Protective agency
Under most voyage charters the charterer nominates the port agent, and that agent's first loyalty is to the charterer's cargo. Owners who want their own interests watched at Mombasa appoint Maingate Shipping as protecting agent: an independent desk that attends the vessel, keeps its own record of the call and handles the owner's matters without going through the charterer's agent.
Protective agency is a modest fee against a laytime dispute, a crew problem nobody chased, or a stevedore damage that went unrecorded. The desk attends every day of the call and reports to the owner, not to the charterer.
Boards the vessel on arrival, keeps an independent statement of facts, witnesses notices of readiness and stoppages, records stevedore damage with the master, handles crew changes, medical cases, cash to master, spares and provisions for the owner's account, and keeps the owner informed daily. Where the charterer's agent and the master disagree, the protecting agent's record is the owner's.
Owner's matters that the charterer's agent has no reason to prioritise are handled directly: class and flag surveys, repairs and technicians, garbage and waste, cash, mail, and the crew's needs. Invoices for the owner's account are kept separate from the charterer's DA.
The protecting agent works alongside the charterer's agent, not against it. Both attend the same call; the difference is whose instructions each follows and whose record each keeps. The desk keeps that line clear and courteous.
This desk is part of Maingate Shipping Limited, the Mombasa ship agency, crewing and brokerage house that has attended vessels at Kenyan ports since 2020 from its office at Express Building, Moi Avenue. Port agency at Mombasa and Lamu is handled by the company's own boarding officers; calls elsewhere in Africa run through the Maingate agency line under one DA format and one reporting style; Kenyan seafarers are recruited and managed from the same office; and the chartering desk fixes the tonnage that brings East Africa its wheat, fertilizer, clinker and fuel.
Principals deal with one desk for the whole voyage, and every service is agreed in writing before it is performed.
A reputable agent still works for the charterer. A protecting agent gives the owner an independent record and someone to handle the owner's matters, and the fee is small against the exposure on a laytime dispute.
Yes. Crew matters are usually placed with the protecting agent so that the owner controls the arrangement and the account.
At Lamu with our own staff, and elsewhere in Africa through our partners under Maingate's instruction.
Nominate Maingate Shipping and the answer comes from Mombasa with a proforma DA attached.
Related desks on the same instruction line.
Also on maingateshipping.com: Ship agency at Mombasa · Ship agency and charter brokers · Ship brokerage · About Maingate · Contact
Maingate Shipping Limited · Express Building, Moi Avenue, Mombasa, Kenya · ops@maingateshipping.com · +254 784 622 091