What does a marine surveyor do?

Marine surveyor is the professional able to inspect, test, investigate, supervise, suggest, audit and verify not just the condition of various different types and sizes of ships but also cargoes management and port operations. The variety of job goes from surveying the hulls, equipment, machinery, compartments and maintenance of a vessel, investigating the nature, cause, extent of an accident and measuring the quantities of cargo loaded/unloaded in a port/terminal or bunkers received in a supply up to checking the cargo condition prior to load, the lashing and stowing operation. Due to the big range of services performed by marine surveyors, each professional specialises his activities in a particular area.

Who needs the services of a marine surveyor?

The services performed by marine surveyors may be required by all parts involved in the shipping world, such as: ship’s owners, charterers, cargoes’ receivers, shippers, port operators, P&I Clubs, lawyers/ attorneys, insurances companies, marine agencies and even the customs. It is very common to have more than one marine surveyor performing the same service, in the same ship but defending different interests. For example, during a discharging operation there might have one surveyor performing Draft Survey defending the interests of the receiver, other surveyor representing the ship’s owner and a third one on behalf of the local government.

Who needs the services of a marine surveyor? 6

Who needs the services of a marine surveyor? 7

Who needs the services of a marine surveyor? 8

Who needs the services of a marine surveyor? 9

Who needs the services of a marine surveyor? 10

What are the attributes for a good marine surveyor?

The profile of a good marine surveyor includes many skills, knowledge and attitudes, below are some of it:

Be good in communicating with people from different parts of the world (Although English is the official language in most of the vessels, it is not hard to find a ship where the crew have difficulty to communicate in this idiom);
Understand and respect the hierarchy existent in a vessel;
Be punctual (depending on whom you are representing, the operation will continue even without your presence on board / or your inspection. Delays in the shipping area are very expensive and avoided at maximum);
Have mechanical and mathematical knowledge (it is very important to have mechanical aptitude for surveying machineries, hulls or percept a non-conformity on board. Mathematical skills are required for services of measurements or stability);
Be able to percept a hazardous situation;
Be prepared to work at outdoors facing the weather conditions at any time and day including Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays (port operations in the most ports of the world works uninterruptedly);
Have his own Personal Protective Equipment;
Use his properly calibrated equipment (for a precise result of a survey);
Be ethical (code of ethics);

Final comments about marine surveyors:

Although the biggest part of a marine surveyor’s job is performed on board the vessels and at the ports or terminals, it is inevitable the necessity of lasting some ours at the office, place where the surveyor gathers the information collected on board to prepare the survey reports before sending the results to the clients. Usually, each survey has a report descripting the findings supported by pictures.

The better part of a marine surveyor’s job is that the circumstances of a survey are always different from another, making each attendance peculiar. Due to the interaction with people from all parts of the world, this job provides a new learning every day.