The most common complaints with bulk mineral shipments are excess moisture, short weight, a grade below specification, contamination, inconsistent lots and damaged packing. Most can be traced back to loose contract terms or weak checks at loading.
Natural minerals vary, and many suppliers are small. The cargo you receive will not always match the sample unless you set the rules and check them.
The usual problems
- Excess moisture adds freight weight, lowers the real purity, and can cause caking or sticky discharge.
- Short weight shows up when the outturn at your port is below the bill of lading figure.
- Off-grade material fails your purity, swelling, brightness or performance tests.
- Contamination includes stones, wood, plastic, residues of earlier cargo, or a different mineral.
- Inconsistent lots mean each shipment behaves differently in your process.
- Torn or weak bags cause spillage, losses and extra handling at discharge.
- Caking or hardening happens when salt or soda-activated clay gets damp in transit.
- Wrong or late documents delay customs clearance and add storage costs.
Where they start
Many complaints begin with the first shipment. A supplier sends a carefully selected trial lot, then routine lots come from a different part of the pit or stockpile. Our article on why quality drops after the first container covers this pattern.
Others start with the contract. If it gives no moisture basis, no test method, no sampling rule and no claim process, it is hard to prove anything later. The seller's laboratory then becomes the only evidence.
Weather also plays a part. Cargo loaded just before or during the monsoon can pick up water at the stockpile, on the truck or in an open hold.
How to prevent them
- Write limits, test methods and the moisture basis into the contract.
- Name an independent surveyor and laboratory, and agree whose results are final.
- Sample during loading, split and seal the samples, and keep a retention set.
- Inspect holds or containers before loading and check bag quality.
- Confirm quantity by draft survey or weighbridge at loading, and again at discharge.
- Run a trial, then test the first routine lots as closely as the trial.
When a complaint arises
Act quickly and keep evidence. Photograph the cargo and packing at discharge, arrange a joint survey if you can, and test the sealed retention sample alongside fresh samples. Notify the seller in writing within the time limit in your contract.
Our article on handling a quality claim on a chemical shipment sets out the steps. Checking moisture and purity at loading explains the checks that make a claim easier to win.
Next step
We audit suppliers, check samples and documents, and supervise sampling and loading so problems are caught before the cargo sails. To review your next mineral order, book a free sourcing review.