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Address Commission
Address commission is a percentage of freight or hire that the owner allows back to the charterer (or its nominee) — effectively a discount on the headline rate, deducted as freight or hire is paid.
Anti-Technicality Clause
An anti-technicality clause requires the owner to give notice and a short period to cure a missed or late hire payment before withdrawing the vessel — protecting the charterer against withdrawal for an innocent slip.
Arrived Ship
The arrived-ship doctrine sets the point at which a vessel has legally arrived for laytime purposes — the precondition, with readiness and a valid NOR, for laytime to start.
Berth Charter
A berth charter names a specific berth as the destination, so the vessel generally becomes an arrived ship — able to tender a valid NOR — only on reaching that berth.
Blockade Clause
A blockade clause governs what happens if a port or area on the voyage is blockaded — giving the owner rights to refuse to proceed, await the blockade's lifting, or seek a safe alternative, and allocating the resulting cost and risk.
Both-to-Blame Collision Clause
A both-to-blame collision clause addresses how cargo claims are settled when the carrying ship and another vessel are both at fault in a collision — restoring the allocation of liability the carriage exceptions intend.
Brokerage Commission
Brokerage commission is the percentage of freight or hire payable to the shipbroker who arranged the fixture — remuneration for the broker's services, usually paid by the owner and deducted as freight or hire is earned.
Bunker Price Adjustment
A bunker price adjustment clause (a bunker adjustment factor or escalation) changes the freight or hire to reflect movements in fuel prices — sharing the risk of volatile bunker costs between owner and charterer.
Bunker Quality Clause
A bunker quality clause sets the specification the fuel supplied to the vessel must meet and allocates responsibility for off-specification bunkers that can damage the engines or take the ship off hire.
Bunkering Port Liberty
A bunkering port liberty allows the vessel to call at convenient ports to take on fuel — confirming that such calls and any short deviation for bunkering are permitted and not a breach of the contractual route.
Bunkers on Delivery and Redelivery
This clause sets how bunkers are accounted for at the start and end of a time charter — the quantities on delivery and redelivery and the prices at which each party pays for the fuel on board.
Cargo Description Warranty
The cargo description fixes what the charterer may ship — commodity, grade and condition — and an accurate description matters because misdescription can breach the charter and endanger the ship.
Cesser Clause
A cesser clause provides that the charterer's liability ceases once the cargo is shipped, with the owner looking instead to its lien on cargo and freight for payment — a trade-off usually conditioned on the lien being effective.
Currency of Payment
A currency clause fixes the currency in which freight, hire and other sums are paid, and may address conversion and exchange-rate risk — allocating between the parties the risk of currency movement over the charter.
Damages for Detention
Damages for detention compensate an owner for delay falling outside the demurrage regime — for instance after laytime and any fixed demurrage period have both ended.
Dangerous Cargo
A dangerous cargo clause governs whether and how hazardous goods may be shipped — requiring declaration and code compliance, and allocating liability if undeclared dangerous cargo causes harm.
Deadfreight
Deadfreight is the owner's claim for freight lost when the charterer ships less than the agreed minimum cargo — compensation for the unused carrying capacity it contracted to fill.
Deadfreight — Payment and Security
This clause covers how a deadfreight claim is paid and secured — when it falls due, how it is documented, and how the owner's lien reaches it — complementing the deadfreight entitlement that arises from short loading.
Deck Cargo
A deck cargo clause governs carriage of cargo on deck rather than under it — permitting it, allocating the heightened risk, and typically placing it at the charterer's or shipper's risk.
Demurrage
Demurrage is the agreed daily sum a charterer pays an owner for detaining the vessel beyond the laytime allowed for cargo operations — liquidated damages at a known price.
Demurrage Time Bar
A clause requiring the owner to present a demurrage claim with specified supporting documents within a fixed period, failing which the claim is barred entirely.
Despatch
Despatch is the reward an owner pays a charterer for completing cargo operations in less than the laytime allowed — by convention usually at half the demurrage rate.
Deviation
The deviation doctrine governs departures from the contractual or usual route — an unjustified deviation is a serious breach that can strip the carrier of its contractual defences, while justified deviations for safety or saving life are permitted.
Early Redelivery
Early redelivery arises when the charterer returns the vessel before the minimum charter period has run — typically a repudiation exposing the charterer to damages for the owner's lost hire over the unexpired term.
Employment and Indemnity
An employment and indemnity clause places the vessel's commercial employment under the charterer's orders while obliging the charterer to indemnify the owner for the consequences of complying with those orders.
Entire Agreement
An entire agreement clause confirms that the written contract contains the whole of the parties' agreement — excluding prior negotiations and representations — to give certainty about what terms actually bind them.
Error in Navigation
The error in navigation exception relieves the carrier of liability for cargo loss caused by negligent navigation or management of the ship — a defining feature of the Hague-style regimes that allocates nautical fault away from the carrier.
Freight Prepaid vs Freight Collect
Freight prepaid and freight collect describe whether freight is paid before the bill of lading is issued or is payable at destination — a distinction that drives the owner's security, the documentation, and the cargo financing chain.
General Exceptions Clause
A general exceptions clause lists the perils and events for which a party, usually the owner, is not liable — allocating to the other side the risk of losses arising from causes outside the excepting party's responsibility.
Heavy Weather
Heavy weather provisions address the effect of adverse weather on the voyage — excusing reduced speed and increased consumption in defined conditions and bearing on performance claims, laytime counting, and the master's navigational decisions.
Himalaya Clause
A Himalaya clause extends the carrier's defences and liability limits to its servants, agents, and independent contractors such as stevedores — so that cargo cannot sidestep the carrier's protections by suing those parties directly.
Ice Clause (Time Charter)
A time-charter ice clause restricts the charterer from ordering the vessel into dangerous ice and confirms the master's authority to refuse — protecting the ship while the charterer directs employment over the charter period.
Ice Clause (Voyage Charter)
A voyage-charter ice clause governs what happens if ice obstructs the agreed loading or discharging port — giving the master rights to wait, divert, or proceed to a safe alternative, and allocating the resulting cost and risk.
Intake Quantity (MOLOO / MOLCHOPT)
The intake quantity terms fix how much cargo is to be loaded, usually as a target with a margin, and say whose option (owner's or charterer's) sets the final figure.
Interpretation and Headings
Interpretation provisions set rules for reading the contract — such as that clause headings are for convenience only and do not affect meaning — to reduce ambiguity and prevent drafting artefacts from changing the parties' rights.
Last Voyage (Legitimate and Illegitimate)
The last-voyage doctrine governs whether the charterer's final voyage is legitimate — one reasonably expected to allow redelivery around the charter's end — and what follows when the order is for an illegitimate last voyage.
Law and Arbitration
A law and arbitration clause fixes the governing law of the contract and how disputes are resolved — the forum, seat, and procedure — which together determine the legal framework and the practical path for any claim.
Laytime
Laytime is the period of free time the charter party allows for loading and discharging cargo before demurrage begins to accrue against the charterer.
Laytime Exceptions
Laytime exceptions are the events — weather, holidays, strikes and the like — during which the laytime clock is suspended so the charterer is not charged for the lost time.
Liberty Clause
A liberty clause gives the vessel express liberty to deviate or take other steps for defined purposes — such as safety, war, or saving life and property — without that being treated as an unjustified deviation or breach.
Lien Clause
A lien clause gives the owner security for sums owed — typically a lien on the cargo and on sub-freights or sub-hire — letting the owner hold cargo and intercept payments until it is paid.
Loading and Discharging Costs (FIO Terms)
FIO and related terms allocate who pays for and controls loading, stowing, trimming and discharging — shifting cargo-handling cost and responsibility between owner and charterer.
Low Sulphur Fuel Compliance
A fuel compliance clause addresses the parties' obligations to use fuel meeting environmental sulphur limits — allocating responsibility for supplying compliant fuel, for any compliant-fuel cost, and for the consequences of non-compliance.
New Jason Clause
A New Jason clause preserves the owner's right to recover general average contributions from cargo even where the loss arose from a negligently caused peril — important where the applicable law might otherwise deny that recovery.
Non-Reversible Laytime
Non-reversible laytime accounts the time allowed for loading and discharging separately, so a saving at one port cannot offset an overrun at the other.
NOR Tendering Hours
The charter terms fixing when and how a notice of readiness may be given — the permitted days and hours — which control the moment laytime can begin to count.
Notice of Readiness
A notice of readiness is the master's formal declaration that the vessel has arrived and is ready to load or discharge; its valid tender is what starts laytime running.
Notices Clause
A general notices clause sets how formal communications under the contract must be given — the permitted methods, addresses, and when a notice is treated as received — so that important communications take effect reliably.
Off-Hire
An off-hire clause suspends the charterer's obligation to pay hire when the vessel is prevented from working by a listed cause — putting the risk of that lost time on the owner.
Once on Demurrage
The principle that once laytime expires and a vessel is on demurrage, time runs continuously — most laytime exceptions no longer stop the clock unless the charter says so.
Overage and Heavy-Lift Cargo
Overage, heavy-lift and over-dimensional cargo clauses govern outsized or very heavy pieces — addressing extra freight, lifting capacity, stowage and the special risks such cargo brings.
Paramount Clause
A paramount clause incorporates an international cargo-liability regime (such as the Hague or Hague-Visby Rules) into the contract, fixing the carrier's minimum responsibilities and the defences and limits that apply to cargo claims.
Payment of Freight
A freight clause fixes when freight is earned and when it is payable under a voyage charter — including whether it is deemed earned on shipment and payable in advance, which decides who bears the risk of the cargo or voyage being lost.
Payment of Hire
The payment of hire clause fixes the rate, currency, interval and manner of paying time charter hire — and what counts as timely payment, since late or short payment can expose the charterer to severe remedies.
Piracy Clause
A piracy clause addresses the risk of piracy on the agreed route — covering the owner's rights to avoid or transit high-risk areas with protective measures, and who bears the cost of routing, security, and additional insurance.
Port Charter
A port charter names the port as the destination, so the vessel can usually become an arrived ship and tender a valid NOR on reaching the port, even before a berth is free.
Reachable on Arrival
A reachable-on-arrival or always-accessible undertaking obliges the charterer to nominate a berth the vessel can reach without delay on arrival; failure exposes it to damages.
Redelivery
A redelivery clause governs where, when and in what condition the charterer must return the vessel at the end of a time charter — including the redelivery range, notices, and the state the ship should be in.
Reversible Laytime
Reversible laytime pools the time allowed for loading and discharging into one combined account, so time saved at one port can offset time lost at the other.
Running Days
Running days are consecutive calendar days counted continuously for laytime, including Sundays, holidays and weather interruptions unless the charter expressly excepts them.
Safe Berth
A safe berth warranty is the charterer's promise that the specific berth it nominates will be safe for the vessel to reach, lie at, and leave — the berth-level counterpart to the safe port warranty.
Safe Port
A safe port warranty is the charterer's promise that the port it orders the vessel to will be safe for her to reach, use, and leave without exposure to danger good navigation cannot avoid.
Sanctions Clause
A sanctions clause allocates the risk of trade sanctions and embargoes — typically letting a party refuse to perform an order or voyage that would expose it to sanctions, and protecting against the legal and financial consequences of breach.
Seaworthiness Obligation
The seaworthiness obligation is the owner's duty to provide a vessel fit for the voyage and cargo — either an absolute warranty at common law or a duty of due diligence under the Hague-style regimes — and it underpins the whole liability framework.
Shifting Clause
A shifting clause governs who bears the time and cost of moving the vessel between a waiting place and a berth, or between berths, and whether that time counts as laytime.
Speed and Consumption Warranty
A speed and consumption warranty is the owner's promise about the vessel's performance — the speed she will maintain and the fuel she will burn — with under-performance giving the charterer a claim for the time and bunkers wasted.
Stowage Responsibility
A stowage clause allocates who plans, performs, and answers for stowing and trimming the cargo — dividing responsibility for safe, efficient stowage between owner and charterer.
Subjects (Subject to Conditions)
Subjects are conditions that must be satisfied or lifted before a fixture becomes binding — defining whether and when the parties are committed and what happens if a subject is not lifted.
Substitution Clause
A substitution clause lets the owner perform with a different vessel in place of the one named — defining the conditions for substitution and protecting the charterer's expectations about the ship it contracted for.
Tank Cleaning
A tank cleaning clause governs the standard to which a tanker's cargo tanks must be cleaned between cargoes, who bears the time and cost, and how disputes over cleanliness on inspection are handled.
Time Lost Waiting for Berth
A clause counting waiting time against laytime when a vessel cannot reach its berth because none is available, bridging the gap between arrival and getting alongside.
Trading Limits
A trading limits clause defines the geographic area within which the charterer may employ the vessel — excluding dangerous or excluded zones and setting the boundary the charterer's employment orders must respect.
Vessel Readiness
Vessel readiness is the requirement that a ship be physically and legally ready to work cargo before it can tender a valid NOR — the condition that, with arrival, lets laytime start.
War Risks (Time Charter)
A time-charter war risks clause restricts the charterer from ordering the vessel into war or warlike danger and preserves the owner's right to refuse — allocating the cost of war exposure across the charter period.
War Risks (Voyage Charter)
A voyage-charter war risks clause governs what happens if war or warlike risks affect the agreed voyage — giving the owner rights to refuse, divert, or take protective measures, and allocating the cost and risk of war exposure.
Weather Routing
A weather routing clause concerns the use of a weather routing service to advise the vessel's course — addressing whether it is mandatory or advisory and how its data bears on speed and consumption performance.
Weather Working Days
A weather working day is a laytime day counted only so far as weather lets cargo work proceed; time actually lost to weather, and often Sundays and holidays, is excluded.
Whether in Berth or Not (WIBON)
WIBON wording lets the vessel tender a valid notice of readiness whether or not a berth is available, shifting the risk of berth congestion from owner to charterer.
Whether in Port or Not (WIPON)
WIPON wording extends the point at which a notice of readiness can be tendered to a waiting place outside the port limits, helping the owner start laytime before the ship is formally in port.
Withdrawal Clause
A withdrawal clause gives the owner the right to take the vessel back for non-payment of hire (or other default) — the ultimate sanction in a time charter, usually tempered by an anti-technicality notice.
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