Before discussing the different types of forms and contracts used in vessel chartering an carriage of goods by the sca, ‘terminologies pertaining tothe ex: med important to understand some imy ‘The defiaton af the law of conkacs has been dacusted in Chapter Oe ofthis book is not the purpose, however, of ‘The following are some fa ‘matters and terms normally wed in @ contract of carriage ‘of goods by sea L.A contract of carriage by sea is concluded by a shipowner or carrier and the | ‘charterer or shipper, whichever the case maybe. the two contracting parties 3. The contract of carriage by ‘warranties are stated ‘and riders that are usually inserted therein. Riders to the contract because these are not included in emtes wah ev cae oan a partes are making the contract in @ foreign state 9. A contract can be dis ritten document whese conditions and 4 4 contract due to circumstances that are outside or no executed the contrac. 18 the contract or not fulfilling the important c ‘4, Itmust be entered into by two or more parties having legal capecity to enter into contract; and b. There must be an offer, acceptance and consideration (conditions and retmuneration/payment), id if made without pure knowledge of the ‘executing the contract. ffense if proven by a victim, The opposing party can In order to fully understand the contract of carriage by goods by sea, itis very important to identify and describe the different partes to the contract, as well as the rights and obligations of each party. In liner shipping, the parties are the carrier and the shipper. In chartering, the partes are the shipowner and the charterer. The parties to the contract of carriage of goods are described below: AL The Carrier ‘person or company who enters into a contract of carriage of goods by sea mas maybe exercised by persons, who may er may not be the legal ywner, charterer, freight agent, forwarding agent and 187gives (wo classifications of the term “carrier”. These vate cartier”. Common Carrier refers 10 persons, engzged in the business of carrying or transport passengers or goods or both by land, water, or air, for compensation, offering th services to the public (Article 1732), 4 common carrier, as defined by Brodie, is “a person or company advertising a service involving the carriage of goods to and from ports on a particular route"(p. 42). A ‘common carrer is required by law to accept ail cargoes offered, except dangerous and to ‘make a teasonable charge for their carriage stitution as regards “private carrier carrier (person of association of persons) is carry goods/passengers, depending o1 the case. The shipewn provide a vessel that is seaworthy and ready to load at a pre-dete forthe loading of cargo. Iti for safe transport tothe port of dest time or who reserves the entire cargo of. the carriage of goods from a port or ts of discharge (Brodie, 1994). 4s « charterer, he can party. The sub-charterer or the third party will not ‘become the carrie. The cartier could be a private or common carrier. ‘There might be instances when the term “actual carrier” or performing carrier” is used. This case happens when the carrier entruss the carriage of goods by sea to another 4 party (othe contract of carriage. AA good example is the impl (of cargo sharing scheme by s with the objective of maximizing the ge costs ion of cargo spaces and reducing the ital 88 ny person who enters into a contract of carriage with the carrier. He could ‘or seller of goods depending on the terms and conditions of sales or trade terms developed bs tional sale contracts, INCO terms make ciear the bligations of the buyer and seller with respect to the transport of goods. The purpose of INCO terms is to provide a set of international rules for the interpretation of the most ‘commonly used trade terms in foreign trade Incoterms, 1990), ns “cst, insurance, and freight” .o0ds fre of cost on board the ship. This means thatthe buyer has to seek ‘ carter or the buyer isthe one who will enter into a contract of carriage take charge of the cos, insurance and freight. He has to transport the cargoes. C. Consignce/Endorsee sd and received at the port of -oinpletion of the voyage, goods shall be del to whom the goods are to ion. The person who is named inthe Bi is the consignee, nee could be the buyer of ‘goods upon presentation ofthe Bill of Lading D. Agents and Forwarders In the transport or carriage of goods by sea, there is also the need to use intermediaries. ‘These are the ship's agents, freight forwarders and brokers. person who represents the shipowner. He looks after the interest of the is and arranges pilotage, towage and berthing of ships. He may also sign ‘of Lading and subsequently collect freight hipbroker could render services cither to shipowner or charterer. When a shipbroker When hethe functions of a loading broker because he is responsible perf {or the ship of his principal (shipowner). E.—Shipmaster In the contract of carriage, a shipmaster plays a very important role. In ‘convention forthe Standard of Training Cerification and Watchikeeping ( amended), the word “master” has been defined as a person having command of As such, the master performs the following acts: 8s RMS USED IN THE CARRIAGE OF. Contracts of carriage of goods by sea may use different forms such as co exclusively evidenced by a bill of lading, voyage charter party and other special Contract. The foliowing important forms are used in the carriage of goods by the sea: A. The Charter Parties ‘The term charter paty is derived from the words carta partita (divided document), which refers to the ancient practice of writing out th contract in duplicate on one piece of parchment and then dividing kit down le, thus, providing each party with a copy, the voyage charter party, a ‘essel on one or two voyages. pay the freight that is calculated according to the quantity of cargo carried, Some of standard forms of voyage charter parties areas follows: Baltimore Form C Grain Charter Party. “There are three types of charter partes: the voyage charter party, time chatter party, and ‘bareboat charter party. ‘The Voyage Charter Party ramer undertakes 10 carry specified goods in a named the charterer’s obligation to provide the agreed cargo American Welsh Coa! Charter (Centrocon Charter Party. Uniform General Charter (Geneon). ne of the standard forms of time charter patie are as follows: ‘8. Uniform Time Charter 1939 (Baltimore) New York Produce Exchange Time Charter 1946 (NYPE), "New York Produce Exchange Time Charter 1981 (Asbatime). NYPE 93, Deep Sea Time Charter (Linertime). 191ly also makes it a safe document that can be handled ar of theft or loss. In consequence, waybills have often replaced bills 466), 3. The Bareboat Charter Party 18” (pp. hhipowner provides the ship and the chatlerer provides the crew, bunkers and pays all operating cost. The shipowner agrees o relinguish to the chart F his ship for the duration gf the charter agreement whi ‘The bareboat charter pany is also called demise charter party. Mate’s Receipt fe's receipt is a document tendered by the agent of the shipowner to the shipper ‘2004s ate delivered on the quay for shipment, The bill of lading particulars are checked in exchange of the mate's receipt. B. Bills of Lading M étkiiegNote A booking note is a document issued by a shipping company or broker, stating the type and quantity of goods freight rate and the name of te ship on which they will be carried, The carrer is obliged to accept receipt of goods for carriage and confirms the contract of carriage of goods, D.__Letter of Indemnity ereby the shipper promises to indemnify the issuance of a clean bill of lading” (IMO CML, has the same effect about the existence of a the request and ‘evidence ofthe conta n of money within prescribed 86 BYSEA A. Non-Negotiable Waybills ined a sea wuybill as The Economic commis ‘Therefore, clean bill of lading is extremely important and necessary in international trade the carrier and by | transactions. This is why a Master is sometimes pressed by the shipper to sign a bill of goods to the consignee named in the | lading which is known to be false in some particulars in return forthe shipper giving him the sea waybill is non-negotiable, it cannot be | a Letter of Indemnity or “back letter” as itis sometimes called (Holman, 1971), is very useful to the seller because it is the evidence that he has lading is issued packaging or a big discrepancy in the Which has replaced the fast that they often arrive befor ‘For not being a documes reproduced and has the a 192 193‘The practice of Seine is generally used and accepted -ornmonly abbreviated as “Ce CoA. differs from other charter types of agreements because it that is used in the voyage charter, because the time factor is determined from the voyage clement. The charterer and the owner agree thatthe vessel years, et.), However, the voyages will not be on consecutive basis. ‘The cargo to be carried (usually the minimum and maximum volume) is specified jort period of time, Instead, the carriage of a specified type 1g @ number of shipments run usually over a long period of cover a long period, although in some cases. the period covered can be shorter than other contracts of carriage. 88 — CONTRACTUAL AGREEMENTS UNDER CONTRACT. OF AFFREIGHTMENT, sal Period There are ‘on the length of contractual period under Coa. The maximum and minimum periods, however, ate governed by certain considerations. Sometimes. it is ‘possible that the a ‘done for only one trip, itis hardly considered by the ner has the right and obligation to substizute a vessel negotiations per shipment the Contract of Affreightment In the contract of affreight For contractual period, the partis usually agree on any of the following + Fixed period terminates. jolonged with another fixed period unless. mination.‘© Fixed period with an prolong the agrees lion for hanoth © of the parties or period. netimes both partes tp ‘+. Period which is not fixed in length but terminates afte a fixed period upon notice of termination from one ofthe parties, B. Cargo In CoA, there ate problems covered by the contrat included oF mentioned for po Ship. However, under CoA, be any ofthe following: © Quantity is fixed . is not fixed are similar to other contracts of carriage by sea but other commodities are ccomiplete the cargo to be loaded on the ‘terms and condition for cargo to be loaded on the ship can Vessel [tis the obligation of the owner to sec to it that the vessel to be used for the transport of argo is suitable fo the cargo, the ports and seaways, ‘Very ofien the parties to the CoA use a stardard form or parts of it in the formulation of the agreement., The provisions in the contract deal owner's remuneration, type of vessel, ports siandard forms are the “Intercoa 8, issued by Lloyds shipments of oil under Intertankvoy 76. However, patties ust to their own terms and conditions. Another form of CoA intended for bulk carg issued by BIMCO. hn the cargo quantities, periods, Some of the popularly used lesigned as a contract modify the form to ‘The rights and duties of each party in the contrat of affeightment are very important in the performance of “The parties to the con U1 contract, particularly, those of the carrier's and the shipowner's, of affieight are shipowner or earrier and shipper or charterer. MARY ‘There are two important terms used in the transport of goods via maritime transportation system. These are the “contract of carriage” and the “coutract of allreightment” or "CoA". These ate interchangeably used in shipping but in reality, the two terms are different ‘contracis of carriage Iso includes any bill carriage of goods by the sea include letter of indemnity, ‘mate's receipt and booking note contracted whether by bareboat charter undertake to effect transport but a contact forthe use linked mote to Contract of AMfcightment, or Cargo Contrac use of the term or Quantity Contracts or Volume Alficightment” is generally used and ‘CoA differs from other charter types of agreements because it contains separately the clement of time as well as voyage. It is different from consecutive voyages beca separatcly from the voyage element. The voyages wil ‘The cargo to be carried (usually the minimum and including the agreed por. ‘The owner is pressured by the charterer or a short covering a number of both parties s of the CoA. Usually, the there is what we ‘The number of voyages is important charac CoA covers at least two shipments. In a voyage chart 1?