Responsibilities of a Port Captain / Supercargo

As a company and group, we have many things we are collectively proud of and top of that is our people. We always prefer to promote within the company and some years ago one of our employees showed interest in becoming a Supercargo for NMT, Chloe Galletly.

We are very proud of the journey Chloe has been on so far with NMT, trained internally for the job as Supercargo and we believe she is one of the few female Supercargoes in the world. As further proof of her growth, today she is also now in charge of all worldwide stowage planning. We asked her to describe her job, and this in her own words:

 “Our job is all about safety!

Working with used cargo can be challenging at times, especially when vehicles are loaded in a different way than their intended purpose, for example, a car loaded inside a tipper truck or a van loaded onto a truck head.

It is our responsibility to make pre-cargo checks before loading in each port to ensure the cargo is safe to be loaded on board. This includes checking that loaded cargo has sufficient lashing, the quality of lashing equipment used, checking for prohibited items, leaks and much more.

We always say, “When the cargo is safe, the vessel is safe”. We also make stowage plans which can only be described as playing a huge game of Tetris. Most of our vessels have 12 decks, 4 of which have adjustable panels that can be raised so they can be used for high and heavy cargo. Above the high and heavy decks, there are normally 4 fixed-car decks.

When planning, we must keep in mind several things. Deck height, deck strength, type of cargo and rotation. The goal is to load cargo in all ports in a way where it can not only discharge in order of POD without the need for shifting but also help with vessel stability. Vessel stability is very important and is considered when planning from the first port of loading to the last port of discharge.

During a loading operation, we work together with both crew and stevedores to make sure all guidelines are followed and to ensure a safe and successful load“