APS (Arrival Pilot Station)

This expression is used to identify the point at which a time-chartered ship is “delivered” to the charterer or “redelivered” to the shipowner. The place of delivery and redelivery are the places where the time charter commences or comes to an end. Normally, the place of actual delivery or redelivery and where an “on-hire survey” or “off hire survey” would be carried out would be a berth  but the time from which hire is to be paid or until which hire is paid may be an “artificial” point such as when the ship is arriving at a port, and the pilot who is to assist with the navigation of the ship to the pilot station, boards the ship.