CHARTERING

Evidence in Matters of Affreightment

The Charter Party

With a complete cargo which belongs to only one shipper, the parties (ship owner-shipper) will discuss all terms of the transport agreement in detail. Since the ship owner will have to negotiate with only one person (the charterer), it will be possible to draw up a contract of affreightment, namely the charter party of which all clauses were discussed closely, analyzed and weighted, both by the ship owner and by the charterer (via brokers).

In the liner trade the ship owner is nearly always confronted by a (very) large number of charterers, called co-shippers, and it would be an endless task if the ship owner had to conclude a charter party with each of them. Consequently there had to be another and simpler way to facilitate the negotiations considerably, more so as most local legislations prescribe that the agreement of hire is determined by proof resources which have been allowed in matters of commerce. Therefore, the agreement of hire does not have to be determined necessarily through a charter party but can be ascertained by other means, even by deposition. In the liner trade the charter party has consequently to be replaced by a document which is not necessarily simpler but at least uniform and not subject to negotiations, namely the bill of lading.

[ back to top ]