Levelling the legal landscape for surveyors

SURVEYORS play a hugely important role in ensuring the safety of the world fleet. They have a tough job to do.

There are, of course, different types of surveyor, or sometimes the same surveyor doing different things. Surveyors supervise bunkerings and check cargo loading and inspect damage but the most vital and, crucially, they assess the general condition of the vessel and its watertight integrity. In other words, they often perform, on behalf of a flag state or classification society, an assessment of the ship's seaworthiness. That is a very big responsibility.

Unfortunately, things can go wrong. Ships can sink, sometimes very quickly if there is a structural failure, or suffer severe damage when the power of the sea overwhelms the ability of the ship to resist it. That is when lives can be lost and massive financial losses can be incurred.