Chartering of vessels

It is conventional to charter a whole vessel for a one-time dispatch of a large consignment of cargo. Charter-party is a contract between the shipowner and a "charterer" for the leasing of a ship for the shipping of cargo.

Our company has been chartering ships since 1991. The main area of operation in this direction is related to transportation along the NSR (Northern Sea Route), as well as in the river basins of the Northern part of Russia — we charter both sea and river vessels of various classes and carrying capacities.

Charter-party is regulated by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the Code of Merchant Shipping of the Russian Federation.

Depending on the tasks set, the most optimal route of the sea freight contract is outlined:

• Time-charter of a vessel (an agreement for the provision of a vessel and services of crew members for use within a specified period for the shipment of goods for a fee (freight)).
• Agreement for the transport (the period of use of the vessel for transportation is limited by the route to be followed within the estimated time frame, and not by a specific time period).

The fundamental difference between leasing a whole cargo-ship and part of one is independence from other cargo owners, the route and terms set by the ship owner or single charterer.

It makes sense to charter an entire ship rather than a part of the ship when:

• The volume of your cargo is sufficient for sending by a separate vessel and the cost of such a dispatch is equal to the cost of sending a part cargo. In this case, you save time.
• It is impossible to use sea transportation services on a part-cargo basis at the place of loading / unloading. That is, you are the only one who wants to send cargo along this route. In this case, you will have to include the costs of organizing non-standard transportation in your budget.
• You need to deliver the cargo by sea to several destinations and one of the options for accomplishing this task is to charter a whole ship and send it on the route that you need.

Chartering of ships includes various components of transportation, primarily, the leasing of a ship and the organization of transportation. But this is not always enough, there are number of services associated with transportation that are not covered by a charter agreement:

• Organizational issues — coordination of the entry / exit of the vessel with the port, stevedoring services, dispatching, coordination of loading / unloading on site, etc.;
• Organization of "unlocking" (read more below), as well as the organization of loading / unloading at the roadstead from other floating facilities, and other non-standard issues.

These complications usually are not included in the charter agreement, but are included in a separate forwarding agreement.

In each specific situation we determine with the customer which contracts must be signed in order to fulfill the task.

The precarious nature of transportation in the Arctic zone is also associated with the possible lack of the necessary port infrastructure at the place of unloading.

In our practice, there has been a large number of projects related to the organization of unloading cargo on an unequipped shore (Wrangel Island, Schmidt Island, Novaya Zemlya, Bolshevik Island, Varandey, Dikson). In this case, for the organization of logistics, several vessels are used — one sea vessel, on which the entire shipment is loaded, and a barge-towing train, which carries out the movement of cargo from the sea vessel to the shore.

Such a format for organizing unloading involves drawing a larger ship with smaller ones to reach and unload upon arriving at the destination. It is very difficult for our customers to arrange such logistics on their own and can be expensive.

Lack of experience and the necessary skills in organizing complex logistics can result in additional costs, as well as losses — up to the failure of a supply contract.

Essential Factors You Should Know About Arctic Sea Shipping:

• There are two navigation periods — summer and winter. Summer — from early July to mid-October. Winter — from November to early May. These are conditional terms regarding the navigation period is determined by the maritime services every year, depending on the weather.
• Drafts of vessels and the passing draft at the place of unloading — for the correct selection of the vessel, you need to take into account and know all the data. Precipitation at each specific unloading site may vary from year to year; in the execution of complex projects, we organize the measurement of the water area.
• Rules for the location of cargo on the ship. Trying to draw up your own cargo plan can result into a failure during the real loading. The cargo plan should be drawn up by a specialist who knows the real specifics of the placement of cargo on the ship, and not only the theoretical foundations. We help our clients to solve these problems.
• Ensuring the securing of cargo on the ship — if you do not want to be responsible for the safety of the cargo during transportation, then it would be more appropriate to transfer this responsibility to the forwarder, who will organize the correct securing of the cargo and will be held responsible by you.

Most often customers turn to us for chartering vessels for transportation in the Ob Guba basin, the water area of the Barents and Kara Seas. The main locations are Kharasavey, Sabetta, Salman, Urengoy, Dudinka, Dikson, Pevek, Tiksi.

We also organize the freight of vessels for the carriage of goods along the rivers — Ob, Yenisei, Severnaya Dvina, Lena, Volga-Baltic channel. You can read more about river transportation by clicking on the link.

For more information and sending an application for an estimate, you can contact us by phone at +7 (495) 514-02-55 or 8 (800) 700-49-06, or by sending a request to the address ops@belomortrans.ru or inbox@belomortrans.ru.