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P&I Claims Handling

P&I claims handling that builds each cargo claim into a file the club will stand behind, every defense tied to its document, and the offer signed before the time bar.

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Follow one cargo claim from letter to offer ↓
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The problem

The time bar runs in a spreadsheet while the defense sits in email

A cargo claim is won or lost on records the owner held on the day of discharge: the hatch cover test, the deck log, the ventilation log with dew points, the joint survey unit by unit. By the time the formal claim and then the lawyer's letter arrive, those pages are photos in an inbox and the bar is a cell someone has to remember.

So the club asks for the ventilation log and nobody has it. A heavy-weather defense rests on a summary nobody checked against the deck log, and whether a steel coil is a package is treated as settled when counsel has not decided it. Offers go out before the club consents in writing, and free-text emails from the ship end up quoted as evidence.

Built forClaims managersHeads of claimsMaritime counselFinance controllers

The Problem Today

The file the club needs is pieced together from email and the ship's photos, months after discharge.

1 year
to sue the carrier after delivery, cargo to or from a US port published
$500
carrier limit per package unless a higher value was declared published

Assembled from inboxes, by hand

  • Bills
  • Survey
  • Vent log
  • Letters
  • Time bars kept by handOne missed date ends the defense
  • Defenses nobody checkedA weather story the deck log does not bear out

The Solution

  1. The whole file readBills, the survey unit by unit, deck and ventilation logs, each passage cited
  2. Read as their lawyer wouldA challenger attacks the file and catches errors in our own draft
  3. Ship and club answer in fieldsStructured requests; only fixed fields and attached files alter the file
  4. Priced, then signedPaths priced; counsel, the club and the head of claims sign in turn

Built-in controls

  • Legal positions stay with counsel
  • Outside notes wait, unread, for a person
  • No offer without the club's written consent

What You Get

The owner answers a claim with the evidence it already held, and decides knowing what each path costs.

  • Our errors caught before the clubThe challenger checks our drafts against the logs
  • Every bar on one ribbonCargo, crew and third-party files in one register
  • Club preferences kept as rulesWhat the club asks for first, read first
Features

P&I claims handling features, from the lawyer's letter to the offer sent

One steel coil cargo claim, sixty days from the bar, built by the claims manager, then signed in turn by counsel, the club and the head of claims.

demoShip, claimant, club, people, coils and figures: all sample data.

  1. 01Claim file

    One cargo claim as a file folder, with the time bar on its edge

    • Time bar as a ribbon on the file. Delivery, today, the bar and any written extension run along one line, so days left never live in a spreadsheet cell.
    • Cover sheet, six tabs, one defense column. Claimant, cargo, regime, package limit, club and deductible lead the file, with each defense or weakness tied to its document.
    • Exposure line at the foot. Claimed, the worst case under the package limit and the owner's position stay in view while the file is worked.
  2. 02Survey

    Joint survey read coil by coil: sea water against condensation, by hold

    • Each claimed unit placed in its hold. The coil map shows where each damaged unit sat and what the chloride test found, so causes are argued hold by hold.
    • Units remarked at loading ringed. Coils the mate's receipt marked rusty before loading stand out, ready for the decision on what to offer.
  3. 03Logs and stowage

    Hatch cover test, deck log and ventilation log rendered where the agents read

    • Ship's records rendered as they look. The hatch test, deck log, ventilation log and stowage plan open in the file with the passages the agents relied on highlighted.
    • Ventilation log with dew points first. The club's preferred record is read before anything else, so the question the club asks first already has an answer.
    • Inferred readings labeled inferred. Where the dew-point rule is worked from outside readings, the file says so instead of treating it as a logged fact.
  4. 04Claimant's lawyer

    The claim read as the claimant's lawyer would, under each COGSA section

    • Each attack cites its section. Due diligence, perils of the sea, care of cargo, the package and clean bills are argued as the receiver's lawyer would.
    • Our own drafts checked against the logs. A weather summary the deck log does not support, and a package question treated as settled, are both caught before the club sees them.
    • Points for people routed by name. What the documents cannot settle goes to the claims manager or to counsel by name, with the pages attached.
  5. 05Requests out

    The master asked in fixed fields, day by day, with notes kept apart

    • Fixed-field requests to ship, surveyor and club. Each request asks fields per day or per item, so the answer changes the file without anyone retyping it.
    • Fields change the file, notes do not. The master's answers move the count of unexplained days; the master's note stays sealed from the agents and blocks the decision until it is opened.
  6. 06Proposal

    Defend, offer or settle proposed with the past ruling in view

    • Every path priced with the deductible. Defending, offering on part of the cargo and settling at the package limit show what the owner and the club each pay.
    • The last comparable ruling, in the dialog. How the head of claims treated a similar defense before appears in the dialog, so the next position is consistent.
    • A coded reason, written by the manager. The proposal records why, and states that nothing goes out until counsel, the club and the head of claims have signed.
  7. 07Counsel

    Counsel signs only the letter's legal sentences

    • Legal wording sent to maritime counsel. Without admission, settlement purposes only and the limitation reserved are signed by maritime counsel, sentence by sentence.
    • The package question stays with counsel. Whether an unwrapped coil is a package is shown both ways and decided by counsel, never by the agents.
    • Privileged notes listed, never attached. Counsel's notes are kept from the letter, the club pack and every export.
  8. 08Sign-off

    Offer letter signed by preparer, counsel, the club and a second person

    • Club consent in fixed fields. The club answers consent, authority, release and extension in fields, and an authority below the offer blocks the co-signature.
    • Second signature after the file is opened. The head of claims opens the letter and the club's answer first, and nobody co-signs their own work.
    • Reopening clears the signatures. A changed letter is signed afresh, preparer first.
  9. 09After sending

    Offer sent before the bar, the extension marked as offered and not agreed

    • An extension counts only in writing. The ribbon shows the extension as offered, and the bar does not move until the other side confirms.
    • Bills of lading read with their clauses. The face, the clause paramount and the rust clause on the reverse are read, so clean bills are answered from the document.

Four desks behind a cargo claim the club will back

The claims manager builds and proposes; counsel, the head of claims and finance each read what is theirs.

Claims managers

Run each open file, propose positions, send requests and letters

  • Every defense tied to its proving page
  • Their own drafts challenged before the club reads them
  • Time bars on one ribbon per file
Heads of claims

Co-sign offers and extensions; approve rules and settings; set reserves

  • The letter and club answer to open before co-signing
  • A hold that applies the moment it is set
  • A veto over learned rules
Maritime counsel

Sign the wording that commits owners in law and decide the package question

  • Only the legal sentences of each letter to sign
  • Both readings of the package question
  • Their notes never quoted or attached
Finance controllers

Read reserves and the club register for the renewal

  • Reserve and owner's retention side by side
  • The register as a download, read only
More screens

The ship's view, the club portal and the register of time bars

The outside parties answer in their own views; the register keeps cargo, crew and third-party files on one rail.

The ship's viewThe master answers per day: ventilated or not, a reason code, hold readings if taken; any note reaches the office unread by any agent.
The club portalThe club's claims executive answers consent, authority, release and extension in fields; the comment changes no field.
Claims registerForty-one open files, $5,812,640.00 claimed, seven of them less than ninety days from the bar.
A new noticeA shortage notice read on arrival: the regime and the time bar found, with a confidence for each field.
Rules keptRules from past rulings and the club's own notes, such as reading the ventilation log first on steel claims, apply only once someone other than the proposer approves.
Audit trailThe offer sent, the co-signature, counsel's privileged action and each opening, each with why and what the signer agreed to.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

Four signatures stand between a proposal and the letter to the claimant

Claims manager
Sees
The file, the master's note and the past ruling on a similar defense
Signs
The proposal and the letter as preparer, then sends it once all signatures are in
Maritime counsel
Sees
The letter and its sources, and the package question both ways
Signs
The wording that commits owners in law; the reasons stay privileged
The club
Sees
The club pack with privileged notes listed as excluded
Signs
Consent, authority, release and extension, in fixed fields
Head of claims
Sees
The letter and the club's answer, opened first; the button stays grey until then
Signs
The co-signature as second person, never on work they prepared

Seven agents build the file; legal calls stay with counsel

Five read, one attacks, one asks outside parties, each handing on by name.

Intake reader

Reads notices and lawyers' letters; names the regime, delivery date, time bar and what is asked.

  • Assigns no owner and agrees no extension
Bills of lading reader

Reads bills, clauses and mate's receipts, and counts claimed units per bill.

  • Says nothing about what a clause means in law
Survey reader

Reads the joint survey unit by unit: position, damage, chloride result.

  • Infers no result the survey does not record
Log reader

Reads hatch, deck and ventilation logs and the stowage plan, and applies the dew-point rule.

  • Fills no gap in a log
  • Labels an inferred reading as inferred
Exposure analyst

Works out claimed, worst case and each path, with the deductible.

  • Never decides whether a unit is a package
  • Recommends no path
The claimant's lawyer

Attacks the file as the receiver's lawyer would and checks the agents' own drafts against the documents.

  • Calls nobody dishonest
Club liaison

Writes fixed-field requests to the ship, surveyors and the club, then reads the fields and files that come back.

  • Sends only when a person says so
  • Treats outside notes as unread

What shipowners' claims teams ask about P&I claims handling

What is P&I claims handling?

P&I claims handling is the shipowner's work of building a cargo, crew or third-party claim into a file the P&I club will stand behind. Here agents assemble and challenge the file under its time bar, and people decide: the claims manager, counsel, the club and the head of claims.

What is the time bar on a cargo claim?

For cargo carried to or from a US port under COGSA, suit must be brought within one year after delivery. Under the Hague-Visby rules the period is also one year and can be extended by agreement. An extension counts here only once both sides confirm it in writing.

Is a steel coil a package under COGSA?

That question belongs to counsel. The file shows the worst case both ways, at the package limit and without it, and the agents take no view.

Can we settle without the club?

No offer leaves without the club's written consent. The request asks consent, authority, release and extension in fixed fields, and a refusal or an authority below the offer blocks the co-signature.

How does the solution handle notes from the ship?

Answers from the master arrive as fields, which change the file. Anything written as free text is shown word for word, kept out of the evidence, and no decision can be taken until it is opened.

Does it handle crew injury and third-party files?

Yes. Crew and third-party files sit in the same register with their own time bars and folders, and crew medical pages are visible only to the claims manager and the head of claims.

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Bring a claim file
you already closed.

Send one settled cargo claim with its logs and survey, and we will rebuild that file alongside you.

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