Charter Agreement Negotiations
We check every point of time or voyage charter agreements. We eliminate clauses that may generate hidden laytime costs. We act directly between the shipowner and the charterer, ensuring clear terms for demurrage and despatch. Our experience includes 83 closed contracts in the last year.
Quayside Practice in Gdynia and Gdansk
In maritime law, facts matter, not theoretical considerations. When a ship is at anchor, every hour of delay generates real losses. At Gdynia Maritime Dialogue, we approach negotiations from a practitioner's perspective. We review standard forms, such as Gencon or NYPE, and strike out clauses that are extremely unfavorable for our clients. In the last quarter of 2024, we improved 14 contracts where shipowners tried to shift hold cleaning costs onto the charterer. We act fast because we know that in the port, time is money.
Demurrage and Despatch without Hidden Traps
Most disputes in maritime transport arise from incorrect laytime calculations. We often encounter unclear wording in contracts regarding the moment the Notice of Readiness (NOR) is tendered. We establish hard charter terms right from the start. Thanks to our specific amendments, one terminal operator in Gdansk avoided paying an 8,600 PLN penalty for an alleged ship delay in March this year. We focus on ensuring that every entry in the contract is understandable for the captain and the forwarder, which reduces document exchange time by an average of 3 business days.
Analysis of Port and Tonnage Costs
A charter agreement is more than just a freight rate. It consists of dozens of small fees that, when totaled, can surprise even an experienced trader. We analyze clauses regarding agency costs and fees for tugs and moorers. Our team, consisting of 4 specialists, analyzes documentation daily for 11 permanent business partners. In June 2024, we detected an error in tonnage fee calculation in one of the smaller ports, allowing our client to save 4,200 PLN on a single vessel call.
Closing Contracts without Unnecessary Talk
We do not create multi-page analyses that no one reads. Instead, we prepare short, concrete comments directly in the margins of the draft agreement. If a certain point is risky, we say it straight out and propose a ready-made text change. In July 2024, we advised on a charter of a bulk carrier under the Polish flag, where we closed the entire negotiation in 72 hours. We want our clients to be able to sign a secure contract and focus on cargo logistics, knowing that legal issues are under control.
Experience from 83 Closed Cases
In the last 12 months at Gdynia Maritime Dialogue, we finalized 83 different charter contracts. We handled both bulk transport and specialized general cargo. Each of these cases gave us new knowledge about how working conditions in Tricity ports are changing. We don't promise miracles, but we guarantee that we know the hard charter terms and can effectively fight for them. (Heads-up: we usually respond to inquiries within 3-5 hours on business days).
Receive a Contract Analysis in 24h
If you have a draft charter on your desk and need a specific opinion, send us the file for an initial review. We will prepare a quote for the analysis and point out the weakest points of the document on the same day. No unnecessary theory, just facts.