The Association would like to remind members about the difficulties faced in certain West African ports in respect of bagged cargo claims for, amongst others, shortages, torn and caked/mouldy bags. In most cases, claimants present their survey reports which include tallies of daily discharged bags and affected cargo to substantiate their claim. However, the Association has experienced instances where the tallies of members own surveyor and that of cargo receivers and underwriters (sometimes there are three (3) surveyors attending) do not correlate with one another. The Association has been advised that on some occasions, the cargo interest tally sheets are amended or completed once cargo is inspected in the receiver's warehouse. As such, the Association recommends the practice of a joint tally procedure which aims to mitigate loss as it ties in all parties to daily figures of discharged and/or damaged bagged cargoes. General information on tally in West African ports The basic principle of a tally is that all parties involved in the discharge and delivery of the cargo will count the number of bags/quantities of cargo being discharged from a ship's holds. This includes detailing the number of bags torn and/or damaged before and/or during handling. A surveyor will therefore be appointed by each party: cargo interests, stevedores, owners and/or charterers. Whilst surveyors often agree to carry out the cargo tally inside the ship's holds, cargo interests' and stevedores' surveyors also tend to extend their attendance beyond ship's tackle and/or berth. Occasionally, cargo receivers' surveyors will even have tallymen inside the receivers' warehouse. At this stage, it needs to be reminded that cargo claims which are ultimately presented to the owner and his P&I club are most of the time based upon figures from tallies made by the receivers' representatives. It is therefore of utmost importance to clarify the location of the receivers' tally figures presented. It is the