Revisions in the concept of commencement of laytime and demurrage – Laytime and demurrage clauses in international sale contracts

Abstract: Voyage charterparties, as one of the most common carriage contracts, has its own specific provisions which govern the legal relationship of the engaged parties. One of those specifications relates to the concept of laytime which is defined as the time during which the charterer can load or discharge the cargo. In this work the author tries to discuss the requirements that should be fulfilled to commence the laytime under different contractual situations and the problematic matters which are related to these provisions. In addition, the different types of laytime and its exceptions besides the concept of demurrage and despatch, which are related to the concept of laytime when the charterer cannot perform the loading or discharging operation on time or when he performs it sooner than agreed time, are discussed. Also, the incorporation of the laytime and demurrage clauses in the international sale contracts and charterparties and their interpretation are discussed under the legal systems of England and the USA as the second part of this work to analyse these two major systems based on a comparative method.