The Shipping –I section of DOF is entrusted with the post fixture work of vessels arriving with Urea cargo imported on Govt. account, including granular urea shipment from Oman to India under Urea Off Take Agreement with OMIFCO. Post fixture work of shipping and port operations include are as follows :-
- Examining the specifications of the vessels contained in the fixture note issued by the Chartering wing of M/O Shipping and terms and conditions of port nomination message issued by the Shipping II section for coordinating II section for coordinating with handling agents of DOF at the ports in receiving the cargo;
- Examining the shipping documents received from the suppliers of the cargo associating with the handling agents in completing the inward entry documentation required by the port;
- Examining the terms, conditions and exceptions of the Charter Party Agreement (CP) of the vessel for ascertaining the feasibility in handling operation;
- Monitoring the discharge and evacuation of cargo at the ports;
- Settlement of demurrage/dispatch at the load and discharge port and finalizing the Lay Time calculations in terms of CP;
- Examining the Joint Draft Survey Report to ascertain the quality and quantity of urea cargo received;
- Defending the interest of UOI in marine arbitration and court matters.
Apart from this, Shipping –I section is also monitoring the arrival of other grades of fertilizers like DAP and MOP on private account to ascertain the availability and requirement of the material for agronomic purpose. Moreover, Shipping-I is also entrusted with the work of movement of fertilizers through Coastal shipping and inland water ways. The coastal shipping has come under the ambit of uniform freight subsidy and the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for this mode of transportation has been notified vide order No. 12018/11/2007-FPP dated 18th March, 2010, which is available in the website.
Shipping-II
Shipping-II section in the Department of Fertilizers is looking after pre-fixture work of vessels arriving with urea cargo on government account including shipments of granular urea from OMIFCO under Urea Off Take Agreement (UOTA):-
- Monitoring the production, stock and daily rate of production of granular urea by Oman India Fertilizer Company (OMIFCO).
- Examination of specifications of vessels offered by TRANS-CHART (a chartering wing of Department of Shipping) for loading urea cargo.
- Examination of fixture note and Charter Party terms, conditions and exceptions.
- Fixation of urea vessels including OMIFCO urea and nomination of discharge port.
- Study of general average cases and preparation of brief/write-ups for counsels in maritime arbitrations.
- Co-ordination with OMIFCO, Handling Agents (IFFCO and KRIBHCO) and TRANS-CHART regarding shipping arrangements.