Essential Items for Voyage

Charter Parties

A charter party is a document of contract by which a Ship-owner agrees to lease, and the charterer agrees to hire, a vessel or all the cargo space, or a part of it, on terms and conditions forth in the charter party. The main types of charter parties are Bareboat Charter Party (sometimes called a Demise Charter), Time Charter Party and Voyage Charter Party.

Bareboat Charter Party.

The ship-owner leases his entire vessel and the charterer has the responsibility of operating it as though it were his own vessel. The charterer pays all expenses: fuel, stores, provisions, harbor dues, pilotage, etc. and employs and pays the crew. There may, however, be a clause in the charter party that the master and the chief engineer must be approved by the ship-owner. The charterer is responsible for the upkeep, preservation and safety of the vessel. Before delivery to the charterer the vessel is surveyed by representatives of both parties and the same is done on redelivery. The charter party will stipulate that the vessel must be redelivered in the same good order and condition as when delivered, ordinary wear and tear excepted.

Time Charter Party

The Time Charter had been arranged on article 1131.-1137 of Turkish Commercial Code. According to the Law, Time Charter Contract contains:

“..Undertaking of giving the commercial management of the vessel for a certain period of time within a price to assigned person by the dedicator”

In Time Charter Contract, commercial administration of the vessel belongs to the charterer; technical administration of the vessel belongs to the Shipowner.

Voyage Charter Party

Voyage Charter Party is a charter party for the carriage of a full cargo, not for a period of time, but at a stipulated rate per ton, for one voyage only, between named ports to be named on arrival in a given area.

Shippers of large quantities of bulk cargo such as phosphate, coal, grain, etc., have charter parties with special titles such as “Fosfo”, “Americanized Welch Coal Charter Party”, “Baltimore Grain Charter Party”, etc. In a voyage charter party the charterer assumes no responsibility for the operation of the vessel but generally pays stevedoring expenses in and out.

Bill of Lading

According to the Article 1228/1 of Turkish Commercial Law, the Bill of Lading is indicating the proof of the Carriage Contract, the receiving of Cargo by the carrier or the loading of Cargo to the board. and that the carrier is obliged to deliver the Cargo only for its presentation and the Carrier is obliged to deliver the Cargo after the presentation of Bill of Lading.

This document is issued by the Carrier or the Master (or an authorized agent) on behalf of Carrier and contains the confirmation of receipt of the burden to be carried. This document also includes the undertaking of delivery the Bill of Lading to holder with refund condition at the destination port.

The Bill of Ladings are classified under different names due to their different characteristics in practice. The types are: “Master Bill of Lading” and “House Bill Of Lading”.

Master Bill of Lading

International maritime transportation activities are in the form of container transportation. During such container transportation activities, this type of BoL is issued by the agency of the carrying company. Along with the loaded the container on the vessel and leaving the port, a bill of lading signed by the Carrier’s agent is presented to the related person.

House Bill of Lading

During the international transportation activity, the Master Bill of Ladings are arranged by the transportation companies via their agencies directly to serviced companies. In some cases, no work directly with Shipowners during the transportation activity and carriage contracts are made with Freight Forwarders. The Bill of Lading that the Freight Forwarders have issued is called the House Bill of Lading, the Intermediary Bill of Lading or Forwarder  Bill of Lading. In the letter of credit transactions such Bills of Lading are not accepted by the banks because they do not offer complete control over the goods, although they are issued to include the main Bill of Lading requirements.