Vessel Readiness

What it does

Vessel readiness is the requirement that, before a notice of readiness can validly be tendered, the ship must actually be ready to load or discharge the cargo in question. Readiness has two limbs that must both be present: physical readiness, meaning holds or tanks are clean and the gear is rigged so cargo can be worked, and legal readiness, meaning formalities such as customs clearance and, where required, free pratique are in hand.

Readiness is one of the conditions, together with arrival and a valid notice, that must come together before laytime starts. A notice tendered while the ship is not genuinely ready in both senses is open to challenge and may be treated as invalid, so readiness is not a formality but a substantive precondition that the master must satisfy before the clock can begin to run against the charterer.

Commercial effect

Because a valid notice depends on readiness, the standard of readiness and how it is evidenced directly affect when laytime starts and therefore the demurrage or despatch outcome. A charterer that can show the ship was not in fact ready, for example that holds had not passed inspection, may defeat the notice and push the start of laytime later, moving a meaningful sum in its favour.

The interaction between readiness and the inspection regime is where much of the money sits. If the charter requires holds or tanks to pass an inspection before readiness is accepted, a failed inspection delays the valid notice and the start of the clock. The parties therefore negotiate what readiness means and what proof is needed, because the definition decides how easily a notice can be challenged.

Owner's perspective

The owner wants the readiness standard pitched so that a genuinely ready ship can tender a valid notice without being exposed to technical challenges over minor or irrelevant matters. It resists definitions that let the charterer defeat a notice on a trivial point unconnected with the ship's actual ability to work the cargo, since each such challenge delays the start of laytime.

The owner also wants clarity on inspections and formalities, so that once holds or tanks have passed and clearances are in hand, the notice stands. Good records of the ship's condition and of the clearances obtained protect the owner against later arguments that the vessel was not ready, which is the most common way a charterer attacks the validity of a notice.

Charterer's perspective

The charterer wants readiness defined to mean the ship is truly able to receive or deliver the cargo, including that holds or tanks have passed any required inspection and that all formalities are complete, before a notice bites. Each readiness condition is protection against laytime starting while the ship still has preparation to finish at the owner's cost.

The charterer therefore presses for inspection passes, free pratique, and customs clearance to be preconditions of a valid notice, and keeps the evidence needed to challenge a premature notice. It balances this against the risk of being seen to manufacture objections, since an unreasonable readiness challenge can fail, but a genuine one can validly defer the start of the clock.

Negotiation points

• What physical readiness requires — holds or tanks clean and passed, gear rigged.
• What legal readiness requires — customs clearance, free pratique, and similar formalities.
• Whether a hold or tank inspection must be passed before a notice is valid.
• The records and proof needed to support, or to challenge, a claim of readiness.

Common variations

• Readiness requiring both physical and legal readiness before a valid notice.
• Readiness conditional on holds or tanks passing a nominated inspection.
• Readiness treating free pratique as a mere formality unless it actually delays work.
• A notice valid on tender with readiness conditions deemed met unless challenged promptly.