Marine and Cargo Insurance Editing and Proofreading Services

Forty pallets arrive water-stained. The carrier says the container was dry at discharge, the warehouse says it was wet on arrival, the shipper says it was sound at stuffing, and everybody has a clean document to prove it. Somebody is wrong, the cargo is already discarded, and the only thing that will resolve it is a survey report written before the evidence disappeared.

We edit what marine and cargo insurers, surveyors and assureds produce — survey reports and their findings on causation and timing, claim documentation and supporting evidence lists, notices of claim against carriers, general average and salvage correspondence, policy and open cover wordings, packing and stowage requirements communicated to assureds, and the recovery files passed to subrogation. Our editors work on documents that have to fix a moment that has already passed.

The survey report's finding on when the damage occurred is the whole of a cargo claim, and its failure is a description of the damage with no view on its timing. Everybody in the chain has a clean receipt. We work through these so the report establishes the physical indications of timing rather than asserting a conclusion — the direction of staining, whether mould has grown, the condition of the packaging relative to the goods, salt or fresh water evidence — since these are what distinguish damage at sea from damage in a warehouse; so the container itself is examined and reported on, with the seal, the roof, the door gaskets and any light visible from inside, because a sound container narrows the possibilities decisively; so the stowage and packing are described as found, given that a claim can turn entirely on whether dunnage was used; so the temperature and humidity records are obtained where the cargo was reefer or moisture-sensitive; so the timing of the survey relative to discharge is stated, as a survey three weeks after delivery cannot say what one at discharge could; so the notices given to the carrier are recorded with their dates, since recovery rights are lost on time limits more often than on merits; so the assured's own documents are checked against each other for the inconsistency that will be found later; and so what could not be determined is said. Reports written this way support both the claim and the recovery.

Everything you send is treated in confidence, including survey reports, claim files and recovery correspondence. We are editors rather than surveyors, adjusters or lawyers, and we offer no view on causation, coverage, liability or any claim. What we can do is make the report fix the moment.