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Off-Spec Fuel Claims

Off-spec fuel claims software that traces every sealed bottle from shore tank to engine, argues both sides with their pages, and leaves every word to the buyer with counsel.

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Follow day 11 of a 14-day window ↓
The problem

Off-spec fuel claims are won on bottles that five parties hold

A buyer says the fuel clogged a ship's filters. The proof is sealed bottles and papers held by our lab, an inspector, a barge operator, the ship and the buyer's lab. Nobody holds the whole chain, and some of those bottles are thrown away on a date nobody is watching.

Seal numbers are strings people compare by eye, on two pages in two inboxes. The handler emails one holder at a time, quality reads the lab report against the shore certificate, and counsel gets the bundle near the end and asks what is missing.

Built forClaims handlersMarine fuels counselProduct quality managersInternal auditors

The Problem Today

A buyer's claim comes in days, and the sealed bottles that could answer it sit with five different holders.

7–30
days a buyer gets to claim, per one published legal note our estimate
3 mo.
about how long labs keep sample remains, one insurer's note our estimate

Chased by hand today

  • Seals
  • Notes
  • Lab reports
  • Ship logs
  • Bottles get thrown awayNobody asks in time, and that proof is gone
  • Seals compared by eyeTwo swapped digits sit on two pages, in two inboxes

The Solution

  1. Each bottle tracedShore tank, barge, manifold, engine: each seal, holder and test
  2. Two pages, one mismatchExact seal match across papers, with the two pages side by side
  3. Both sides writtenThe strongest case each way, and the test that would change it
  4. Asked before it is goneWho must be asked, by when; counsel signs what goes to a buyer

Built-in controls

  • The agent never replies to a buyer
  • Only a signer's own openings count
  • Safety questions reach a named person, no data

What You Get

The bottle that can settle a claim is asked for while it still exists, and counsel signs only what she has read.

  • Who opened whatEach signer's own openings, and what stayed unopened
  • Rulings that reach the fileKeep or strike, in the reply and the export
  • Lessons from settled claimsWhat each one turned on, kept beside the next claim
Day 11 of the buyer's window

One off-spec fuel claim, four days before the bottle goes

A bulk carrier took 3,200 tons of very low sulfur fuel oil from a barge. About 30 hours after she changed over to it her filters clogged, and the buyer's notice claims $1,977,598. The supplier's retained bottle is thrown away on Day 15. This is Day 11.

demoThe ship, the barge, the buyer, the labs, the people and the figures are all sample data, and the contract wording is a sample.

  1. 01Day 11

    The lab report quotes seal 0447812; the delivery note lists 0447821

    Claims handler

    Agents matched the seal numbers exactly and found two digits swapped. The screen says what that proves and what it does not: a mismatch, not that the fuel was fine. It may be a typing slip at the lab, or a different bottle was tested; the seal book has 0447812 on another delivery to the same buyer.

  2. 02Day 11

    Aged sediment reads 0.03% at the shore tank and 0.12% at the buyer's lab

    Claims handler

    Each bottle's tests sit in one table, and a bottle nobody tested says not tested. Only two have been read, one under a seal the delivery note does not list. The ship's log shows filter flushes climbing after the change of fuel. Whether 0.12% sits inside the test's own margin is a question for the quality manager.

  3. 03Day 11

    The strongest case for the buyer sits beside the strongest case for us

    Claims handler

    The buyer's best: filters clogged about 30 hours after the change, 0.12% sediment, and a second ship from the same barge load reported sludge, from our own record. Ours: the seal, 0.03% at the shore tank, and 186 tons of older fuel in the tank she burned first. Below, the one test that would change each.

  4. 04Day 11

    14 days is the buyer's window, and our own dates come first

    Marine fuels counsel

    The clause screen quotes the words and does the sums, and counsel has read the dates. The 14 days bind the buyer, whose notice came on Day 8. What binds us is shorter: ask to hold a retained sample and notify the barge owner by Day 14, before the bottle goes on Day 15. What the clause means is hers to say.

  5. 05Day 11

    Hold the bottle, hand it sealed to a neutral lab, four days before it goes

    Claims handler

    The handler sends the ask to the barge operator to hold the supplier's bottle and hand it sealed to a neutral lab, since the barge owner may face a claim itself. He puts the sealed bottle and a joint test into the reply, and proposes the barge notice for its own sign-off. The ask is marked sent, with no answer back yet.

  6. 06Day 11

    Refused: the handler's openings do not count for counsel

    Marine fuels counsel

    The handler proposes the reply with code R-1, ask for proof and keep all rights, and his own reason. Counsel tries to sign straight away and is refused. She has not opened the delivery note, the lab report, both sides of the file, or the clause and its dates. A yellow line also tells her the letter does not ask for the ship's records.

  7. 07Day 11

    Signed from counsel's own mailbox, and the agent sent nothing

    Marine fuels counsel

    She opens the four papers herself, writes her reason and signs. The reply goes from her mailbox: it asks which bottle the lab tested, asks for that bottle or a photo of its seal, proposes a joint test of the supplier's bottle and asks how the older fuel was used. The barge notice is signed on its own, with its own reason.

  8. 08Day 11

    Each paper, and which person opened it

    Records and audit

    The claim file lists each paper and who opened it: the handler and counsel opened the delivery note, the lab report, both sides and the clause; nobody opened the seal book or the engine log. One person's reading never counts for another. Rulings, the record and the reminder that the mismatch is not proof travel with it.

  9. 09Day 11

    The trail names what counsel read before she signed

    Internal audit

    Each row says who did what and what they read: the handler's asks and additions to the reply, the proposals, counsel's signature with the four papers she opened and her reason, then the barge notice. Further down sit the agents reading the contract, the notices and the seal book, and a lab question sent to quality.

What the buyer's notice claims, line by line

The notice's own sum. A check on its arithmetic goes to counsel; whether any of it is owed is her call.

Refund of fuel not burned3,143 tons × $548$1,722,364
Taking the fuel off the ship3,143 tons × $38$119,434
Filters and purifier service$48,600
Off hire3.2 days × $21,500$68,800
Lab and surveyor$18,400
Claimed in the notice$1,977,598

demoSample data, from the working solution.

The handler asks, counsel signs, and quality answers the lab question

Two people on every reply, and the person who signs reads the papers herself.

Claims handler
Sees
The chain of bottles, the two pages, both sides and what must be asked
Signs
Sends the asks to outside holders, and proposes the reply and the barge notice
Marine fuels counsel
Sees
The papers a reply rests on, opened by her, and the clause and its dates
Signs
The reply, the barge notice, settlements, late notices and rulings on disagreements
Product quality manager
Sees
Each bottle's tests and the ship's log
Signs
Discard sets, after opening the check bottles, and answers each lab question
Internal auditor
Sees
All claims and papers, without acting
Signs
No signature; downloads the claim file and the trail
Around the claims desk

Twelve open claims, new notices and a box of bottles due for discard

Five screens the claims desk, quality and counsel use around one dispute.

Open claims12 open, soonest reply first, each with its notice day and what is live for us. One fuel passed every line of the table and still stuck the pumps.
New noticesOne matched to its delivery, one the agent could not place and would not guess, and one scan it could not read. Whether a notice is valid is for counsel.
Bottles due for discard96 bottles behind 236 deliveries. Five are blocked because a claim may need them, and quality opens a random check of 12 before anything is released.
Settled, and what each turned on34 closed in the last 12 months, and the 8 that taught something: a heel left on a barge, a seal typed from the courier's form, a bottle gone.
SettingsCounsel's reply target sits a day before the buyer's window closes, and is her own. The handler or quality proposes a change; counsel signs it.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

The agents

In a bunker quality dispute, eight agents read and none of them replies

None of them gives a view on the fuel or on what the contract means.

Notice reader

Reads each notice, finds the delivery and opens a claim.

  • Never rules on a notice
  • Stops when it finds no delivery or date
Clause reader

Quotes the clauses and works out the dates.

  • Never says what a clause means
Seal tracer

Builds the chain of bottles by exact seal match.

  • Never picks a bottle
Lab line reader

Reads each lab report line by line.

  • Never gives a view on the fuel
Ship log reader

Reads engine logs, soundings and filter records.

  • Never advises a ship
Both-sides writer

Writes the strongest case each way, and what would change it.

  • Never weighs who wins
Request drafter

Drafts the asks and the reply.

  • Never sends
  • Never replies to a buyer
Bottle keeper

Tracks discard dates, blocks bottles a claim needs and draws the check sample.

  • Never throws a bottle away
  • Says no record found, never fine

Where the papers and bottles in a fuel claim sit

Read where they are; nothing is sent outside without a person.

Claims mailboxNotices, letters and replies from buyers and holders
Document managementDelivery notes, lab reports, the seal book and ship's records
Lab information systemShore tank certificates and retained samples
ERPDeliveries, invoices and the buyer
Terminal loadingBarge loads and cargo logs
Contract recordsSupply contracts and barge charters

What claims handlers and counsel ask about off-spec fuel claims

What are off-spec fuel claims?

Off-spec fuel claims are disputes where a buyer says delivered fuel was outside its contract specification or harmed a ship. This product builds the evidence file for off-spec fuel claims: every sealed bottle traced by its seal, both sides argued with their pages, and each reply signed by counsel.

How do off spec bunker claims usually turn?

On the bottles: which one was tested, who holds the others, and whether a sample both sides trust still exists for a joint test. A seal mismatch proves a mismatch, not that the fuel was fine, and the screens say so.

Whose clock is the bunker claim time bar?

Usually the buyer's: the contract sets the days a claim must reach the seller. The seller's own dates come from holding retained samples and notifying others, and counsel sets her own reply target. The clause screen shows both, and counsel says what the words mean.

Can the agents reply to the buyer?

No. Agents draft. The claims handler proposes, and counsel opens the papers herself, signs and sends from her own mailbox.

What about a contaminated fuel dispute where the fuel passed the table?

The file says so plainly and treats the lab report as one piece of evidence. Settled claims show where a scan beyond the table found a contaminant, and the quality manager decides which extended test to ask for.

Who decides when retained bottles are thrown away?

The product quality manager signs each discard set after opening a random check of bottles. Bottles a claim may need are blocked, and no agent throws anything away.

What if someone on the call asks whether the ship should keep burning the fuel?

It reaches the product quality manager by name, with no data back. A screen never advises a ship.

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Bring one claim
and its bottles.

We will trace every seal in it and show you which bottle to ask for before it is gone.

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