Statement of Facts (SoF) is a report listing all events during a ship's stay in port in chronological order and is used for the calculation of the
lay time.
The Statement of Facts has usually a standardised form.
It is written by the
port agent
A shipping agency or shipping agent is the designated person or agency held responsible for handling shipments and cargo, and the general interests of its customers, at ports and harbors worldwide, on behalf of ship owners, managers, and charte ...
or the
shipmaster
A sea captain, ship's captain, captain, master, or shipmaster, is a high-grade licensed mariner who holds ultimate command and responsibility of a merchant vessel.Aragon and Messner, 2001, p.3. The captain is responsible for the safe and efficie ...
.
It lists such things as the arrival and departure time and the time at the
berth, the times in which cargo is loaded or unloaded, weather and other conditions that affect the cargo time, whether tugboats are used, etc.
A frequently used SoF form is that of
BIMCO.
References
{{Reflist
Ship management