CHARTER PARTIES

GENCON - Clause 6

Laytime

Notice of readiness

When the ship has arrived in the loading or discharging place the master must inform the Charterer that his ship is ready to load or to discharge. This notification must be done in writing by means of the notice of readiness. The Charterer must sign it for reception with mention of the date and the hour of acceptance. According to a judgement of the Court of Commerce it is not necessary that the master does this with a letter signed by him but a telex, fax, telegram or even orally is sufficient (Wildiers, P., Le contrat d'affrètement maritime, Anvers, Editions Lloyd Anversois, 1969, 59. See also Comm. Anvers, 29 avril 1957, J.P.A. 1957, p. 439). In order to avoid possible discussions later, the master should tender a written Notice or Readiness, as soon as he is moored, mentioning the day and the hour which he has transmitted orally, which should be signed by the Charterer or his agent.

Often the agent of the Ship Owner is informed in advance of the arrival of the ship and the possible readiness of the ship to load or to discharge.

The ship is ready to load/discharge when the following conditions are satisfied:

The ship must have arrived in the load/discharging place indicated in the charter party or so near thereto as she may safely get.
The ship must be ready in all respect to load/discharge in all her holds. The cargo handling gear, if present must be rigged up and all hatches opened.

See also lines 117-119 of the GENCON Charter Party.

The readiness of the ship includes both the physical readiness and the legal readiness.

The physical readiness implies that the hatches of the ship are ready to receive the goods on board or that the ship is ready to discharge the goods. For ships which load bulk cargoes (e.g. grain) or liquid bulks e.g. deep tanks and the like, generally a certificate of a "surveyor" is required in which is declared that the ship is ready in all respect to receive the cargo. This certificate must be submitted together with the notice of readiness. We insist on the fact that the master must get a copy of the notice of readiness duly signed for receipt, stating the date and hour of reception so that later, no misunderstanding can arise.

Legal readiness means that the ship is in order with all formalities such as customs formalities, etc.

Generally the notice of readiness is accepted by the Charterer although the ship is not yet entirely in a state of readiness (e.g. the removing of the hatch covers, waiting for clearance, etc.). In the event that at the commencement of the loading or the discharging, the ship is not yet ready, the Charterer can claim compensation for the waiting of his gangs (shifts - dockworkers)

The laytime (or laydays) start from the moment that the "notice of readiness" is tendered and accepted by the Charterer, unless the charter party stipulates differently.

For more details on the commencement of laytime see also Paragraph (c) of Clause 6 of the GENCON Charter Party.

According to the GENCON charter party (clause 6, paragraph c.) the laydays start at 13.00 hours, if notice of readiness is given up to and including 12.00 hours and at 6 o'clock next working day, if notice is given during office hours after 12.00 hours. The time between loading or discharging and the commencement of the laydays, is called "free time" or "grace time".

In principle, the Ship Owner may not take the time which is used to load or discharge before the laydays start, into account, unless the charter party stipulates differently.

In the GENCON charter party this is indicated in Clause 6, Paragraph c.:

"Time used before commencement of laytime shall count".

In the 1976 revision of the GENCON charter party the following clause was used: "Time lost in waiting for berth to count...".

In the 1994 edition, the same principle counts but the wording of the clause has somehow been changed. Notice too that in this clause, the following provision applies: “Time used in moving from the place of waiting to the loading/discharging berth shall NOT count as laytime”. Parties can always depart from those provisions if they wish to.

Other agreements can also be made:

"Subject to Part I (e) laytime shall commence at the first loading and discharging port or place at the expiration of six running hours after tendering such notice or upon connection of hoses, whichever first occurs." (Intertankvoy, Clause 8).

"The laytime shall commence four hours after notice of readiness has been given to Messrs ..... If the loading be commenced earlier, laytime shall count from actual commencement." (Lamcon - loading).

"..... wait for more than 24 hours for suitable tide to reach and enter the port, shall count as laytime." (Lamcon - discharge).

If in the charter party nothing concerning the free time is stipulated then the uses or the legislation of the place apply:

in Belgium, in the U.S., in the Scandinavian countries and in the United Kingdom the free time does not, in principle, apply;
in France the free time counts for half.

Sometimes it is required that the shipper is informed a certain time in advance:

15 days approximate notice to be given to the shippers, messrs…. to be…. nominated later….

Note that in the 1994 revision of the Gencon, paragraph (c) stipulates to whom the notice of readiness must be tendered.

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