternoon.

Day 2, the pilot, the transit to the berth. The terminal checks the gangway and the moorings, a loadmaster and a draft surveyor board, and behind them a flag inspector and a port State control officer. Let us say they find something and issue a code 17. Rectify before departure.

Now the Master is asked why the crew did not find it first. The charterer asks their inspector the same question, and the owner asks their representative. Everybody asks the same question.

The fault is rectified by the crew, or a technician is arranged from ashore. Somebody explains the finding, somebody takes a call that a technician is required, somebody contacts the agent, somebody attends the visit. All of that is also the crew.

A class surveyor is flown in from a major city to verify the repair, and a trail of paperwork clears the vessel to sail. Loading took 24 to 30 hours.

Every person who boarded was doing their job, and doing it properly. I have asked some of these questions myself.
Is everybody working towards safety? Yes, absolutely. Is everybody also protecting their own chair? Absolutely again.

The vessel sails. In the scheme of things, the crew feel most rested and safest out at sea, where fewer questions are asked of them. Even there the watches are kept, the drills are run, the vessel is maintained, the cargo is looked after, the work and rest hours are managed.

Then the discharge port arrives, and the cycle repeats.

That vessel was built to carry cargo from one port to another. Somewhere in those 3 days there were meant to be rest hours, a launch or a bus ashore for shore leave, perhaps a crew change.

Is what we do really working?

First published on LinkedIn, 23 August 2026.