This is an outline of some of the basic measures for dealing with contract management and claims handling in shipping companies. It is outside the scope of this outline to go into any great detail about the  organisation  of a shipping company’s claims handling. Things to consider include how to organise an efficient reporting system from vessels, from other operators involved in the carriage of the cargo, from agents in loading and discharge ports etc. and, ideally,  organise reporting in a fairly standardised format or form that allows easy onward transmission/notification to outside P&I Clubs, Defence Clubs, other insurers, lawyers and so on. For claims handling, fact finding is extremely important and may make or break a claim and an efficient system for both collecting facts and documentation and passing it to relevant service providers is one of the best tools to have. It is also necessary to decide on “who deals with what” (and should claims handling be centralised or not), authority levels etc. Shipping companies are faced with having to deal not only with a great variety of  different types of claims  but also with a great number of  different jurisdictions  where legislation and custom can vary a great deal. For those reasons alone, there can never be an “all-in” formula for dealing with claims but there are things that can be done both to safeguard one’s own position but also simply to make the handling of each case as easy and as little time consuming as possible. One overall recommendation must be that it always proves useful (and many times decisive) to ensure that the written documentation is not only in order but also easily accessible. A good document handling practise will be important – including guidelines for when archived documents can be discarded or deleted.  If the company becomes involved in litigation, there will be a duty to disclose evidence, and these days disclosure (in the US : dis