Bunker calls
Vessels stemming bunkers at Walvis Bay appoint Maingate Shipping for the call and, where the trader also nominates us, for the delivery; one desk keeps both clocks and one account closes the stop. Attendance by our partner agent under Maingate's instruction.
Walvis Bay is a sheltered Atlantic port on the Namibian coast, the country's main commercial harbour, and offshore exploration in the Orange Basin has added rig supply and survey vessel traffic to a port already known for fishing fleets and Atlantic bunkering. 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 Walvis Bay 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.
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 Walvis Bay are by barge at the berth and, where the port allows, by supply tanker at the anchorage. 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.
Quantity at Walvis Bay is settled on deck, not in correspondence. Surveyors for the vessel attend the soundings and the sampling, the delivery note is compared with the stem before it is signed, and any shortfall is recorded in a letter of protest handed to the barge master before departure.
The desk's boarding officer keeps the times and the documents, and the owner receives them with the surveyor's report.
While the barge pumps, the launch works: joiners and leavers through Walvis Bay 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 Walvis Bay with everything done.
One DA covers the stop, with the receipts attached to each line.
Yes. Offshore exploration in the Orange Basin has added rig supply and survey vessel traffic to a port already known for fishing fleets and Atlantic bunkering.
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.
Desks that go with a fuel stop at Walvis Bay.
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