Bareboat Charter

A special type of agreement we have seen in ocean freight shipping is a bareboat charter. Essentially, in a bareboat charter, you might have a shipping company that rents the vessel used for transportation, instead of simply owning it. The real owner of the vessel would receive a flat fee from the charterer to use the ship for a set amount of time. Another term is called the charter party, which is a contract for renting ships for transporting different types of international shipping containers across the ocean.

The reason that a company might choose a bareboat charter is like the difference between renting vs. owning. For some companies, renting a vessel makes more sense depending on their situation. After the contract is signed, the charterer should remember that they are maintaining most of the responsibilities for the ship. Those responsibilities include safety and hiring of the ship’s crew. And the charterer must pay for all of the expenses, including the fuel and payments to the crew. Usually when getting a vessel, the charter does not inherit a crew and sometimes doesn’t receive any technical help from the ships’ real owner.

A bareboat charter can play an important role in shipping. It should be noted that a bareboat charter is not the same as a yacht charter, which is for yachts. A bareboat charter is something that shippers could see when they are interested in transporting freight. For more questions, you can speak to your trusted freight forwarder. From there, they will guide you through the international shipping process.