| Current Position at CWA
In 1996 Floris Menting joined CWA and became
the Principal of the former CWA office at Alkmaar, the Netherlands. He is now an
Associate Director of CWA.
Floris is a very experienced surveyor of loss and damage to ship and cargo with a
surveying career spanning 25 years. He has extensive experience of cargo incidents,
particularly dry cargo and food commodities such as grains, rice, soya beans, sugar,
refrigerated cargo and timber. He has investigated many scores of cargo damage
incidents, providing expert advice on causation, loss mitigation and loss
prevention. Much of his work on food cargoes has been in combination with the
scientific skills provided by the CWA Food Department. Floris has a thorough
knowledge of the factors governing cargo care, including stowage, ventilation, humidity
and dewpoint measurements, and the operation of reefer systems. He is frequently
called upon to supervise the taking of representative samples for analysis at selected
laboratories.
Floris is an experienced consulting Master Mariner and has carried out detailed
investigations and reporting of marine casualties over a wide range of ship types and
circumstances. He is well versed in the requirements of thorough reporting, has
provided expert evidence in several court cases, and appeared in London courts and
arbitration.
Specific Expertise and Experience at
CWA
The following is a list of major damages to commodities
that Floris has dealt with in the recent past:
- bananas and kiwi fruit – temperature and
quality problems
- soya beans and soya meal – heating,
moisture and quality problems
- sunflower seeds – heating
- seedcakes – heating
- wheat, maize, rice, groundnuts etc – water
and sweat damage, insect infestation
- timber – moisture damage and insect
infestation
- sugar – caking and moisture damage
- cocoa beans – moisture and sweat damage,
insect infestation and fire
- potatoes – moisture damage and decay
- rice – investigating the pre-loading
condition of a bagged cargo, loaded at Vietnam (1997)
Floris has also investigated various typical Marine
cases, such as:
- fire on board
- groundings
- collisions, usually in conjunction with cargo
damage
Summary of Marine Survey and Consultancy Experience
| 1992-1996 |
Independent consultant providing wide range of
ship and cargo damage survey and advisory services. |
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| 1986-1991 |
Floris was a partner in a firm of scientific
and technical consultants on marine claims and casualties, dealing with cargo claims,
investigating the extent and cause of the damage and/or advising clients in preparation of
litigation with regard to claims on various products, such as:
- moisture damage and/or insect infestation of agricultural
products such as sugar, coffee, cocoa-beans, wheat, maize, rice, groundnuts etc
- full or part refrigerated cargoes of fresh fruit, bananas,
chilled or frozen meat and deep frozen heating and fire in general cargo, rice,
derivatives from agricultural products and fishmeal
- stowage of timber cargoes
- potatoes and onions carried as ventilated cargo
- vegetable oil contaminated with chemicals
- (direct reduced) iron ore
- sulphur etc
During this time, Floris also dealt with
damage prevention, and advised on carrying instructions, including ventilation, for
agricultural products and fresh fruit.
During this period he dealt with cases whereby usually the entire cargo of agricultural
products (usually fruit or fish), or the majority thereof, was subject to some kind of
cargo claim, either due to alleged defects of the ship or the reefer installation, heavy
weather, fire or a submerged engine-room resulting in non-refrigeration, or the (pre)
loading condition of the commodity.
It also meant dealing with the cargo in way of discharge, ship to ship transfer,
assessment of damage and depreciation, finding other outlets for the cargo or the disposal
thereof.
In addition, in-depth investigation of the ship, as well as of the pre-loading particulars
in the country of origin, was required, in order to fully investigate the possible cause
of the damage and the question of the liability.
The surveys were carried out world-wide including various African countries, the Middle
East, the Far East and South America |
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| 1976-1986 |
Nautical and cargo surveyor at
Rotterdam, dealing with damage upon discharge and pre-loading surveys, including numerous
shipments of white refined bagged sugar exported via Rotterdam, advising on a wide variety
of casualties, investigating the extent and cause of the damage, involving numerous kinds
of ships and other means of transport carrying dry, refrigerated, or liquid
cargo. His work involved detailed investigation of reefer and ventilation systems. |
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| 1966-1976 |
Service onboard various types of
ships, including those with heavy lift and reefer capacity, bulk carriers and tankers and
general cargo vessels, trading world wide with a wide variety of cargoes such as general
cargo, chilled and frozen cargoes, bagged and bulked cereals and derivatives, timber and
timber products, crude oil, chemicals, vegetable oil etc, in the capacity of Apprentice
Officer to acting Chief Officer.
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