Fuel stops
Maingate Shipping acts as agent for bunker-only calls at Lagos: the port notification, the anchorage or berth, the barge or supply tanker's timing, the surveyors and the bunker delivery note, with crew, spares, provisions and cash fitted into the same stop. Our partner agent at the port attends; the Mombasa desk coordinates and reports.
A bunker-only call at Lagos has three clocks running: the vessel's passage, the barge or supply tanker's schedule and the port's permission window. Maingate Shipping's desk sets them to the same time. The Lagos lagoon complex in Nigeria, with the Apapa and Tin Can Island port areas and a busy outer anchorage gives the setting; gate congestion, truck call-up systems and anchorage security shape a Lagos call more than at any other West African port, and the agent's local knowledge is what keeps time in hand.
Owners, operators and managers appoint the desk for the vessel's side; traders and physical suppliers appoint it for the delivery. Both can be on one instruction, with the roles written down.
The boarding officer attends the connection, the soundings and the sampling, and the bunker delivery note is signed with any protest already recorded, because a dispute discovered a week later has no evidence behind it.
The vessel advises her ETA and the quantity and grade stemmed. The desk files the port's notification for a bunker-only call, secures the anchorage position or the berth, and confirms the barge or supply tanker's timing with the supplier so that the vessel is not waiting for the fuel and the fuel is not waiting for the vessel.
Where the vessel has not yet stemmed, the desk introduces suppliers and traders serving the port and passes their offers to the owner without taking a position in the sale.
Deliveries at Lagos are by barge at the berth or by supply tanker alongside at the anchorage under the port permission for ship-to-ship transfer. A mooring master, fenders and hoses are arranged where the supply vessel comes alongside, and the transfer is timed to the weather window.
The boarding officer attends the connection, the soundings before and after, the sampling and the signing of the bunker delivery note, and records the times for the owner's account.
The owner's surveyor sounds the barge before and after, witnesses the sampling and checks the delivery note against the stem. A difference between the barge's figures and the vessel's is protested on the spot, in writing, with the surveyor's figures attached; a protest raised after the barge has gone is a letter, not evidence.
Samples are sealed and their custody recorded, and the desk holds the paperwork with the account.
The desk treats a bunker call at Lagos as an anchorage visit with a purpose, and uses it: crew changes via Murtala Muhammed International Airport, spares in transit, provisions, cash and medical attention all go out by the same launch or alongside the same berth.
Every service is a line in the account with its receipt, and the final DA reconciles against the advance within the agreed days.
From anchor down to anchor up, the time is set by the quantity and the barge's pumping rate; the desk gives an estimate for each stem and keeps the vessel informed of the barge's movements.
Yes, with the roles written down so that each party knows whose instruction the desk follows for each task.
The owner's surveyor's figures are compared with the delivery note on the spot and a letter of protest is issued before the barge leaves; the desk keeps the documents for the claim.
Crew, spares, provisions, cash to master and medical attention, by the same launch or at the same berth.
Nominate Maingate Shipping and the answer comes from Mombasa with a proforma DA attached.
The port call, the crew change and the supplier desk, one instruction line.
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Maingate Shipping Limited · Express Building, Moi Avenue, Mombasa, Kenya · ops@maingateshipping.com · +254 784 622 091