Confidential Bulletin

Exclusive to IMB members, the fortnightly Confidential Bulletin lists frauds, commercial failures and non-payment of debts. It names and shames those responsible, listing their names, addresses, aliases and any other information that is known or relevant.

Sent to members as a PDF via email, the Bulletin is presented in an easy to absorb short report format. Each issue also contains an editorial addressing a particular concern or new criminal trend.

Accompanying articles explain the activities of fraudsters, referring to and showing where applicable, examples of the documentation they use and the angle they approach victims. When considered necessary, the articles also include warnings and advice on what to do and what to look out for.

The delivery format of the Bulletin allows members to index, store and cross-reference cases for their own use. It also enables organisations to use the information as a means of warning others that may be targeted within the business by a particular approach and need to know what to look out for.

Chartering Experience Programme

We will conduct pre-fixture checks on your behalf and the service is free to IMB members. We will research our database, publicly available information and our vast network of sources to discover a company’s origins and trading record. We will obtain details on their experience in particular trades or with specific commodities, and we will try to ascertain what others think of their ability and whether they have any debts or other encumbrances that may inhibit their performance.

All the information we obtain is reported to you. It is also entered into our database to help other members that may encounter the same or similar parties in the future. As part of this programme we also encourage members to report their experiences and any difficulties encountered during charterparty arrangements.

The service is proving invaluable to our members and has prevented substantial losses on many occasions.

A large amount of the goods moving in international trade are transported on chartered ships under charterparty arrangements. Clearly, it is vitally important to know something about these companies and individuals before you entrust them with your expensive vessel or cargo. You need to be confident they can perform as agreed.

Evidence confirms there is an increasing number of charterers and owners abandon their responsibilities. This leaves the other parties to the agreement faced with the high costs and difficulties that arise when trying to resolve the situation and complete the voyage.

Our Chartering Experience service can provide you with the timely information you need in order to make an informed decision and help to reduce the risk of dealing with a company that has a poor record, is a habitual defaulter or already has debts.

The service performs an important function, as once a chartering failure has happened the options facing those affected are few and invariably expensive.

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