I was only ever on one ship that required fumigation, but that was to get rid of the copra beetles from the previous cargo and we were due to load bagged rice. The holds had been washed at least 4 times including once with a so called beetle killer additive to the wash water but all to no avail, the little buggers were still there. It was decided to fumigate the whole ship with, I think, some sort of chlorine gas. This was in Orange, Texas and meant we all had to go and live ashore for 4 days in a hotel whilst the ship was fumigated...oh joy 4 days in a hotel all paid for and loads to drink.
C.P. had a contract with a world wide outfit for checking for infestation and getting rid of any. To get rid of roaches they would place a special powder on the steel beams where the roaches passed along. On going through this powder the roaches would get it on their bodies and ingest it , which led to their dying of the stuff, believe it also made them infertile so they could not breed.
IN order to prevent the spread of disease carried by rodents etc. it is now quite common to place smoke bombs on the top of the grain cargoes prior to sealing the hatches, these smoke bombs are timed to go off after hatches are sealed and they emit a gas that is harmless to humans in open spaces but in enclosed spaces are dangerous as they kill off any rodents etc. There is a recent P and I notice regarding the use of these with SOYA Bean meal and the possibility of scorching the cargo due to the heat these bombs let off.
Rope guards, you will find many ports will fine you if you have incorrectly set rope guards, especially if you have arrived from certain countries and in many countries they will fine you anyway, even if they are correctly set..its called baksheesh.
Re; Light dues
In the U.K. for a 120m, 7500t ship it was £134 per call but after 7 calls within the year, after that it is free.
For that same size ship, Port Dues (including Pilotage) could be anything up to £5000 (Barry) or £2000 (MSC)
Nowadays I doubt if any ships master does his own inward and outward clearance due to the varied and huge amount of papers required.
Most papers are emailed via the agent in nearly every country I have visited these days, even the surrendering of the 1/3 original B/L is usually done by the ships Agent as most vessels Masters, apart from not having the knowledge of the procedures, most likely do not have the time to trot around to the customs house, port authority, receivers etc. including the time to travel the miles between all the various bodies.
rgds
JA