Charterparties In Maritime Law
In maritime law, a charter contract is a type of freight contract for the transportation of a cargo. While the charter contract only gives the charterer the right to benefit from the carrying capacity of the ship, the shipowner continues to retain the navigation and management of the ship. In this type of contract, there are two types as full charter and partial charter according to the volume of space allocated to the shipper. In full charter, the entire ship is kept. In partial charter, a certain part of the ship is allocated to the carrier. According to the way the ship is used, voyage charter and time charter are divided into two types. Voyage charter refers to the hiring of a ship to carry a certain cargo from one port to another port. Here, the ship may also be chartered to make more than one voyage. In a time charter, the ship is chartered for a certain period of time and the freight is determined according to the time scale. In this contract, the charterer pays the warehouse and provision expenses and also benefits from a limited authority to instruct the master and seamen in the commercial field.
According to the law, the charter contract is not bound to a special form in terms of form. In practice, it is concluded through brokers engaged in maritime affairs and under the conditions set forth in the type-contracts. The parties or authorized persons acting on their behalf prepare the written contract after briefly determining the important conditions of the contract with a document called “fixing letter”. Although there is no legal obligation to have a written contract, this method is widely used as a means of proof. Each party may request to be given a document (in Turkish law, a charter party) regarding the freight contract. (Turkish Commercial Code, Art. 1017). While preparing the written contract, the formulas prepared by the Ba’k States and International Maritime Conference (BIMCO) and the United Kingdom Chamber of Shipping (Chof Sh) are followed. When a dispute arises, the relevant court examines the charterparty document and clarifies the matter. However, in practice, disputes are usually resolved through arbitration. The most important clauses of the charter contracts are those regarding the number of days for loading and unloading the goods and who will bear the expenses, and clarification of these elements will result in favorable results for the parties.