Definition
Under a time charter the charterer pays hire — usually a daily rate, payable in advance from delivery to redelivery — and gives the ship her orders: which cargoes, which ports. The owner stays responsible for the ship herself: crew, maintenance, insurance, stores and spares. The charterer pays the voyage costs — bunkers, port charges, canal dues — which is why the bunker purchase sits with the time charterer.[1]
The dominant dry-cargo form is the New York Produce Exchange form, first issued in 1913. NYPE 2015, prepared by ASBA, BIMCO and the Singapore Maritime Foundation over about three years, was its first revision since 1993; it brought common rider clauses into the form, added clauses on ISM/ISPS, slow steaming, hull fouling, piracy and sanctions, and added Singapore to New York and London as an arbitration seat.[2]
Hire stops only when the ship is off-hire under the charter's own clause — a breakdown, a deficiency of crew — and the burden of proving it lies on the charterer. A "trip time charter" is the same contract for a single voyage.[1,3]
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Sources
- [1] The Shipowners’ Club — Off-hire issues (11 Aug 2023) — https://www.shipownersclub.com/off-hire-issues
- [2] Singapore Maritime Foundation — Launch of NYPE 2015 (ASBA, BIMCO and SMF) — https://www.smf.com.sg/launch-of-nype-2015-a-joint-effort-by-asba-bimco-and-smf-on-the-industrys-most-widely-used-standard-form-of-dry-cargo-time-charterparty/
- [3] The Swedish Club — Deductions from hire (FD&D guide, PDF, Aug 2019) — https://www.swedishclub.com/uploads/2023/12/FDD-Guide-1-Aug-2019-Deductions-from-hire.pdf
A working definition for buyers, not legal advice — the contract, the convention text and your club or class have the last word.