From bug-infested timber to frozen flowers, the cargo business throws up many odd moments.
It is a strange and sometimes risky trade but nothing fazes the surveyors at McAusland Turner.
After decades of experience, managing director Albert Weatherill and his team have seen it all.
From its office in South Bridge Road, Victoria Dock, the marine surveyors investigate problems for insurance firms.
Mr Weatherill said: "We live in a claims culture and everything needs investigating, from the tragic to the bizarre and the massive to the small.
"One of the things people like about working here is that unpredictability.
"I don't know what that next call is going to be."
Sometimes the firm is called upon at moments of sadness.
The mysterious deaths of three crewmen serving on cargo ship the Suntis earlier this year is one example.
It is believed they may have died from carbon monoxide poisoning after being taken to hospital from Goole Docks.
Suspicious circumstances have been ruled out, but investigations are continuing.
Most cases are more offbeat than awful.
Mr Weatherill recalled one recently on a ship from Riga in Latvia which was delayed due to an engine failure.
It was carrying a cargo of timber which, it turned out, was full of insects.
He said: "The cargo on deck was covered in tarpaulin and everything got steamy.
"Upon arrival everything had grown and hatched and was trying to eat the stevedores. That's quite a regular thing.
"We've opened cargoes of sugar from Malawi with ants as big as your hand."
Giant bugs are far from the strangest things the team has faced.
Another case involved a £30,000 shipment of flowers and a suspected case of sabotage. Someone had turned their container's thermostat down from 3C to -24C.
"They were frozen in blocks. We took them out and threw them in a skip," said surveyor Lee Myers.
"In the middle of the container they weren't too bad. It was nearly Mothers' Day and my mum got 30 bunches."
McAusland has been going for 125 years and the firm now employs 15 staff in Hull, with others spread out across the world.
It works with ships of all sizes, right the way up to those handling £10m oil and gas shipments.
Mr Weatherill said: "The biggest change I've seen for this company is we've gone from being perceived as a company that only does things in Hull to a company instructed to do things on a global basis.
"It's gone from being very local to being truly global. Other than that, ships are ships and cargo is cargo."
McAusland is now a respected name in a fairly small field.
Turnover rose to about £1.2m last year, the best year in the firm's history.
Its staff, who moved into Victoria Dock in January, may have seen many odd things but the future is likely to feature a lot more.
Mr Weatherill said: "Just over 100 years ago, two brothers invented a machine that goes up in the sky.
"You think of all that's developed since that first flight but those aircraft are still carrying less than a 50th of goods around the world – the rest is on ships. You can't not use them.
"As long as there's ships, there's cargo, as long as there's cargo, there's insurance, and as long as there's insurance and claims, there will be surveyors."
Preparing for arrival of Siemens While McAusland Turner relishes the opportunities likely to be presented by offshore energy, the marine survey firm is wary of the extra competition it could bring.Siemens is setting up a £310m wind turbine factory in East Yorkshire. It is likely to lead to many more ships using the Humber, which is already Britain's busiest trading estuary. McAusland managing director Albert Weatherill said: "We don't want Siemens coming in here and instructing someone from London or Aberdeen. "We want to make sure we're ready for them. Once Siemens has opened we will almost be in walking distance – you can't get much greener than that." McAusland has seen an increase in work on large equipment shipments, like turbines and their towers. It has invested in staff and training to make the most of the new business.