01

Delivery point

An offer is reviewed when it names all four of the following. A city or a port is not one of them: in Rotterdam and in Houston the operator named is the terminal company, not the port authority.

  • The terminal operator and the site. Where one operator runs several sites in a port, the site is named.
  • The tank or the tank farm.
  • The storage contract holder.
  • The title holder, and the relationship between the storage contract holder and the title holder where they differ. The seller of record is the title holder or holds a documented right to sell from that title.

With the four, the offer states the delivery basis under Incoterms 2020 that the terminal supports for the product: FOB or CIF at the named terminal, or in-tank transfer where the terminal allows it.

02

Confirmation sequence

  1. The seller names the four items in the offer, with product, grade and quantity.
  2. The seller authorises the operator, in the operator’s own form, to confirm to the desk that the quantity is in tank under that contract.
  3. The desk asks the operator through the operator’s channels. The answer comes from the operator to the desk, not through the seller.
  4. Where the size warrants it, an independent inspector appointed by both parties gauges the tank and samples the product. The report goes to both parties.
  5. Product documentation, including the certificate of quality and the storage documents, is exchanged after signature and completed onboarding.

Nothing in this sequence is a document that travels from the seller to the desk as proof of product.

03

Not accepted as proof

  • Tank receipts, storage letters or screenshots supplied by the seller. Terminal documents are issued to the storage customer, and a copy in a third party’s hands does not show who holds the contract today.
  • A letter said to be from the terminal that cannot be checked with the operator.
  • A title holder who is not the seller of record, without a documented right to sell.
  • A party that will not authorise the operator to confirm. The review stops there.

04

In the offer

  • Terminal operator and site, tank or tank farm, product and grade, quantity.
  • Storage contract holder and title holder, and the relationship between them where they differ.
  • Authorisation for the operator to confirm to the desk, in the operator’s form.
  • The delivery basis under Incoterms 2020 that the terminal supports for the product.