Address commission
Freight
A commission deducted from the freight and returned to the charterer, distinct from the broker’s commission.
Glossary
The words that appear in recaps, charter parties and our calculators, explained the way the desk would explain them on the phone.
Air draft
Vessel
The height from the waterline to the vessel’s highest point — decisive under bridges and shore cranes.
Block coefficient (Cb)
Vessel
The ratio of the hull’s underwater volume to the box that would enclose it — fuller hulls carry more, finer hulls go faster.
Broken stowage
Cargo
Space between and around cargo that cannot be filled — lost capacity. Higher for irregular breakbulk than for free-flowing bulk.
Charter party (C/P)
Contracts
The contract between shipowner and charterer setting out the terms on which the vessel is employed.
Constant
Vessel
The weight of everything aboard that is not cargo, bunkers or fresh water — stores, spares, mud, water trapped in bilges — which reduces cargo intake.
Deadweight (DWT)
Vessel
The total weight a vessel can carry (cargo, bunkers, stores, crew, water) at her summer load line, in tonnes.
Demurrage
Chartering
Money paid to owners when laytime is exceeded — compensation for detaining the vessel.
Despatch
Chartering
Money paid by owners to charterers when loading / discharging is completed early — often half the demurrage rate.
FIOS
Chartering
Free In / Out Stowed — the charterer bears the cost of loading, discharging and stowage, not the owner.
Freight ton
Freight
The revenue unit freight is charged on — a tonne or a cubic metre, per the W/M basis.
Fresh water allowance (FWA)
Vessel
The increase in draft when a vessel moves from salt water into fresh, because fresh water is less dense.
GENCON
Contracts
BIMCO’s widely used standard voyage charter party for general and breakbulk cargo.
Gross / Net tonnage (GT / NT)
Vessel
Volume-based measures of a ship’s enclosed / earning space — dimensionless numbers used for dues and regulation, not weights.
Incoterms
Contracts
ICC trade terms (FOB, CIF, CFR, …) that split cost, risk and responsibility between seller and buyer.
Laycan
Chartering
Laydays / cancelling — the window in which the vessel must arrive and tender Notice of Readiness, or the charterer may cancel.
Laytime
Chartering
The time allowed under the charter party to load and discharge without extra payment.
Lumpsum freight
Freight
A fixed total freight for the voyage regardless of the quantity actually loaded, as opposed to a rate per metric ton.
Notice of Readiness (NOR)
Chartering
The notice that a vessel has arrived and is ready to load or discharge — its valid tender starts laytime.
SHINC / SHEX
Chartering
Sundays and Holidays Included / Excepted — whether those days count as laytime.
Stowage factor (SF)
Cargo
The volume a unit weight of cargo occupies in a hold, in m³ per tonne (or ft³ per long ton). Compared with a vessel’s bale/grain capacity to see if cargo will “weigh out” or “cube out”.
SYNACOMEX
Contracts
A standard grain voyage charter party (Paris form) commonly used in the grain trades.
Tonnes per centimetre (TPC)
Vessel
The cargo weight, in tonnes, needed to change the vessel’s draft by one centimetre — used to plan loading to a marks.
Weather working day (WWD)
Chartering
A working day on which weather permits cargo work — time lost to weather does not count against laytime.
Weight or Measure (W/M)
Freight
Freight charged on whichever is greater — the cargo’s weight in tonnes or its volume in m³ (1 m³ ≈ 1 tonne).