Time charter

Delivery and redelivery on a time charter

Published 18 October 2026

A time charter starts with delivery and ends with redelivery. Delivery is the moment the charterer takes the ship into service and hire starts. Redelivery is the moment the ship goes back to the owner and hire stops. The charterparty fixes four things for each moment: the place, the notices, the fuel on board and the condition of the ship. Most arguments at the end of a time charter are about one of these four.

Where: the delivery and redelivery point

The NYPE 1946 form delivers the ship at a dock, wharf or place the charterer directs. In practice the parties agree a fixed point, a single place or a range, often defined by the pilot rather than the berth. These short forms appear in almost every time charter recap:

Term	Meaning	Used for
DLOSP	Dropping last outward sea pilot	Delivery or redelivery as the ship leaves a port
DOP	Dropping outward pilot	The same idea; where a port uses more than one pilot, say which one
APS	Arrival pilot station	Delivery when the ship arrives at the load port

The difference matters for money. Delivery DLOSP at the last discharge port means hire starts as the ship sails, so the charterer pays for the empty passage to the load port. Delivery APS at the load port means the owner sails that passage at the owner's own cost, which is why owners then ask for a ballast bonus.

Being at the agreed place is a condition of a valid delivery. The charterer does not have to take the ship until it is there. If the ship is late, the charterer's protection is the cancelling date: under clause 14 of NYPE 1946, a ship not ready by then can be cancelled. Unless the charter says otherwise, the charterer cannot cancel early just because it is clear the ship will miss the date.

Notices

A time charter usually asks for a series of notices before delivery and before redelivery: for example 15, 10, 7 and 3 days approximate, then 2 and 1 days definite. The rules the clubs stress:

A notice must be honest and based on reasonable grounds. An owner who gives an expected date must also try reasonably hard to meet it.
A requirement to narrow the laycan is usually a condition of delivery. A missing advance notice usually is not, but the other side can claim the loss it causes.
Some charters allow delivery or notice of readiness only in office hours, such as 0900 to 1700 on weekdays. A ship that arrives inside the laycan but tenders outside those hours can still be cancelled.

Bunkers on delivery and redelivery

On a time charter the charterer buys the fuel. So on delivery the charterer buys the fuel already on board from the owner, and on redelivery the owner buys back what is left. Clause 3 of NYPE 1946 says each side takes over the fuel "at the current prices in the respective ports", with a minimum and maximum quantity for each moment.

Most recaps now fix more than that:

Quantity. "About" a figure, or a minimum and maximum, for each grade.
Price. Often one agreed price per grade for both ends. If a price is agreed, that price is paid. If not, the usual rule is the market price at the place of delivery.
Grades. Unless agreed otherwise, the fuel types on redelivery should match those on delivery. Fuel the owner cannot use on the next fixture, or fuel that breaks the sulphur rules, is a common redelivery dispute. BIMCO publishes a standard clause on the types and quantities of bunkers on redelivery for this.

A shortage or excess against the agreed figure is paid for in full, and can also give a claim for damages if prices have moved. Delivering with too little fuel can even make the ship unseaworthy. Quantities are recorded in a delivery and redelivery certificate, and many charters call for an independent bunker survey at both ends.

Bunkers on delivery, illustrative

  Delivered ROB      VLSFO 600 t   LSMGO 80 t
  Agreed price       VLSFO 620 /t  LSMGO 850 /t
  Charterer pays     600 x 620 = 372,000
                     80 x 850  =  68,000
                                 -------
  With the first hire payment    440,000

ROB means remaining on board. On redelivery the same sum runs the other way, and the two are netted in the final hire statement.

Condition and hold cleaning

NYPE 1946 asks for the ship to be "ready to receive cargo with clean-swept holds and tight, staunch, strong and in every way fitted for the service". The Swedish Club reads this as three tests: fit, seaworthy and ready. A ship that fails them can be rejected. If the defect is so serious that the charterer loses most of the benefit of the charter, the charter can be ended.

Many charters add that the holds must pass a surveyor's inspection. Delivery can then take place, but time does not count until the holds pass. At redelivery the charterer is expected to return the ship in like good order and condition, ordinary wear and tear excepted. Instead of cleaning the holds before redelivery, many charters let the charterer pay a fixed lump sum in lieu of hold cleaning, written ILOHC in the recap and settled in the hire statement.

Late redelivery

The charterer must give a last voyage order that can reasonably be finished within the charter period, including any agreed tolerance. An order that cannot is illegitimate, and the owner may refuse it and ask for another. If the owner accepts it, hire keeps running until redelivery, and the owner can also claim damages.

The usual measure of damages is (market rate minus charter rate) times the days of overrun. The overrun runs from the last date the ship could have been redelivered to the actual date. A lost follow-on fixture is usually not recoverable, unless the charterer knew of it when the charter was made. Many charters now write an agreed formula for late redelivery into the recap to avoid the argument.

On the desk

Delivery and redelivery terms change the arithmetic as much as the hire rate does. A trip on DLOSP delivery at a distant port, with a ballast bonus and an agreed bunker price, is a different fixture from the same rate on APS delivery. Put the delivery point, the bunker quantities and prices, and the ILOHC figure in the recap in plain words, and check them against the off-hire clause before the first hire payment.

References

The Swedish Club and Nautica Law, Forward Defence Guide 5: Delivery, 2026. swedishclub.com
The Swedish Club and Nautica Law, Forward Defence Guide 6: Redelivery, 2026. swedishclub.com
West of England P&I Club, Defence Guide: Late redelivery in a nutshell, 2022. westpandi.com
Handybulk, Ship bunkers on time charter. handybulk.com
Cult of Sea, DLOSP (dropping last outward sea pilot). cultofsea.com

Voyage charter vs time charterHow the two main charter types split the risk, what each side pays for, and which terms exist in only one of them. Off-hire on a time charterHire runs every day the ship is in service. The off-hire clause lists the few events that stop it, and the charterer has to prove them. Ballast bonusA lump sum the charterer pays to bring a ship empty from a distant open area, priced from the fuel and days of that empty leg. Notice of readinessThe one page that starts the laytime clock: arrived, ready, tendered, and the different way each of those three is challenged. Laycan: laydays and cancellingTwo dates with opposite jobs: the earliest date a charterer must accept the ship, and the latest date after which they may refuse it. Bunkers and fuel gradesTwo fuel grades, sometimes three, each with its own price. The largest number on a voyage estimate is also the one nobody guarantees.

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