Piracy clauses for charter contracts

The association called BIMCO (Baltic and International Maritime Council) has released newly revised suggested clauses to be used in ship charter contracts.

These clauses relate to the responsibilities and liabilities in the event a ship is hijacked.

Here are the comments:

After many months of careful development work and consultation BIMCO has published three new Piracy Clauses. The suite of clauses consist of a revision of the Piracy Clause for Time Charter Parties, first issued in March 2009, plus two newly developed Piracy Clauses – one for single voyage charter parties and one for consecutive voyage charter parties and contracts of affreightment. The Time Charter Party version of the Piracy Clause has been revised in response to industry comments that the responsibilities and liabilities of the parties in the event of the seizure of the vessel by pirates were perceived as being imbalanced. The two new Clauses provide contractual solutions for short term spot fixtures where the cost and risk remain with the owners, and also for longer term consecutive voyages and COAs where risk and cost is shared between the owners and the charterers.

These clauses can be downloaded free of charge.

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