Fuel stops
A fuel stop at Port Victoria, Seychelles, on one instruction: permission, position, barge, surveyor, delivery note and departure, with the crew change and the spares done by the same launch. Partner agent alongside, Mombasa desk coordinating.
Port Victoria is the harbour at Victoria on Mahé, the main island of the Seychelles, and the tuna fishing season drives a steady rhythm of crew changes, provisioning and repairs for purse seiners and supply vessels. Vessels on passage call for bunkers without loading cargo, and a bunker call is judged by one measure: how long the vessel is off passage. Maingate Shipping's bunker call agency at Port Victoria is built around that measure.
The desk is appointed by owners, managers, operators and by the bunker traders and suppliers themselves. Where the supplier and the receiving vessel both nominate Maingate, one desk coordinates both sides of the delivery and the vessel receives one account.
Bunker deliveries are where quantity disputes are born. Surveyors for the vessel's interests attend soundings and sampling, the bunker delivery note is witnessed, and any protest is recorded at the time so that the owner has the evidence if the figures are argued later.
A bunker call at Port Victoria starts with the stem: quantity, grade, supplier and the delivery mode the supplier offers. The desk files the port's notification, applies for the anchorage position or the berth, and fixes the delivery time with the supplier against the vessel's ETA and the weather forecast.
Owners still shopping for fuel are given the names of suppliers and traders serving the port; the desk does not sell fuel and does not take a margin on it.
At Port Victoria the supply tanker comes alongside at the anchorage under the port permission for ship-to-ship transfer, with a mooring master, fenders and hoses provided for the operation, or a barge delivers at the berth. The desk fixes the mode with the supplier, obtains the permission and books the equipment.
Connection, opening soundings, pumping, closing soundings and disconnection are attended and timed by the boarding officer, so that the account shows what happened.
Surveyors appointed by the owner attend the delivery and issue their quantity report. Where the vessel's figures and the supplier's figures differ, a letter of protest is issued and recorded before the barge lets go. The desk keeps the samples' custody documentation with the delivery note.
For traders and suppliers appointing the desk, the same attendance serves their side of the delivery, with the roles set out in writing.
While the barge pumps, the launch works: joiners and leavers through Seychelles International Airport, spares cleared in transit and lifted aboard, fresh provisions, cash to master against the master's signature, a doctor if one is needed. The desk plans these with the bunker delivery so that the vessel leaves Port Victoria with everything done.
One DA covers the stop, with the receipts attached to each line.
Yes. The tuna fishing season drives a steady rhythm of crew changes, provisioning and repairs for purse seiners and supply vessels.
The owner, manager or operator for the vessel's side; the trader or physical supplier for the delivery; sometimes both on one instruction with the roles set out.
Not compulsory, but the desk recommends an owner's surveyor at every delivery; the cost is small against a quantity dispute.
Port charges and third-party services at cost with receipts, plus an agency fee agreed in the proforma DA before the call.
Receipts behind every line, a record behind every stoppage, a desk behind every call.
The port call, the crew change and the supplier desk, one instruction line.
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