Russell Ridley & Co. — London Maritime & Energy Lawyers

Bareboat Charters

Charterparty by demise
Responsibility as owners
Technical and commercial management
Manning agreements
Standard agreements (barecon 89)
Redelivery (fair wear & tear excepted)
Insurance considerations

We have assisted many bareboat charterers not only with the drafting of their charterparty forms but also with the formulation and drafting of out-house technical and commercial / operations agreements.

Assisting with regard to purchase options and effecting transfer of ownership. Advising upon the required H&M, P&I and FD&D insurances. Acting on behalf of bareboat charterers in disputes both up and down the chain.

We have a high volume of time chartered clients and provide a cradle to grave service, looking after all legal aspects of pre-fixture acceptance of terms and post-fixture disputes. This involves everything in the nature of FD&D as well as cargo claims brought either by receivers or occasionally by sub-charterers or disponent owners. These claims are regularly dealt with under the Interclub Agreement.

In recent years there has been a growth of damage to ship claims caused by aggressive cargoes. This noticeable increase is in addition to the more usual ship damage caused by breach of a safe port warranty.Many voyage charterers and indeed disponent owners now operate with their own additional clauses, often both are incorporated into the same charter producing conflicts.

Contract interpretation features large in this area of maritime law; the commonly used phrase of "as previous c/p with logical amendments" sometimes being particularly problematical. There has been an increase of claims for delay including the loss of market value. These may arise from the vessel missing the cancelling date producing claims for delay, which can be sustained if the vessel failed to commence the approach voyage in good time. Breach of the safe port warranty can cause damage and delay.

Demurrage claims are themselves liquidated damage claims for delay.The COAs that we see today rarely contain the guarantee to ship a minimum tonnage that we saw a decade ago. Most fix tonnages without guarantee and yet commit the owner to a certain number of vessels per year.

It is common to grant the charterer an option to extend for further years. Often freight rates are fixed for a number of years within too narrow a band making the business uneconomic. We are active in encouraging owners to tighten up their COAs.