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Cameroon: Technical Survey Fees
As readers may recall from the attached article, Cameroon’s technical surveyors are obliged to calculate their charges in accordance with an official scale based on quantum of losses rather than an hourly rate or fixed amount.
The scale applies to all damage surveys on vessels and fixed or floating objects.
The quantum on which the surveyor’s fees are based may be decided either jointly or individually by the attending surveyors.
In practice, it is rare that the various surveyors agree on the quantum because each surveyor will have the interests of his client at heart and because repair estimates can vary by as much as 300 % depending on the which damage the surveyor considers to have been caused by the incident and which shipyard/repair company is chosen.
Therefore, in the the majority of cases each surveyor calculates his fees on the basis of his own estimated quantum losses in accordance with the the prices habitually levied by Cameroonian shipyards. Estimated or actual repair costs in another country are not taken into consideration when it comes to calculating fees.
If all parties agree that no repairs are necessary or if no compensation is being sought, the surveyor has no obligation to apply the quantum-based fee scale.
Cameroonian tech surveyor website article.pdf
CAMEROON SURVEYORS OFFICIAL SCALE.pdf Cameroon Tech Surv let trans.pdf