Your demurrage claims, in before the time bar and checked line by line.
A specialist post-fixture and maritime finance desk for owners, operators, charterers, traders and ship managers. We prepare laytime statements and demurrage claims, recalculate the claims made against you, reconcile port costs and keep voyage and vessel accounts current.
The desk is led by a master mariner who has run post-fixture operations for a bulk carrier fleet, and backed by the Master Mariners and Chief Engineers of our sister company, Marinec Services.
Where post-fixture money goes missing
Very little of it is lost in arbitration. Most of it goes quietly, in the weeks after the vessel sails.
The time bar passes.
Under Shellvoy 5, an owner must notify charterers within 60 days of completing discharge and submit the full claim with documents within 90. Miss either date and the claim is gone, however good it was.
We log every time bar the day discharge completes, plan the claim back from it, and keep proof of submission.
The statement of facts arrives late, and thin.
Statements of facts often turn up weeks after the vessel sails, with gaps and loose times that make every hour arguable.
We chase the agent while the call is fresh, and reconcile the statement of facts (SoF) against the notice of readiness (NOR), the deck and engine logs, the cargo records and the charter party.
Nobody checks the other side’s numbers.
A counterparty’s laytime statement is an opening position. Small errors in excepted periods repeat across every voyage.
We recalculate every claim made against you and dispute each hour that should not count, citing the clause that says so.
The final DA is paid as presented.
Final disbursement accounts (FDAs) arrive weeks after the call, and busy teams pay them as they come.
We check each FDA against the proforma (PDA), the port tariff and the agency agreement, and query anything that does not match.
Shipping knowledge behind every calculation
A laytime statement is only as good as its reading of what happened in port: when the ship was truly ready, why cargo stopped, which hours the charter party excepts. The calculation is half the job. The other half is understanding the port call well enough to defend every hour, and that takes practical shipping knowledge alongside financial skill.
Our sister company, Marinec Services, has surveyed ships, cargo and bunkers in Sri Lanka since 2003. Its Master Mariners and Chief Engineers back the desk on the operational questions behind the numbers. Ceylon Desk is responsible for your work; Marinec brings the seagoing judgement.
What a check looks like
In this example the first statement missed a rain stoppage that the charter party excepts. Four and a half hours came off the time on demurrage, and US$3,375 came off the claim.
Every claim goes through the same three checks: the calculation, the operational events behind it, read against the charter party, the statement of facts and the port log, and a second review for large or disputed claims before it goes out.
Laytime statement, checked
Bulk carrier discharging 52,000 t at 10,000 t per weather working day, Sundays and holidays included (SHINC). Demurrage US$18,000 per day pro rata.
| Event | Time |
|---|---|
| Notice of readiness (NOR) tendered03 Mar 08:30 | |
| Laytime commenced, NOR + 6 h03 Mar 14:30 | |
| Discharge completed09 Mar 10:00 | 5d 19h 30m |
| Rain stoppage, excepted05 Mar 13:10–17:40Not deducted in the first statement | −4h 30m |
| Shifting berth, excepted06 Mar 22:00–23:30 | −1h 30m |
| Laytime used | 5d 13h 30m |
| Laytime allowed, 52,000 ÷ 10,000 | 5d 04h 48m |
| Time on demurrage | 13h 12m8h 42m |
| Demurrage | $9,900.00$6,525.00 |
What we handle
We work in your formats and your systems: shared mailboxes, drives, spreadsheets or voyage management software.
Laytime and demurrage
- Laytime statements
- Demurrage and despatch claims
- Responses to claims made against you
- Time-bar register and proof of submission
Claims, end to end
- Missing documents chased with agents
- Claims submitted in your name, or prepared for you to send
- Each claim followed up to settlement
- Monthly report of open and settled claims
Port costs
- Proforma disbursement account (PDA) review before the call
- Final disbursement account (FDA) reconciliation
- Agent queries and credit notes
Voyage accounts
- Freight and hire invoices
- Off-hire statements
- Bunker reconciliation
- Voyage result against the estimate
Vessel accounts
- Running-cost bookkeeping
- Budget against actual
- Crew wage accounts
- Monthly owners’ reports
EU ETS costs
- Emission allowance statements for charterers under your ETS clause
- Reconciliation against the voyage data
Overflow and second reviews
- Extra hands for claims desks in peak months
- Second review of large or disputed claims
- White-label, under your name, if you prefer
Who we work for
- Owners and operators with small and mid-size fleets and no dedicated claims team.
- Charterers and commodity traders with load- and discharge-port demurrage under their charter parties and sales contracts.
- Ship managers reporting voyage and running costs to owners.
- Claims desks and back-office providers that need overflow capacity or a second pair of eyes.
How we charge
A fixed fee per claim or per port call, a monthly fee per vessel, or a dedicated analyst for larger fleets. You get specialist capacity for one claim, a season or a whole fleet, without the fixed cost of a claims team. The price is in writing before we start.
Your documents
We sign a non-disclosure agreement before we see a file. We work in your systems or a folder that only your work uses, and our access is removed when the work ends.
How we start
A 20-minute call
About your fleet, the charter party forms you use and where the work piles up.
Scope and price in writing
Turnaround, format and fee agreed, under a non-disclosure agreement.
Access to the voyage files
However they live today: a shared mailbox, a drive or your own system.
First claims out, then a review
Claims go out under your name. After the first month we go through them with you and adjust.
Tell us about your fleet.
A short call is the quickest way to see whether we fit. Email us a good time, or call +94 76 968 2624. We confirm within one working day.