Your World Class Cargo Inspections Partner
Alex Stewart International’s inspectors can ensure that all of your contractual specifications are met, protecting you and your business from any unnecessary financial claims, which can be extremely costly.
Accurate weights and good delivery are just two factors that must be addressed if LME, LBMA, LPPM, GAFTA and FOSFA contractual obligations are to be met. Our inspectors are highly experienced and knowledgeable when it comes to international standard sampling and weighing procedures. We can also assess whether a vessel is seaworthy and fit to fulfil carriage contract requirements.
All of our cargo supervision, inspection and sampling is carried out according to ISO and IFIA standards. When drawing samples, practical and correct sampling methods must be applied to obtain samples that are homogeneous and truly representative of the whole cargo.
- For example, cargoes and shipments of bulk commodities such as copper, zinc and lead metal concentrates or agricultural commodities such as grain, soya bean or fertiliser can vary in quality. Contamination can be confined to specific areas of warehouse or vessel. That’s why the whole shipment is inspected and sampled thoroughly and methodically.
Our cargo inspectors, cargo surveyors, cargo superintendents, cargo weighers and samplers follow the correct sampling methods, because any subsequent laboratory analysis may be undermined if inappropriate sampling methods have been used. The laboratory chemist is only as good as the sample being analysed.
Sampling is critical, which is why our inspectors attend for the duration of the supervision. Inspection and analysis costs are small compared to the commercial value of the commodity being traded. Peace of mind is priceless.
Inspection risk management (IRM)
Our IRM services include inspection at both load port and discharge port, enabling us to ensure that your cargo is better protected.
Our IRM services include an initial consultancy, investigation and technical report, which explains our findings about loading and discharge logistics, infrastructure and weighing/sampling procedures. On subsequent shipments, inspectors will be present throughout both loading and discharge to supervise operations, detect inferior quality cargo and ensure that correct procedures are being adopted to prevent your consignment from discrepancies, contamination or damage.
Our inspectors can tell you immediately if there are any problems during loading or discharge procedures and Letters of Protest can be issued upon request. Digital photographs can also be taken on demand to provide visual evidence of the material’s quality and cargo operations. A detailed report will be produced and emailed to you as soon as the work has been completed for final settlement purposes.
| Pre-shipment inspections. | Store intervention. |
| Storage & stowage inspections. | Damage cargo inspections. |
| Transportable moisture determination. | Quality control. |
| Hatch hose testing. | Loss control. |
| Establishing source of water ingress. | Weight control – quay/weighbridge. |
| Ullaging of ships tanks & quantity calculations. | Tallying & stockpile control. |
| Hold suitability for nominated cargo. | Calibration of weighing equipment. |
| Tank cleanliness inspection. | Weighing supervision. |
| Temperature determination. | Sampling & quality sample preparation. |
| Supervision of discharge/loading. | Moisture determination. |
| Recording of cargo distribution. | Size determination. |
| Control of cargo movement. | Granulometry testing. |
| Monitoring cargo handling. | Viscosity. |
| Finished product inspection. | Letters of Protest. |
Shipping logistics and PSI services
Alex Stewart International can provide a wide range of shipping logistics and pre-shipment inspection (PSI) services for finished products and any bulk commodity. PSI can also be extended to include traceability, for example, mine audits and processes such as farm audits, crop monitoring, produce classification, stock monitoring and weighbridge control.
Core PSI services provide physical and visual inspection of goods prior to shipment, to establish whether imported and exported goods and their invoice value, tariff code and customs duty, all conform to specification and correspond to packing lists so that they can clear customs in any country.
PSI prevents over-invoicing and assists customs in collecting correct duties. PSI and analysis services include:
- Checking that the product is within specification and fit for intended use, assessment and inspection of quality-control processes.
- Witnessing in-house tests.
- Packaging-reporting services (checking labelling and documentation).
- Weight verification (gross, tare and net, bagging supervision).
- Checking bag strength and durability.
We offer a comprehensive range of marine services to accurately calculate cargo weights, ensure that appropriate storage and handling methods are being used and evaluate the condition of the vessel or containers before and during loading.
| Draft survey/barge gauging. | On/off hire survey. |
| Condition survey. | Marine cargo surveying. |
| Tanks and liquid cargo survey. | Gas free survey. |
| Stability calculation survey. | Hull and engine survey. |
| Hatch survey. | Pre-shipment survey. |
| Performance survey. | Lashing and securing survey. |
| Container inspection survey. | Inaccessible claims. |
Our Business
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A Global Network
- ASI Inspections, Loads and Discharge Operations
- ASI LAboratory, Sample Preperation and Customer Services
- ASI Government Business Head Quarters
