Port Restrictions


The vetting of your subject vessel does not end with the verification of its physical and commercial viability for your cargo. Chartering the right vessel to go to the wrong port is a mistake that will cost you dearly. There is probably nothing more embarrassing than sending a fully-laden tanker to a particular port, 3,000 miles distant, and discovering upon arrival that the vessel’s air draft – under any condition of the tide – is too large to fit under the very bridge you need to get by in order to berth. And, it will probably cost you your job. But, port restrictions involve so much more than air draft and channel depths. No one knows this better than your Soundtanker broker.

Know Your Port – Do Your Homework
It isn’t getting any easier to ship cargo anywhere by ocean transit. Depending on where your cargo was lifted and what the disport options specify, there can be any number of port restrictions facing your vessels and a still greater number of pre-arrival requirements to satisfy, running the full gamut of homeland security all the way to environmental protocol. Being unfamiliar with the operational particulars of any stop along the way of any voyage is a rookie mistake. Your Soundtanker broker can direct you to the necessary resources to ensure that the subject vessel is the right one for the right port, in full compliance with local regulations and appropriate for maximum commercial performance. Call now.

A Partial List of Important Port Restrictions & Questions

• Air Draft: Can your vessel fit under all bridges and overhead restrictions?
  
  
• Controlling Channel Depth: Are you too deep to transit the ship channel and if so, what are your lightering options – if any?
  
  
• Pre-Arrival Declarations: Port State Control and Homeland Security (Anti-Terrorism) pre-arrival declarations are growing. Failure to make them in a timely fashion can make you miss your place in the queue – and your cargo window.
  
  
• Terminal Restrictions: How long will it take to discharge your cargo through that “6-inch” garden hose provided by your receivers? Can you anticipate this and ask for more connections?
  
  
• Green Bunker Requirements: Are you required to burn “green” low-sulphur bunkers in and around the port? Does your vessel carry these bunkers in segregated compartments? Can they get “green” MDO at this disport in preparation for the next port?
  
  
• Speed Limits: Are there speed limits in and around the port due to environmental concerns such, as whales? Will these restrictions impact your arrival window or departure time?

Getting Started
The best place to start when considering all of the variables that could impact the safe and efficient transport of any bulk cargo is probably your ship broker. And no one works every angle more thoroughly than your Soundtanker broker. In a business where one inch of draft can mean the difference between a profitable cargo and a spectacular failure, it pays to be right, the first time. Call your Soundtanker broker today.