Letter of protest
The letter of protest in shipping: when a master or chief engineer issues one over bunkers, cargo or documents, what it records, and its evidential value.
A letter of protest is a written notice from the master or an officer to another party, such as a bunker supplier, terminal or stevedore, recording a disagreement or a defect at the time it occurs. In bunkering it records disputes over sampling, quantity, quality or documentation, and it is the contemporaneous evidence a buyer relies on later.
The full article will cover bunkering protests under BIMCO Bunker Terms 2018 clause 6, which provides for remarks on the BDN or a separate letter of protest, and the practice guidance in the June 2018 BIMCO and IBIA Bunkering Guide and P&I club circulars. It will distinguish the protest from the regulatory notifications in MEPC.321(74) paragraphs 2.1.5 and 2.1.6 and from a FONAR, and cover cargo and terminal protests.
It links to FONAR and BDN sulphur compliance evidence and bunker fuel quality disputes .