Charter Party vs Bill of Lading:
A Charter Party is when the owner of a ship allows conveyance in whole or a principle part of a ship to another person, on a particular voyage for an amount of time, or to one or more places. Basically this means that the ship is being leased. There are three main types of Charter Parties:
a. Voyage: This is when the Ship is hired for one voyage and contains the full cargo of the shipper alone. The owner of the vessel is in charge of manning the vessel and its navigation.
b. Time Charter: This when the ship remains under the control of the owner also, but sets up an amount of time the cargo is allowed on the ship, not its destination. The captain and crew are the owners and they are responsible for navigation.
c. Demise Charter: Often referred to as a Barefoot Charter. This when full control of the ship is taken by the charterer. His Captain, and his crew, are in charge of the vessel. Charterer basically has full legal control of the vessel.
While a Charter Party can have cargo that is not its own on a vessel, most Charter Party cargoes are fully the only cargo on the chartered ship. When a shipper is going to transport cargo on a ship with other cargo from other shippers, it usually will be shipped under a Bill of Lading. A bill of lading acts as three things at once:
a. Carrier acknowledgment of receipt of goods. (Receipt)
b. A contract of carriage. (Evidence).
c. A negotiable instrument, (Title).
(Keenan)
A bill of lading assumes none of the responsibilities of the ship, the captain, or the crew, or the owner. It does show the goods, (and in some cases their condition), when received by the shipping company and/or owner. An on-board bill of lading is given when the Cargo has loaded onto the ship, A received bill of lading shows that the shipping company has taken the goods into their custody, but may not have loaded them yet onto the vessel itself. (Manaadiar)
Thus for me because I rarely ship a full cargo-carrier cargo space I would choose a bill of lading. This limits my liability for ship, crew, and navigation while my goods are transported. The bill of lading I received will act as my Carrier Receipt, Evidence of a contract with carrier, and clear up when and who has title to the goods being shipped and the liability that title of goods may bring.
Sources:
Hariesh Manaadiar, Difference between received for shipment, shipped on board and clean on board, Bill of Lading (Shipping and Freight Resource Feb. 6, 2013), http://shippingandfreightresource.com/difference-between-received-for-shipment-shipped-on-board-clean-on-board-clean-shipped-on-board/.
Roman T. Keenan, Marquette Law Review Charter Parties and Bills of Lading CHARTER PARTIES AND BILLS OF LADING* (2016).
A Charter Party is when the owner of a ship allows conveyance in whole or a principle part of a ship to another person, on a particular voyage for an amount of time, or to one or more places. Basically this means that the ship is being leased. There are three main types of Charter Parties:
a. Voyage: This is when the Ship is hired for one voyage and contains the full cargo of the shipper alone. The owner of the vessel is in charge of manning the vessel and its navigation.
b. Time Charter: This when the ship remains under the control of the owner also, but sets up an amount of time the cargo is allowed on the ship, not its destination. The captain and crew are the owners and they are responsible for navigation.
c. Demise Charter: Often referred to as a Barefoot Charter. This when full control of the ship is taken by the charterer. His Captain, and his crew, are in charge of the vessel. Charterer basically has full legal control of the vessel.
While a Charter Party can have cargo that is not its own on a vessel, most Charter Party cargoes are fully the only cargo on the chartered ship. When a shipper is going to transport cargo on a ship with other cargo from other shippers, it usually will be shipped under a Bill of Lading. A bill of lading acts as three things at once:
a. Carrier acknowledgment of receipt of goods. (Receipt)
b. A contract of carriage. (Evidence).
c. A negotiable instrument, (Title).
(Keenan)
A bill of lading assumes none of the responsibilities of the ship, the captain, or the crew, or the owner. It does show the goods, (and in some cases their condition), when received by the shipping company and/or owner. An on-board bill of lading is given when the Cargo has loaded onto the ship, A received bill of lading shows that the shipping company has taken the goods into their custody, but may not have loaded them yet onto the vessel itself. (Manaadiar)
Thus for me because I rarely ship a full cargo-carrier cargo space I would choose a bill of lading. This limits my liability for ship, crew, and navigation while my goods are transported. The bill of lading I received will act as my Carrier Receipt, Evidence of a contract with carrier, and clear up when and who has title to the goods being shipped and the liability that title of goods may bring.
Sources:
Hariesh Manaadiar, Difference between received for shipment, shipped on board and clean on board, Bill of Lading (Shipping and Freight Resource Feb. 6, 2013), http://shippingandfreightresource.com/difference-between-received-for-shipment-shipped-on-board-clean-on-board-clean-shipped-on-board/.
Roman T. Keenan, Marquette Law Review Charter Parties and Bills of Lading CHARTER PARTIES AND BILLS OF LADING* (2016).