I think this video will be more of a debate than an information and everybody is welcome to comment. I have debated this point during negotiations. I have also had philosophical discussion with commercial practitioners experts and friends in the field. It is in a sense a small detail if things go smoothly but with the potential to turn into a major dispute if they don’t. Of course, all bulk vessel operators, who trade Canada and the United States know what I am talking about and yet on many occasions they seems surprised by the requirements, despite the contract they’ve signed, with all the undertakings that they have satisfied themselves with the conditions at the port of loading.
I am talking about the compulsory inspections when loading grain, carried by the Port Wardens as representatives of Transport Canada and Canadian Food Inspection Agency and their US opposite numbers Food and Drug Administration and the National Cargo Bureau (which btw is not a Federal Agency but is an organization nevertheless authorized by US Coast Guard).
I am not going to elaborate on the technical aspects of these inspections. Suffice it to say that Food safety authorities survey the cargo compartments to make sure that these are compliant with (and I highlight this point) the LOCAL standards for carriage of food stuff and issue respective certificate for fitness or failure, later case coming at significant cost to the ship. And Port Wardens, respectively NCB inspectors check preliminary ship’s stability calculations, which if approved result in permission to load (subject to the Food Agency Pass of course). The inspectors also visually check overall cargo compartment fitness to accommodate cargo and test bilge overflow and water ingress alarms but this type of inspection as specialists know is not grain specific and is carried out before other cargo loadings as well. Briefly these inspections are in a sense enforcement of the all-encompassing Safety of Life at Sea Convention of the International Maritime Organization, which is a branch of the United Nations. Practically this supra national convention has a force of statutory local law in most countries, but its application in Canada and USA is particularly rigorous. Although, if one wants to dig deep into technical details, since a large portion of the grain export is carried out of the 2 great N.American Rivers (Mississippi and Saint Lawrence), both countries allow minor deviations from standards due to the fact that portion of the laden leg is carried out in sheltered waters.
