There have been enough tomesi written on Notice of Readiness (“NOR”) and the intention of this article is not to add on to these. Given that issues on NOR’s regularly rears up, the Association of Maritime International Commercial Interests & Expertise (“AMICIE”) recently published their suggested NOR+LAYTIME C/Pii clause and circulated to their members and the public for their review and consideration. We would welcome readers to consider and comment on the clause suggested by AMICIE and if found appropriate, to incorporate the same.
Our grouse is perhaps the Industry is moving at a snail’s pace on the use of technology with respect to processes related to International Trade, including NOR’s (for instance, while electronic Bills of Lading have been available for more than 30 years, the take up by the industry, in percentages, is still in single digits). Accordingly, we would welcome users to consider using technology to better manage the processes instead of relying on the usual practices. In the case of NOR’s, technology could not only be used to serve notices from the Master to the Charterer and so on but also provide evidence as to whether the vessel is an arrived ship together with the “readiness”. In this regard, Mr Punit Ozaiii had earlier written an article on Laytime, Law and Leveraging Technology propounding the use of technology to resolve issues related to the validity of NOR’s.
As of now, we understand that there is no specific platform / app available to deal with NOR’s (there are some platforms/apps available for Laytime and calculation of demurrageiv). Perhaps, the development can be incremental by way of extending the Laytime/Demurrage apps to include NOR’s and subsequently, the processes could be digitized right from the time the charter is being negotiated. Given that this is the last newsletter of the year, we would request readers to consider various shipping processes which could be optimised either by digitilisation or otherwise to make the journey easier, smoother, quicker and dispute free!
We also take this opportunity to wish you all Season’s Greetings and a Very Happy and Prosperous 2022.
i. See article by North of England P&I Association and which can be viewed at https://www.nepia.com/articles/is-your-notice-of-readiness-valid/ and by West of England P&I Association at and which can be viewed at https://www.westpandi.com/getattachment/8d140487-574c-41e8-8a3e-38033e127082/defence-guide_notice_of_readiness_4pp_v2_lr.pdf
ii. 1.(a)Vessel to tender NOR to nominated party on arrival at specified location at load/discharge port and being ready in all respects to handle cargo as contracted. In case the location is not accessible due to any reason whatsoever including congestion, time to count from anchoring, drifting safely or positioning as directed by port/terminal authorities.
2.(a) Time to count either 6 hours after tendering NOR or “All fast” whichever occurs earlier.
(b) Two hours allowed for entering/clearing port formalities, if not carried out during six hours in (a).
(c) Laytime, reversible/not reversible** to count six hours from NOR whether inward cleared and in berth or port or not** if they are unavailable due to reasons not attributable to the vessel.
(d) Under Berth charters, duration for shifting from waiting location/pilot station to berth not to be counted as laytime.
(e) Weather delay if any affecting cargo work during waiting time is to/not to count** as laytime
(f) Cargo work effected during any free time to be counted as laytime.
3. On expiry of laytime all time used to be under demurrage, payable daily. Despatch if any on unutilised laytime to be paid at half/same rate as demurrage. Duration if any beyond reasonable demurrage period may be claimed as damages**.
**strike out one of the options underlined
iii. He is presently the Executive Director of Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration and the Vice Chairman of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, Singapore Branch.
iv. See https://sapfioriapps.com/f3390/, https://www.burmester-vogel.com, http://www.idemurrage.com, etc
Vijayalakshmi
A very Happy New Year to you and your family sir