CHARTER PARTIES

GENCON - Clause 1

Vessel’s Name

THE GENCON charter party only refers to the name of the ship - (box 5), the gross and the net tonnage of the ship (box 6) and the deadweight cargo carrying capacity in tons, DWCC of the ship (box 7).

In the voyage charter party the details of the ship will mainly depend on the circumstances. The type of goods which must be transported, the ports of call and the types of waters the ship will have to navigate (canals, rivers, etc.) will determine which characteristics of the ship are important during the negotiations and which characteristics must be recorded in the charter party. In the additional clauses one generally finds a clause "Vessel's description" with information on:

the age of the vessel;
the flag;
the type of ship (e.g. ore/oil tanker, OO);
the speed of the ship;
the classification society and the class;
the length and breadth;
the draft;
the height above the water line (to pass under bridges or high-voltage cables, etc.);
the gear for cargo handling (derricks, cranes, pumps, etc.);
the number of holds with the dimensions of the hatch coamings;
the type of hatch covers;
the type of floor ceiling (e.g. wooden floor, steel floored);
the presence of particular gear (e.g. reefer plant, CO2 gear);
if the holds are self trimming or not;
etc.

See also the worked-out GENCON charter party and in particular the additional clauses.

If in box 5, the name of the ship is mentioned, and then the Ship Owner is obliged to put this ship at the disposal of the Charterer and no other ship. The Ship Owner can replace the named ship by another one only in cases of Act of God that are foreseen by the law (see also Obligations of Owner).

Cases of Act of God could be:

the total loss of the ship;
the delay of the ship for an abnormal long duration.

Total loss can be: actual total loss and constructive total loss. For more particulars, see Marine Insurance.
In those cases, it is said that the chartering agreement is frustrated, that means that it expires automatically and therefore no longer exists (Ihre, R., Gorton, L. en Sandevärn, A., Shipbroking and Chartering Practice, London, Lloyd's of London Press, 1980, 100).
This is a typical "condition" (and not a warranty) which must be complied to. (See also Clause 10 - Cancelling Clause.)

To escape the above-mentioned obligation and risks, the charter party will generally mention that the ship can be replaced by another ship. This is usually defined as follows:

M/S ".............." or substitute.

(See Obligations of the Owner, sub-paragraph BIMCO's substitution clause.)

It is important to specify how far the right of substitution can go.

Can the Ship Owner replace the named ship by another one as it suites him or can the replacement only take place if the named ship is lost?
Can the Ship Owner replace the ship several times?
Must the right of substitution be terminated a number of days before the starting date of the loading of the ship?
Can the ship be replaced by other specific ships or can it be replaced by any other ship which is capable of carrying the agreed cargo?
Can the Ship Owner put a ship of another nationality at the disposal of the Charterer? This can be very important for the Charterer with regard to certain formalities to be fulfilled.

All these considerations must be very clearly specified in the substitution clause, which generally is an additional clause.

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