Bunker quantity disputes — evidence from the receiving side
Record the delivery as it happens, so a shortfall is a document rather than an argument.
A bunker quantity dispute is almost never lost on the facts. It is lost because the receiving side has no contemporaneous record — only the supplier’s delivery note, a chief engineer’s recollection, and an email sent three days later. The evidence that decides these cases has to be made while the hose is connected.
What it does
- Log delivery events as they happen: arrival, alongside, vessel ready, pumping start and stop, completion
- Each event carries the device time, position where available, and an optional photo
- Events are append-only and sealed — a correction is a new event, never a rewrite of an old one
- Both sides can log; the confirmed quantity is the one both the supplier and the vessel state and agree on
- Produce an evidence pack as a single PDF, hashed, filed in your documents
- A delay is recorded with a cause, so demurrage arguments start from a record
Who it is for
Buyers and operators who receive bunkers and currently have nothing but the BDN if the figure looks wrong.
Why the BDN alone is a weak position
The bunker delivery note is issued by the supplier. It is the seller’s statement of what was delivered. As the only document in the file it leaves the buyer arguing against the counterparty’s own paperwork.
A letter of protest carries far more weight when it sits on top of a timestamped record made during the delivery — one that shows when pumping started and stopped, what was observed, and what the vessel measured.
Confirmed means both sides said the same number
A quantity claimed by one party is a claim. When the supplier’s stated final quantity and the vessel’s stated final quantity agree, that figure is recorded as confirmed, with the time it was confirmed.
When they disagree, nothing is silently averaged or overwritten. The disagreement itself is the record, and it is exactly the thing a dispute needs to show.
What this does not claim
This is a record-keeping layer, not a measurement device and not a surveyor. It does not measure quantity; it records what was observed, by whom, and when, in a form that cannot be quietly edited afterwards.
Common questions
What counts as evidence in a bunker quantity dispute?
Contemporaneous records carry the weight: timestamps of pumping start and stop, the vessel’s own measurements, photographs, and a letter of protest raised at the time. Records created after the fact are far easier to challenge.
Can an event be edited later?
No. Events are append-only and sealed. A correction is recorded as a new event, so the original and the correction both remain visible.
Does the supplier have to use the platform for this to work?
The record can be kept from the receiving side alone. A quantity is only marked confirmed when both sides have stated it and they agree — otherwise the record shows one side’s figure and the disagreement.
Is this a replacement for a mass flow meter or an independent surveyor?
No. It records observations and their timing; it does not measure. Where a surveyor or MFM figure exists it is recorded alongside the rest.
Free for shipowners
Bunker procurement is free for shipowners — suppliers pay the commission. The compliance layer comes with it.