Terms of business

1Who we are and when these terms apply

1.1In these terms “Sermarine”, “we” and “us” mean Sermarine Shipping Ltd (company number 08935103, registered office Britannia House, 11 Glenthorne Road, London W6 0LH) and SARL Sermarine, its sister company in Algeria, which carries out the services at the port.

1.2These terms apply to every appointment of Sermarine as agent, unless we have agreed something different in writing. They apply instead of any terms printed on or referred to in your nomination, order or other documents.

1.3If any part of these terms is found to be unenforceable, the rest of them still applies.

2Words we use

2.1“Principal” or “you” means the owner, disponent owner, charterer, operator, manager or trader who appoints us for a vessel.

2.2“Call” means one visit of the vessel to an Algerian port, from its arrival until it sails.

2.3“PDA” means the proforma disbursement account: our estimate of the costs of the call before the vessel arrives.

2.4“FDA” means the final disbursement account: the account of what the call actually cost, issued after the vessel sails.

2.5“Third parties” means the port authority, the terminal, pilots, tug operators, customs, other authorities and any supplier or contractor providing goods or services for the call.

3Appointment

3.1You appoint us by email. The appointment starts when we confirm it in writing, and it covers the vessel and call named in it.

3.2We reply to a nomination with a PDA. Our quotation and the PDA are based on the information you give us about the vessel, its cargo and its expected time of arrival, so please tell us at once if any of it changes.

4We act as your agent

4.1We act only as agent for and on behalf of the Principal. Any contract we make with a third party for your call is made on your behalf, and you, not Sermarine, are responsible for paying for it.

4.2The terminal arranges and directs the pilots and tugs. We pass on information about them, such as when the pilot is on board and when the tugs are alongside, but we do not control their services.

4.3SARL Sermarine carries out the services in Algeria from its local offices. With your agreement, we may also appoint another agent at a port where we have no office, and we remain your point of contact.

5The PDA and funding the call

5.1The PDA is an estimate. It is built from the port’s official tariffs in force when it is issued and from our fees. The real cost of the call can differ, for example if the time alongside, the services used, the tariffs or the exchange rate change.

5.2You pay the PDA in full to Sermarine Shipping Ltd in advance, so that it is received before the vessel arrives. Each payment should quote the vessel’s name and the port.

5.3Your bank’s charges and any intermediary charges are for your account. We credit the amount we actually receive.

5.4If the funds have not arrived, we may decline to commit costs on your behalf, suspend our services or give notice that we are withdrawing from the agency. Any delay or cost that results is for your account.

5.5If the port or a third party asks for more money during the call, we may ask you for further funds, and paragraphs 5.2 to 5.4 apply to them too.

6Our bank details and payment fraud

6.1We only give our bank details on our own PDA and invoices. We never change our bank details by email.

6.2If you receive an email that appears to come from us asking you to pay into a different account, do not pay. Call us first on +44 20 7096 6485 to check.

6.3We are not responsible for a payment you make to an account that is not ours following instructions that did not come from us, unless the loss was caused by our negligence.

7Our fees

7.1Our fees are those shown on the PDA or otherwise agreed with you in writing. Everything else on the account is the third parties’ charges, passed on as they were billed to us.

7.2Services that are not part of a normal call are charged separately, as agreed with you beforehand.

7.3Value added tax or other local taxes are added to our fees where the law requires.

8The FDA and settling the account

8.1After the vessel sails, our local office pays the port and the third parties and collects their invoices. We then send you the FDA, normally within one month of the vessel sailing. It shows each cost as it was billed and our fees. Copies of the supporting invoices are available to you.

8.2Costs billed in Algerian dinars are converted to US dollars at the exchange rate applied by the port on its own invoices for the call.

8.3If the FDA is more than the funds received, you pay the balance on receipt of the FDA, without any deduction, set-off or counterclaim.

8.4If the funds received are more than the FDA, we refund the balance to you when we send the FDA, or, if you ask us to, hold it towards your next call.

8.5A third party’s invoice can sometimes arrive after the FDA. If it does, we send you a supplementary account, and the same rules apply to it.

9What we need from you

9.1You give us complete and accurate information about the vessel, its cargo, its certificates and its expected time of arrival, in good time for the notices the port and the terminal require.

9.2You make sure the vessel and its cargo meet the rules of the port, the terminal and the authorities, including security, safety and customs requirements.

9.3You indemnify Sermarine against any liability, cost or claim we incur in properly carrying out your instructions as agent, except where it was caused by our own negligence or wilful misconduct.

10Sanctions and compliance

10.1We do not act for a vessel, cargo or party where doing so would breach the sanctions or export control laws that apply to us. You tell us at once if any of these apply to the call.

10.2If we reasonably believe that continuing would breach those laws, we may stop acting without liability to you.

11Our liability

11.1We are only liable for loss or damage caused by our own negligence or wilful misconduct in carrying out the services.

11.2We are not liable for the acts or omissions of third parties, including the port, the terminal, pilots, tugs, customs and other authorities, or for delays caused by them, by weather or by anything else outside our reasonable control.

11.3We are not liable for any loss of profit, loss of hire, demurrage, loss of market or any indirect or consequential loss.

11.4Our total liability for any one call is limited to the fees we charged you for that call.

11.5Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law does not allow us to limit.

11.6Any claim against us must be notified in writing within 12 months of the vessel sailing, or it is waived.

12Confidentiality and personal data

12.1We keep the information you give us confidential. We only share it with the third parties who need it to handle the call, such as the port, the terminal and customs, and where the law requires.

12.2We handle personal data as described in our privacy notice.

13Events outside our control

We are not responsible for failing or being late to perform the services because of events outside our reasonable control, such as strikes, closures of the port, decisions of the authorities, severe weather, war, epidemics, or failures of power or communications.

14Ending the agency

Either of us may end an appointment by notice in writing. Our fees and the costs already committed for the call remain payable, and these terms continue to apply to them.

15Law and disputes

15.1These terms and any appointment under them are governed by the law of England and Wales.

15.2Any dispute arising out of or in connection with these terms or an appointment under them is referred to arbitration in London under the London Maritime Arbitrators Association (LMAA) Terms current when the arbitration starts.

15.3Where neither the claim nor any counterclaim exceeds the limit set in the LMAA Small Claims Procedure, the arbitration is conducted under that procedure.

16Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. The version on this page when we confirm your appointment is the one that applies to that call.