Charter party

A charter party sets the terms on which a ship is hired: the ship, the cargo or trade, the period or voyage, the price (freight or hire), laytime and demurrage, and who carries which risks. Almost all are written on standard forms with negotiated riders. The three families are the voyage charter (freight per tonne or lump sum, GENCON being the classic general form), the time charter (hire per day, the NYPE form for dry cargo) and the bareboat charter (the ship without crew, on BARECON).^[1,2,3]

The forms are old and still revised: GENCON was first issued in 1922 and last revised in 2022; the New York Produce Exchange form dates from 1913 and was revised in 2015; BARECON 2017 replaced the 2001 edition. Standard definitions such as BIMCO's Laytime Definitions 2013 apply only when the charter incorporates them — the precise wording always decides.^[1,2,3,4]

Who buys what follows from the form. Under a voyage charter the owner pays bunkers and port costs; under a time charter the charterer buys the fuel and pays the ports, while the owner still supplies the crew, stores and spares; under a bareboat charter the charterer supplies everything.