Husbandry Agent at Chattogram: Scope, Instruction and Evidence
Stores, water, cash to Master, crew and technician attendance: what to write in the instruction, who approves the cost and which records close the job.
Husbandry is the shore-side support a vessel needs while she is in port or at anchorage that is not the port call itself: stores, water, cash to Master, medical and crew attendance, technician and surveyor access, launch transfer and similar requests. A husbandry agent handles these requests for the principal who instructs them. Most disagreements about husbandry come from three places: the scope was not written, the approval line was not clear, or the evidence of delivery was not kept.
What husbandry covers
The usual requests are provisions and bonded or deck and engine stores, fresh water, cash to Master, medical attendance and crew care, crew movement, airport reception and hotel, launch or vessel transfer, attendance by a superintendent or service engineer, urgent spares and waste or courier handling. The husbandry services page lists the services CPA arranges.
Husbandry is not the port call. Arrival notices, berth or anchorage programme and the main disbursement account stay with the agent holding the call. If that is another company, husbandry can still be instructed separately, without changing who holds the call.
Who instructs and who approves
Name the principal who gives the instruction and the person who approves the cost before the work starts. The Master can raise an urgent requirement, but the shore-side principal normally approves it. Say who pays, and whether the cost goes through the vessel's account, the owner's account or the charterer's account, since the answer decides which party receives the invoice.
For a request raised by the Master in an emergency, the desk checks the immediate local option and confirms the instruction line before committing the vessel to a cost.
What to send with a request
Send the vessel name and IMO number, the position (berth, river mooring or anchorage), the ETA or ETD, the item or service, quantity and required time, the delivery contact on board and the approval line. The more precise the position, the more reliable the delivery plan, because attendance by road, boat or launch changes with where the vessel lies. The guide to the Chattogram (Chittagong) anchorage zones explains why.
The evidence to keep
For each service keep the approved order, the supplier invoice, the quantity or cash receipt, the name of the person who received it, the delivery time and any exception: a short supply, a substitute or a rejected item. Report exceptions separately and close them against written instruction. For stores and cash, see the controls in the guide to chandlery, bonded stores and cash to Master.
Boundary
CPA coordinates husbandry under appointment. Quality of supplied goods beyond the approved supplier arrangement, technical decisions, survey findings, medical judgement and legal matters remain with the responsible specialist or party. A husbandry request does not guarantee a delivery time before the vessel position, weather, access and supplier confirmation are checked.
See also: Technicians and Riding Crews in Bangladesh.
Related service: Husbandry Agent Bangladesh.