A ship’s spare-parts list shows four seal kits, a motor in a shore warehouse and a portable test instrument. At delivery there are three unused kits, no motor on board and a tool bearing another company’s label. Those observations do not establish three contractual shortages. The buyer needs to reconcile the inspection baseline, intervening movements and agreed delivery scope before deciding which entries remain unresolved.
This guide concerns the delivery inventory of a secondhand vessel. The ship sale and purchase process guide covers the transaction sequence. Delivery bunkers and lubricants reconciliation covers consumable quantities and their settlement. Here the useful output is an item-by-item record showing what belongs in the agreed handover, what changed and what evidence supports receipt.
1. Establish the contractual baseline before counting
Start with the executed Memorandum of Agreement, its selected alternatives, amendments and included or excluded schedules. Identify the relevant inspection date or other contractual reference date. Do not substitute a broker’s particulars, a photograph or an old stores spreadsheet for that agreed basis.
The BIMCO-authored SHIPSALE 22 sample hosted by Maritime Cyprus illustrates the distinctions. Clause 1 defines Included Items and links Excluded Items to Annex B; it also addresses the reference date where there is no inspection. Clause 2(b) addresses spares used as replacements before delivery and the replaced items. Clause 2(c) addresses hired, leased or third-party items present at inspection but not specifically excluded. Clause 4(a) includes the Included Items in the purchase price.
These provisions require review against the actual agreement and amendments. Do not assume every quantity reduction requires replenishment, that every third-party item is excluded, or that an inventory discrepancy permits a price deduction. Ask the transaction advisers to determine the applicable obligation and document any agreed resolution.
BIMCO’s overview of SALEFORM 2025 discusses that form alongside SHIPSALE 22. Record the form and edition actually signed; the worked example below does not compare forms or import one form’s terms into another.
2. Give each line an identity, a location and an evidence trail
Assign a stable inventory reference and retain the original description. Add the equipment served, maker, part number, revision or specification, unit of count and available batch or serial identifiers. Separate sealed unused stock, installed parts and removed parts awaiting assessment. A removed component should not be counted as a serviceable spare merely because it remains on board.
Wärtsilä’s marine spare-parts guidance uses equipment type, model, serial number and the relevant catalogue to identify the correct part and version. This supports an identification check, not a guarantee that an unopened package is usable. Ask the responsible specialist about configuration, storage history, preservation and any applicable shelf-life or condition requirements.
Keep three questions separate: is this item within the agreed sale, has it been physically handed over, and is its identity and condition suitable for the intended equipment? A warehouse receipt can help establish location without proving receipt by the buyer. A satisfactory part-number match does not establish ownership.
| Record | What to link |
|---|---|
| Contract position | Inventory reference, inclusion or exclusion basis, amendment and unresolved ownership question. |
| Inspection baseline | Dated count, units, identifiers, location and limitations of access or package inspection. |
| Intervening movement | Installation, removal, transfer, return or receipt record, with date, quantity and authorisation where required. |
| Delivery evidence | Actual count and location, receipt reference, identification checks, unresolved difference and responsible person. |
3. Reconcile movements without mixing unlike quantities
For one consistently identified stock item, reconcile opening quantity plus documented receipts, less documented issues or transfers, to the expected closing quantity. Compare that with the actual count. Keep units consistent: a kit, an individual seal and a box containing several kits are different units.
Record the nature of each issue. Installation aboard the vessel, transfer to another vessel and return to a supplier are different events. A maintenance record explaining a stock reduction does not automatically establish that every movement was permitted under the sale agreement.
For an item held ashore, request its precise identity, current custodian, ownership evidence, release requirements and any lien or unpaid-charge issue for the advisers to resolve. Agree collection or shipment responsibility, packaging, transport cost, destination and receipt evidence. If it is to be delivered later, have the parties document that arrangement and its consequences rather than marking it “received” at closing.
For goods still on order, distinguish a purchase order, payment, allocation to the vessel, supplier dispatch and actual receipt. Identify the contracting purchaser and any required supplier agreement to a proposed transfer. Do not count a delivery promise as stock already on board.
4. Worked reconciliation: six entries, six different decisions
Fictional example: a buyer is preparing delivery of a secondhand vessel after an agreed physical inspection. Assume the transaction uses SHIPSALE 22, with the relevant terms reviewed by the parties’ advisers. The parties’ written schedules expressly include the shore-held motor for delivery on board before handover, exclude the hired vibration analyser, and leave the filter order outside the sale for separate buyer procurement. These are invented agreed facts, not default rules for shore stock or orders.
The following records are also fictional. No quantities indicate minimum class-required spares, and no entry establishes fitness for service or the legal right to complete, postpone or cancel delivery.
| Entry and baseline | Delivery observation and evidence | Reconciliation outcome |
|---|---|---|
| I-01: four unused seal kits, same specified version | Maintenance record M-17 documents one kit installed on the vessel before delivery. Three unused kits remain. The removed seal is separately identified and retained. | Stock reconciles: 4 − 1 = 3. Record the installation and removed item separately; the reduction alone is not an unexplained missing kit. |
| I-02: one spare motor held ashore, expressly included | Warehouse record W-08 identifies the motor. No release or onboard receipt is available, although the assumed agreement requires onboard delivery. | Open delivery gap. A location record is not receipt; obtain release and transport evidence or a documented agreement on another arrangement. |
| I-03: one hired vibration analyser, expressly excluded | Hire reference H-03 and the exclusion schedule identify it. The seller records its removal. | Record as an agreed exclusion, not an included spare received by the buyer. Any future buyer requirement needs its own arrangement. |
| I-04: one hired portable test instrument, not specifically excluded | It was on board at inspection. The seller proposes to remove it, but no replacement or agreed contractual resolution is evidenced. | Open contract item for review under clause 2(c). Do not mark it excluded solely because a third party owns it, or treat that third party’s ownership as transferred. |
| I-05: ten filter packs on a supplier purchase order | The assumed written arrangement leaves this order outside the sale. The supplier has not delivered it. | Keep ten packs out of received inventory. Track the buyer’s separate procurement; do not record the supplier’s order acknowledgement as delivery. |
| I-06: two bearing sets listed for a specific auxiliary | Two sets are physically present, but the package suffix differs from the baseline reference. No supplier cross-reference confirms suitability. | Count matches; identity remains unresolved. Obtain a catalogue or supplier assessment tied to the installed equipment before treating them as verified matching spares. |
I-01 is a documented stock movement; I-02 lacks the assumed delivery evidence; I-03 is an identified exclusion; I-04 needs a contractual resolution; I-05 is a separate procurement task; I-06 needs technical identification. Adding the quantities across these rows would conceal the differences rather than produce a useful shortage total.
For I-01, preserve the removed-item record without presenting an old seal as an unused replacement kit. For I-04, obtain the replacement and acceptance records or the parties’ agreed resolution through the contractual process. A buyer’s spreadsheet cannot itself change the signed exclusion schedule.
5. Carry each exception to an evidenced outcome
Give open entries a named owner, next action, required evidence and review date. Use precise statuses such as “awaiting warehouse release”, “replacement not evidenced” or “part revision awaiting confirmation”. Avoid a single “included” tick that conceals non-delivery or an unresolved technical match.
Where the parties agree delivery later, a substitute or a commercial adjustment, record the approved document and its conditions. Have the closing team address authority, timing and any effect on completion, payment and remedies. Do not deduct an estimated replacement cost from closing funds solely because it appears in the register.
Retain the signed inventory revision, count records, package photographs, movement records and receipts with the handover file. Record what was checked and what remained sealed, inaccessible or unverified. A receipt acknowledging packages should not silently become a statement that every enclosed part has been inspected and found serviceable.
The pre-purchase condition survey addresses the wider technical examination. This reconciliation gives the closing team a narrower record: the agreed item, its movement since the reference date, the evidence of handover and any question still requiring a decision.
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