Trade involves the buying and selling of a commodity on the basis of its qualitative and quantitative properties which are to be determined in a way which is mutually acceptable to both parties to the contract. When it comes to the quantitative determination of the bulk material, this is more easily controlled by different methods involving measurement of weight, volume or length. With the possible exception of grains and their derivatives, the majority of trade in bulk solid across the world is quantified by reference not to its weight, but to the amount of water it displaces when contained in a vessel.
Despite the progress and innovation made in the field of the weighing technology such as certified weighing installations and weighing scales, draught surveys have been and remain the basis on which shipping documents have been based over a century and the use of draught surveys still commands a large following in the bulk trade.
This is due to the fact that a whole industry has developed to supply a service to traders over a long period of time, and the independent cargo surveyor is a respected member of the community of traders.
The nomination of the surveyor or inspection company may be made by either party in agreement with the other but the degree of inspection is mainly a commercial decision that is influenced by the buyer/trader’s evaluation of the seller.
The parties agree in most commercial transactions that quality and quantity are determined "final at loading", draught surveys are therefore frequently used to reduce trade risks and avoid frauds, abuses of trade incentives and other situations or events which are likely to, or potentially may, give rise to a claim that could have serious financial consequences. They have been accepted to be reasonably accurate and convenient means of establishing the weight of the cargo shipped on board vessels in bulk form. However, to obtain a certain reasonable degree of accuracy in the draught survey it is important that careful attention be paid to the details during this process.
Any unusual circumstances that may arise should be handled in a proper and diligent manner and although it is difficult to quantify the extent of errors likely to occur in a draught survey, the reliability of the results depends entirely upon the care, skill, and devotion exercised by the attending surveyor.
It is the intention of this course to extend the student’s knowledge and understanding of the Cargo surveying field and make you a properly qualified expert in draught surveying able to deal with the most critical aspects of draught survey techniques and procedures.

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Objectives

This course has been designed to provide marine cargo specialists and operations staff with solid marine knowledge required to understand the role of the marine cargo surveyor and the details of the surveys, inspections, claims and investigations for cargoes and damage to cargoes so they can perform as effective marine cargo surveyors. Anyone who services the global cargo inspection market and feels they would benefit from a more structured knowledge of the elements of commodities trade and inspections will find the course extremely beneficial.

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Minimum Entry Requirements

There are no prerequisites for this Course, however, in order to fully benefit from the training, it is recommended that the participants are either new entrants to the shipping industry or professional staff in shipping companies, ship brokers, port agencies, insurance inspectors, banks and similar service organisations can gain a valuable understanding of their customers roles and responsibilities.
The comprehensive documentation that accompanies the course has been designed as a useful guide for future reference.

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Who Should Attend

The Maritime field is extremely broad and brings about relationships with a variety of people with varying levels of experience from the many different aspects of shipping therefore this Course is suitable for a broad range of maritime related professionals and regularly attracts ships’ officers and shore-based management staff.
But the course is also valuable to Classification Societies, Marine Insurers, P&I Club Managers, Port Authorities and Coast Guard personnel amongst others.
The course is conducted online and provides a wonderful chance to build your international professional network without having to afford any travel expenses. Often more than 10 nationalities participate and are introduced to each other thanks to our education portal features.

• Producers, Traders or Commodities Brokers and Suppliers
• Ship agent, Shipbrokers
• Shipowners, Charterers, Shippers and Maritime Attorneys
• Purchasers and Technical Managers and Superintendents
• Captains, Chief Engineers and Ship Staff
• Insurance Company Underwriters, claims handlers, and members of the legal profession
• Service providers, Surveyors, Inspectors, Analysts, Technical advisers
• Practicing cargo agents, Freight forwarders, Shipping Industry starters, cargo consolidators
• Other professionals.

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Duration

Each module is expected to involve 6 hours of learning time each week, making a total of 52 hours per 2 months period and the associated tests might be completed in less than 2 hours.
The training sections don’t have to be completed in one session, you may return to it as often as you like, the system will bookmark your last page so you are returned directly to where you exited the program.

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Timeframe

This course will remain open for 9 months for completion or revision starting from the date of course uploading on the student portal.
One or more extensions of study totaling not more than 6 months may be requested by a student and authorised by the Course Director. The request should be made at least one day prior to the end of the period of study.
Further extensions are used where exceptional circumstances necessitate an extension of the normal period of study in order to complete the final test. An agreed extension may involve the payment of small additional fees.

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Teaching Methods

In line with the International Maritime Training general approach and the best international standards, the course is designed with the aim of providing excellent training with an emphasis on its concrete application in the job, professional and company principal related activities.
The training include a course framework (detailing the scope, objective, entry standards, and other information about the course), a course outline (timetable), a detailed teaching syllabus (including the learning objectives that should have been achieved when the course has been completed by students), guidance notes and summary of how the students will be evaluated.
The course involves mainly independent study with the assistance of the educational team; study time, in general, is to be spent on activities such as studying the lecture course material and textbooks and preparing your coursework in order to be ready to take the final test.
Your progress in the subjects taught will be tested and consolidated through exercises related to actual Flag State inspector cases.

Modes of attendance

This course can be attended only:
Online, via a cutting-edge web platform.