Determining when laytime commences is essential for both owners and charterers. Both need to be aware when laytime starts so that any demurrage claim can be accurately evaluated. It is therefore important that both owners and charterers are able to effectively analyse the terms of the charterparty which deal with the conditions which need to be satisfied before the laytime clock starts running.
I will review the main conditions that are generally required to be satisfied and indicate some of the common pitfalls and errors which can arise.
In general there are three main conditions which need to be met under most charterparties before laytime can commence. These concern the arrival and readiness of the vessel and the tender of the Notice of Readiness ("NOR"). We will consider these in turn.
Arrival
The first requirement for the commencement of laytime is that the vessel must be arrived ship. Simply, to have 'arrived' at a port, a vessel must have reached either the loading/discharging place or, should that place be busy, the normal waiting place. The vessel must be “arrived ship” so that the notice of readiness will be valid when given. If the Notice of Readiness is invalid when given, it will be ineffective to trigger the laytime (or to start the "laytime clock") upon the expiry of the stipulated period of notice. Notice of Readiness can be given orally, but usually a written form is used. It is an important function of a port agent to assist a ship's Master in tendering notice of a ship's arrival, and also to ensure that shippers/ receivers officially 'accept' the vessel's notice of readiness.
Readiness
A ship must be physically capable of performing cargo-operations – e.g. at a loading port, holds must be cleaned and prepared for receiving cargo and, if the contract so specifies, holds must be inspected and declared
