language used on the Letter of Protest or Notice of Apparent Discrepancy must be clear, concise, and complete. The language used does not have to be lengthy in nature, but it does have to clearly detail the occurrence. For example: • Unable to determine the fullness of the pipelines between the vessel and the shore facility, as no procedure to allow this was made available to us. The terminal does not allow line displacement at this facility. • Samples obtained from the vessel's manifold at the commencement of loading contained particulates. • A free water volume of 20.198 m3 was found in 1P, 1S, 5P, & 5S prior to discharge. No free water was recorded when cargo measurements were performed at the port of loading. and then conclude with, “ On behalf of our principal we reserve the right to revert on this matter at a later date ”. The documents are issued to protect the interests of our client or clients; therefore, we need to exercise care and judgment to ensure that any protests issued are to the benefit of our client(s) and not to their detriment. When we are working for multiple clients, this issue can become complicated because each client may not have the same interests. Generally, we are obligated to issue the letter of protest; however, you should always discuss these issues with your supervisor as we may wish to advise the other
client that we are issuing a protest.
15.1 Introduction
Additionally, if there are numerous points / observations to protest on a specific operation, ensure that an individual protest is submitted for each point/observation. Single Letters of Protest issued containing multiple observations can complicate the ability for our clients to progress any claim, when unable to prove each observation and impact.
A Letter of Protest is one of the most important documents an inspector is likely to issue. This type of document can be known by other names such as “Letter of Reserve” or “Notice of Apparent Discrepancy”. The title of the document is not especially important; however, its content is critically important, and must clearly document the issue or discrepancy noted.
15.1.2 Acknowledgement
While we prefer to have the Letter of Protest signed or otherwise acknowledged by the recipient, it is not uncommon for the recipient to refuse to sign it. If this happens, do not try to force the issue with the recipient; simply note on the Letter of Protest “ Recipient refused to sign at date and time ”, then leave a copy with the recipient. In these scenarios, you should advise your supervisor of this as he/she may need to follow up by advising the client or sending a copy to the vessel’s agent. Whilst not common, there may be times when you are presented with a Letter of Protest. It is acceptable to acknowledge these, but you must also indicate, “ FOR RECEIPT ONLY – WITHOUT PREJUDICE ”.
15.1.1 Protecting the Client’s Interests
Letters of Protest serve the purpose of putting one or more parties to the transaction "on notice" that we observed an occurrence that we feel may have negatively impacted one or more of our clients and that we, on behalf of our client, "reserve the right to revert on the matter at a later date". In other words, we are exercising our client's right to challenge another party on this issue, after the fact. They are to be issued to ANY party as appropriate, even to the local refinery / terminal where we work on a regular basis and have friends who work there. Writing a Letter of Protest is not a personal issue, it is part of your job. Omitting to issue a Letter of Protest or issuing a Letter of Protest that is inappropriately worded can have a very negative impact on the ability of our client to pursue a third party for recompense. The
15.1.3 Title of the Document
Although the content of the protest is more
89
Made with FlippingBook Annual report maker