Here’s an example of laytime calculation in a voyage charterparty agreement:
Charterparty Terms:
- Allowed laytime for loading: 48 hours
- Allowed laytime for discharging: 72 hours
- Demurrage rate: $10,000 per day or pro-rata
- Despatch rate: 50% of demurrage rate
Timeline:
- Ship arrives and gives Notice of Readiness (NOR) at the loading port on April 1 at 10:00.
- Laytime starts counting after 6 hours of waiting time on April 1 at 16:00.
- Loading completed on April 3 at 18:00.
- Ship arrives and gives NOR at the discharging port on April 10 at 08:00.
- Laytime starts counting immediately.
- Discharging completed on April 12 at 12:00.
Laytime Calculation:
Loading:
- Calculate the actual laytime used for loading: From April 1, 16:00, to April 3, 18:00, which is 2 days and 2 hours, or 50 hours.
- Compare actual laytime used (50 hours) with allowed laytime (48 hours): The actual laytime exceeds the allowed laytime by 2 hours.
- Calculate demurrage for loading: 2 hours of excess laytime, which is 1/12 of a day. Demurrage is $10,000 per day, so the demurrage for loading is (1/12 * $10,000) = $833.33.
Discharging:
- Calculate the actual laytime used for discharging: From April 10, 08:00, to April 12, 12:00, which is 2 days and 4 hours, or 52 hours.
- Compare actual laytime used (52 hours) with allowed laytime (72 hours): The actual laytime is less than the allowed laytime by 20 hours.
- Calculate despatch for discharging: 20 hours of unused laytime, which is 5/6 of a day. The despatch rate is 50% of the demurrage rate, so the despatch for discharging is (5/6 * 0.5 * $10,000) = $4,166.67.
Final Settlement:
- Calculate the difference between demurrage and despatch: $833.33 (demurrage) – $4,166.67 (despatch) = -$3,333.34
- Since the difference is negative, the shipowner owes the charterer $3,333.34 as despatch payment.
In this example, the charterer is entitled to a despatch payment from the shipowner due to the actual laytime used being less than the allowed laytime, particularly for the discharging operations.
