We are not an insurance intermediary and we give no insurance advice. What we do is the other half of a cargo loss. When a parcel is damaged, contaminated, rejected or held, the claim is handled by the cargo owner's insurer, surveyor, average adjuster and lawyers, and somebody still has to find a buyer who can actually take the material, quickly, before storage and demurrage eat the residual value. That commercial disposal is what we are brought in for, and it is rarely anyone else's job in the room.
Two tracks, running at once
When a cargo goes wrong, two processes start in parallel and they have different clocks. Confusing them is what costs owners money.
The claim track is about establishing what happened, who is liable and what is recoverable. It is deliberate, evidence-driven and slow, and it belongs to the insurer, the appointed surveyor, the average adjuster and, where necessary, lawyers. It can run for months.
The cargo track is about the physical material, which is sitting somewhere costing money every day and, in many cases, deteriorating. It needs to be resolved in days.
The mistake we see most often is an owner allowing the cargo track to wait for the claim track. The claim does not move faster because the parcel is still in tank, but the loss grows every day it sits there. Preserving the evidence properly and disposing of the material promptly are compatible, and doing both is usually what a duty to mitigate looks like in practice.
What we do, and what we do not
The boundary matters, so it is worth stating plainly rather than in small print.
| We do: find buyers | Approach counterparties who can physically run the material in its actual condition, not in theory. |
|---|---|
| We do: run a controlled process | A short, disciplined market approach rather than an open circulation that signals distress and kills the price. |
| We do: advise on realistic outlets | Whether reblending, reprocessing, downgrade or as-is sale is the sensible route, based on what the market will actually take. |
| We do: work alongside your advisers | Provide the commercial evidence, offers received, market context, that a surveyor or adjuster may need to see. |
| We do: move fast | Same-day approach where the information pack is complete. |
| We do NOT: give insurance advice | We are not an insurance intermediary and we are not authorised to advise on, arrange or mediate insurance. Speak to your broker or insurer. |
| We do NOT: act as surveyor or adjuster | Condition, cause and quantum are for the appointed independent professionals. |
| We do NOT: give legal advice | Liability, contract and recovery questions belong with your lawyers. |
| We do NOT: take title | We are a broker throughout, paid a commission on the concluded sale, with no position in the cargo. |
Protect the evidence first
Whatever happens commercially, the evidence has to survive, and in the confusion of a rejection it very often does not. This is the short list that matters, and it costs nothing to get right on day one.
- Preserve the retained samples. Sealed, labelled, from both load and discharge, held by both sides. They are the most valuable evidence in any quality dispute and are routinely thrown away by mistake.
- Get an independent surveyor instructed early, before positions harden. A survey commissioned after two weeks of argument carries much less weight.
- Notify on time. Insurance policies and carriage contracts carry notification periods and time bars. Missing one is an avoidable, self-inflicted loss, check them immediately, with your own advisers.
- Document the condition with dated photographs, tank temperatures, ullage reports and the terminal's own records.
- Keep a running cost log: demurrage, storage, heating, detention. It supports the claim and, just as importantly, it tells you how much delay you can actually afford.
- Do not blend or move the parcel before the evidence is secured. It can destroy both the claim and the ability to establish what happened.
Where the material usually ends up
The realistic outcomes are the same as for any distressed parcel: correction, reprocessing, downgrade to a lower-value outlet, sale as-is to a buyer who prices for the risk, or, last and worst, disposal. Which of these is available depends on the product, the failure and, quite often, on whether any sustainability certification survives the incident.
That certification question is worth raising on day one. A parcel that can no longer carry a valid proof of sustainability is invisible to every buyer whose economics depend on counting it, so the buyer list changes completely, and approaching the wrong buyers for a week is pure lost time.
The mechanics of each route are set out under off-spec and distressed cargoes.
Frequently asked questions
Are you an insurance broker?
No. We are a commodity broker. We are not an insurance intermediary, we are not authorised to advise on, arrange or mediate insurance, and nothing on this site is insurance advice. Insurance questions belong with your own insurance broker or insurer.
So what exactly do you do when a cargo is damaged?
The commercial disposal. We find buyers who can physically run the material in its actual condition, run a short controlled sale process rather than an open circulation that advertises distress, and get the parcel moved before storage and demurrage erode what is left. Your insurer, surveyor and adjuster handle the claim in parallel.
Should I wait for the insurer before selling the cargo?
That is a question for your own insurer and advisers, and you should ask them immediately rather than assume. What we can say from experience is that the claim does not resolve faster because the parcel is still sitting in tank, while the loss grows every day it does. In most policies there is also a duty to take reasonable steps to mitigate. Preserving evidence and disposing of the material promptly are usually compatible, but confirm the position with your insurer first.
What is the most common mistake owners make?
Losing the retained samples. They get discarded, unsealed or poorly labelled during the confusion of a rejection, and with them goes the best evidence of what the cargo was at load and at discharge. The second most common is running the commercial process too slowly and paying more in demurrage than the price difference being negotiated over.
Can you provide evidence for the claim?
We can provide the commercial record of what we did, which buyers were approached, what offers came back, what the market context was, and that is often useful to a surveyor or adjuster assessing whether the loss was reasonably mitigated. We do not provide expert opinion on condition, cause or quantum; those are for the appointed independent professionals.
Does a general average declaration change how you work?
It changes who ultimately bears the cost and adds the average adjuster to the group, but it does not change our role. The material still has to find a home, and that remains the commercial exercise. Contributions, security and adjustment are handled by your adjuster and insurers, not by us.
Who to ask about Cargo claims & compromised parcels
Ask us. Cargo compromised and the clock running? We can be in front of buyers today. Claims stay with your own advisers. We answer the same working day, in English or Dutch, and there is no charge and no obligation for a market read or a second opinion on a specification.
You get Bart van den Brug directly, not a call centre and not a form that goes nowhere. We are an independent broker: we never take title, we do not trade our own book, and we are paid a commission only on business that actually concludes. That is why we will also tell you when the answer is no.
+31 6 115 83 448
[email protected]
Sustainable Commodities 3 B.V., Lemmer, the Netherlands
Last reviewed 09 August 2026 by Bart van den Brug, Sustainable Commodities 3 B.V. (KvK 99665042), Lemmer, the Netherlands. Regulatory references are given for orientation and are not legal advice; verify against the current Official Journal text before contracting.