INTRODUCTION

Guidelines for Members, Masters and Surveyors

As part of the service offered to Members of Skuld, the Club operates a loss prevention programme. The pupose of this programme is to help Members reduce claims and to offer advice aimed at improving safety and efficiency of vessels entered with the Club. Most importantly, the Club works together with Members to help safeguard the lives of those working for and alongside them. It is in this spirit that the Club offers the guidance in this booklet.

This booklet is not a scientific study of the physics and chemistry of steel, nor is it a legal textbook. It has been prepared with one aim in mind: to be a useful, handy reference guide for members, their Masters and Officers, and for Surveyors appointed on their behalf. It is intended to be a practical guide for use on the quayside, or on the bridge, or on the deck, or in the Member's office.

This booklet has a number of objectives. The first is to reduce the risk of actual damage to cargo whilst in the Member's custody. Damage is not bound to happen. It can and will be avoided in the vast majority of cases if the cargo is handled, stowed and carried in the right way. This is good for the Member concerned and for all the Club's Members.

A second objective is to help Members protect themselves from financial penalties resulting from circumstances outside their control, but for which they may be legally liable. The classic example is pre-shipment damage to cargo. A Master may oversee loading and stowage in an exemplary fashion on board a perfect ship, carry and discharge the cargo in accordance with best practice, without incident, and yet still find his Owners unable to defend a substantial cargo damage claim. The cargo was not in good condition when loaded, but the Bills of Lading were not claused. It is not enough for the Master to do his job - he has to find ways to protect himself from those who do not. Often this involves getting the paperwork right. It is a chore, and there are no doubt many other pressures competing for the Master's time and energy, but it is essential.

The good news is that the Master is not on his own. The Club, its Correspondents, Surveyors and lawyers are all there to assist - this booklet is also intended to help.

As well as the prevention of cargo claims and cargo damage on board (not always the same thing, as members may know to their cost), these guidelines are intended to help Masters and Members improve safety and efficiency on board. Correct handling of steel products, based on an awareness of the particular characteristics and possible hazards of different types of products, makes life safer for stevedores and crew. Accidents equal claims, so correct handling methods make sense all round. Correct stowage not only reduces the risk of cargo damage by protecting the cargo, it also protects the vessel from the cargo, which in the case of steel should be a major concern. This booklet contains guidelines on these subjects which ought to be followed not only in order to reduce the chance of cargo damage claims, but by all those who value their vessel and their own safety.

This booklet also offers guidance to the Surveyors who may be called upon to survey cargo and/or ship at one or other stage in the adventure. The Club and its Members value Surveyors not as passive recorders of information, but as a vital part of the Member's loss prevention team. They are encouraged to see their role in this way and the advice and assistance they can offer to Masters is an essential part of their work. Many are experts in this field. The Club hopes that even for experts, this booklet will prove to be useful as a source of advice, as an aide memoire and as a back-up when differences of opinion arise, as they often do.

For ease of reference, the booklet is divided into sections, some of which may appear to be of more or less interest, depending on the user's role. But the issues involved are inter-connected. They cannot be read in splendid isolation - the guidelines for surveys, for example, should be useful for Surveyors, but the information they contain is of direct interest to Masters.

The Club hopes that the guidelines in this booklet prove to be of practical use to all those involved with the carriage of steel cargoes on members' vessels.

We express our thanks to Arthur Sparks, of Sparks & Company Ltd., London, who has contributed in respect of the technical issues, and to Glenn Winter and Duncan Rudkin, Holmes Hardingham, solicitors, London, who have contributed in respect of the legal aspects in this publication.

All previous steel circulars are superseded by this publication.

Oslo - January 1998
Hans Jørgensen