Two vessels, a shed and a timetable we keep
Thirteen years of sailing the same days to the same islands.
The timetable is the whole business
Odivaru Cargo started in 2012 with one chartered vessel running two routes. We now operate two of our own and charter a third in the building season, and we sail nine times a week.
Anybody can carry cargo. What is difficult, and what we have spent thirteen years getting right, is sailing on the day the timetable says. A boat that leaves when it is full is cheaper to run and useless to plan around: a shop cannot order stock against it and a site cannot programme a pour. So we sail whether or not the hold is full, and we price on the assumption that some sailings will be light.
The shed at the T Jetty is where the consolidation happens. Cargo arrives all week, gets marked, weighed, measured and stacked by island, and goes out on its route's day. It is unglamorous work and it is the reason a customer can send a single box to an island for a figure that makes sense.
We are not a forwarding agent. We do not clear imports and we do not book your overseas freight. We carry things from Male to the islands and back, and we would rather do that one thing properly.
The people who load your cargo
Mohamed Zahid
Twenty one years at sea before this, the last nine of them as a master on the atoll routes. Sets the timetable and defends it.
Fathimath Sheeza
Takes the bookings and builds the manifests. If you have been told your cargo made the cut off, she is the one who checked.
Ali Naushad
Measures, marks and stacks everything that goes on board. He decides what is loaded under cover and he does not negotiate about cement.
Hawwa Reema
Invoices, monthly accounts and the claims nobody wants to make. She will tell you honestly whether a claim is worth bringing.
Weather, damage and what we will not carry
What happens in bad weather?
Sailings are held rather than risked, most often between May and November, and normally by a day.
When a sailing is held we ring every customer on the manifest that evening. What we will not do is load cement or anything else that spoils into weather that will ruin it, however much anybody wants it to travel.
Is my cargo insured?
Carrier liability applies to everything and it is limited by weight, which for most goods is far less than they are worth.
For anything valuable we arrange cover on the declared value through a broker, priced as a percentage. Declare the real value: a claim on cargo declared at a third of its worth pays a third.
What will you not carry?
Anything that endangers the vessel or the crew. Loose fuel above a small quantity, gas cylinders that are not properly secured and certified, unstable chemicals, and livestock.
Refrigerant, paint, batteries and diesel in approved containers are fine and need declaring at booking. Tell us what it is rather than what it looks like.
Come to the shed
Cargo shed 9 at the T Jetty. Sunday to Thursday, 7am to 7pm.