A vessel is an "arrived ship" and the laytime allowed under the charterparty begins to count as soon as the following events occur:The vessel must reach the contractual loading or discharging destination as stipulated in the charter. ("Geographical arrival".) The vessel must be ready in all respects to load or to discharge or lie at the disposal of the charterers. ("Actual readiness".) Proper Notice of Readiness ("NOR") must have been given to the shippers or consignees in the manner prescribed in the ("Triggering off laytime".)The wording in the charterparty about the place of … [Read more...]

During the performance of any contract of carriage of goods by sea, a dispute can arise between the parties to the contract. The document containing the contract generally contains a clause stating how and where the dispute is to be resolved, and therefore which country's law will apply to the resolution of the dispute.For example, cl. 30 of MULTIFORM 1982/1986 states:"Any disputes arising under this Charterparty are to be referred to arbitration in . . . and subject to the law applicable to Charterparty disputes in the city of arbitral forum.Except where it is the general practice … [Read more...]

This is an agreement by the parties to a contract (for example a charter )to submit all or some disputes between them in any legal relationship they may have.The "arbitration agreement" shows that the parties want to be assisted by privately appointed decision- makers rather than be governed by litigation in courts, which are generally public. There may be other advantages of arbitration over litigation such as cost and speed of procedure. Private dispute resolution by arbitration can be subject to the law of certain countries but in some countries, legislation attempts to give the parties … [Read more...]

A range of ports in a charterparty or report of a fixture specifying that the ship is chartered to load or discharge at a port or ports in this range. … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

These are clauses inserted in a charterparty and generally place responsibility .on  the shipowner to ensure that he obtains suitable insurance cover or can provide alternative security for compensation he may become liable to pay for pollution, by oil (or similar substances) and for clean-up costs. These clauses are common in charters for oil tankers. … [Read more...]

A standard-form voyage charterparty for the carriage of coal, published by ASBA in 193 and amended in 1979. … [Read more...]

The Association of Shipbrokers and Agents (U.S.A.) Incorporated, New York. … [Read more...]

In order to prevent a vessel from being ordered to proceed to a berth where she cannot load or discharge without touching the ground or a berth which can only be reached safely after discharging part of the cargo into lighters or which can only be reached on spring tidal conditions, the so-called "always safely afloat clause" is inserted in the charterparty. … [Read more...]

The berth must be capable of being approached in the sense of having an unobstructed way or means of approach. This expression describes the berth only and not the ship and means only that the berth is capable of being approached. It is relevant to the ship's being an "Arrived ship". … [Read more...]