Liquid Cargo Sampling

North has recently been involved with a number of cases relating to alleged cargo contamination onboard chemical and product tankers.

The Club is aware of incidents where analysis of first foot samples have resulted in the cargo being declared off-spec. In these incidents foreign particles in suspension were noted upon drawing of first foot samples and the same particles were later also found to have been in the initial manifold samples that were subsequently examined.

In another incident, a vessel loaded an entire parcel of cargo with samples only drawn on completion of loading. In this case the entire parcel of cargo was found to be off spec. With no other sample available for comparison it was not possible to show that the cargo was contaminated before loading.

North strongly recommends that Members should follow the good practice of drawing manifold samples at the start of loading, after a stoppage or after a change of shore tank so that such samples can be compared with subsequent samples drawn from the ships tanks.

It is also vitally important that the manifold samples are examined carefully and if there is any doubt as to the quality of the supplied product the responsible officer should stop loading until further analysis is completed.

Further guidance may be found in the Club’s Loss Prevention Guide to Shipboard Petroleum Surveys and the Loss Prevention Hot-Spot on Liquid Cargo Sampling.