A "dock" is an area within a port within which cargo can be loaded of discharged. It can be enclosed by "dock walls" or "breakwaters". In relation to chartering, a dock can be a named destination for the ship to be an "arrived ship" and laytime commencing under a voyage charter or hire commencing under a time charter. A dock, as a destination in a dock charter, is less specific than a berth (a place within a dock or port) under a berth charter and more specific than a port in a port charter. … [Read more...]

This expression is used to describe 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 has left the berth, and the pilot who assists with the navigation of the ship to the … [Read more...]

When a ship is in a berth to load cargo but the cargo offered by shippers does not meet the owner's or charterer's expectations, and the owner or charterer experiences difficulty in securing completion cargo at original freight rates, they may resort to booking cargo at very low rates ("distress rates") to fill up the remaining space rather than be forced to despatch the vessel with vacant space. … [Read more...]

Cargo may sometimes have to be discharged at a port other than the original port of destination, for instance, if a vessel runs the risk of being frozen in by ice and the master considers it prudent to deliver the cargo at the nearest safe port. If the extra distance causes the owner to incur additional risk or expense, he can require being compensated by extra freight, which is called "distance freight". … [Read more...]

This term refers to a person or company, which "displaces" or takes the place of the legal, registered owner.The first Charterer, who is commonly called a "head Charterer", is acting as if he was the actual owner; he can be referred to as the "disponent owner". The phrase can also refer to "control", that is, the vessel is placed at the disposition or disposal of the Charterer. … [Read more...]

The word "deviation" can have a geographical meaning, where the vessel departs from its usual or customary route and then returns to it, or a purely legal, contractual meaning, where the contract is performed in a manner that is not originally contemplated, and this would be a departure from the manner agreed in the contract or implied by law. … [Read more...]

Despatch money (or simply "Despatch") is the compensation paid to charterers-provided the charterparty contains a stipulation to this effect-if the loading or discharging operations are completed within the laytime allowed by the charterparty, that is, before the agreed laytime has expired. … [Read more...]

Days saved in the loading or discharge of the vessel within the time allowed under the charterparty may be called "despatch days". … [Read more...]

This legal phrase, which comes from the Latin language, means that a "delegate cannot delegate". A person to whom powers are delegated cannot authorise another person to carry out the specific function with which he has been entrusted. … [Read more...]

Bulk carriers are sometimes fixed on the basis of a guaranteed deadweight capacity  of cargo at certain lumpsum freight. This method of chartering is followed in trades where charterers wish to have freedom of action as to the type of grain they intend to ship, either heavy grain, light grain or a combination of both kinds. … [Read more...]