Claims Officer

Job Summary and Purpose

Monitor and timely process claims related to Nakilat’s commercially managed fleet, collaborate and align with all related stakeholders internally to get the best possible outcomes via the charterparty terms and/or support in negotiations with the relevant counterparties.
 

Accountabilities

Core Accountabilities:

1.    Build a well-established knowledge of charter parties and their commercial implications in any regard that may result in exposure to claims.
2.    Monitor the performance of the vessels against the charter parties and highlight any areas that may result in any demurrage and off-hire claims, as necessary.
3.    Monitor the performance of the vessels in line with charter party warranties and generate a monthly summary report highlighting any areas of over/underperformance (actual and potential). Further, follow-up immediately with the vessels’ technical manager to address any underperformance observations or concerns.
4.    Recommend actions to resolve performance issues and continuously work towards the performance and efficiency of the fleet of ships.
5.    Monitor, track, and execute relevant cost reimbursement claims to charterers while liaising with the relevant internal stakeholders, i.e. Insurance, Finance, Fleet, etc.
6.    Provide relevant documents and information to successfully address any audit (internal and/or external) requirements.
7.    Support post fixture operators by ensuring compliance with charter party terms.
8.    Ensure compliance with proper procedures regarding management and approval of claims with refence to the respective and relevant internal lines of approval.
9.    Monitor and track the Charterers’ accounts, in collaboration with Finance, from a financial perspective to highlight any areas of concern where transactions would need attention. i.e. Hire, claims, cost reimbursement, etc.
10.    Facilitate regular meetings with Charterers for business discussions on the topic of claims, as required.

Legal and Insurance:
11.    Review terms of Charter Party with Legal and Insurance functions and ensure that company’s interests are protected by ensuring necessary insurance coverage is in place, proper defense is arranged through vessels’ P&I Club and finally seek reimbursement of relevant expenses from charterers as per charter party clauses.
12.    Negotiate TCP claims, seek legal advice and provide recommendation to Head of Chartering.

Planning:
13.    Use all possible means for voyage planning including the use of software tools to monitor and coordinate all activities related to voyage. Also, analyze variance between the voyage plans versus the actual plan, while generating report for the Head of Chartering.
14.    Support the team in coordinating the periodical meetings with vessels’ technical manager to address any technical/operational issues which could have a commercial impact as well as address any customers’ concerns. 
15.    Support the team in in coordinating timely between Charterers and vessels’ technical manager to conduct any Owners’ related matters (e.g., SIRE, Crew change, spares delivery, lube oil supply) with minimum deviation and minimum (target zero) off-hire.

Accountabilities – 2

Generic Accountabilities:

Quality, Health, Safety, & Environment (QHSE):
16.    Adhere to all relevant SHEQ policies, procedures, instructions, and controls so that NAKILAT provides a safe, world class, secure and environmentally responsible service to customers, the public and its own people.

Policies, Systems, Processes & Procedures:
17.    Implement approved policies, processes, and procedures, and provide instructions to subordinates to ensure their proper implementation.
18.    Recommend updates for the division’s relevant P&Ps for claims, as deemed appropriate to cope with evolving business needs.
Others
19.    Support the Senior Chartering Officers operators by ensuring compliance with charter party terms.
20.    Support in collecting data to prepare relevant board packages (for each JV/Operator in Nakilat fleet). 
21.    Carry out any other duties as directed by the immediate supervisor.

Accountabilities – 3

Accountabilities – 4

Competencies

Achievement Oriented – Intermediate

Collaboration & Team Work – Intermediate

Customer Centricity – Intermediate

Drive Vision – Intermediate

Empower & Nurture Talent – Intermediate

Interactive Communication – Intermediate

Solution Oriented – Intermediate

Analytics and Reporting – Practitioner

Business Development – Practitioner

Business Impact Analysis – Practitioner

Business Risk – Practitioner

Chartering and Commercial Management – Practitioner

JV Stakeholders Management – Practitioner

Key Result Areas

•    Proper utilization of commercially managed fleet by identification minimizing claims exposure.
•    Policies and procedures compliance and timely processing of charterer account items.
•    Management of deviations in the vessels’ voyages or performances in coordinate with Charterers via Senior Chartering Officer
•    Summarize  such deviations, claims, over/underperformances that tracks progress of claim management by way of commercial exposure and timeliness of actions.
•     Optimize Charterer accounts in terms of financial items; hire, claims, reimbursement claims, etc.

Interactions and Working Relations

Internal :
•    Fleet Division – for technical and operations support to vessel performance.
•    Accounts/Finance/Treasury Ops – for hire remittance, receipt, and payment to vendors
•    Legal / Insurance – for contract review, claims, insurance, and P&I matters    
External :
•    Charterers – for performance and claims discussions
•    JV partners 
•    Agents – for port information, vessel activities at port
•    Bunker brokers/traders – for secure bunkers for vessel and update on bunker price
•    Ship-owners
•    Shippers
•    Receivers
•    Traders
•    Port Agencies worldwide

Financial Authorities

•    As per TOFA

Qualifications, Experience and Job Skills

Qualifications:
•    Degree in Business/Economics/Technical of Marine Engineering or any other relevant field.
•    Diploma in ship management and operations (ICS preferred).
•    Diploma in ship chartering (ICS preferred).

Experience:
•    A minimum of 4 years of relevant experience as a charterer, shipping and commercial operator in a ship-owning company, chartering desk, trading desk, International Oil & Gas Company, or brokerage house.
•    Ideally most recent position should involve commercial and post-fixture operations of vessels preferably LNGCs, VLGCs or tankers.

Job Specific Skills:
•    Experience in contracts and claims negotiation will be an added advantage.
•    Good knowledge of Shipping Commercial management – Chartering and Post-fixture Operations.
•    Good record of leading and managing claims negotiations and minimizing commercial exposure.