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Traffic Manual

II.8.1. Example of a charterparty including sub-charter and share-charter agreements

Shared chartering

This section describes the commercial aspects of charter-sharing, with particular emphasis on container transport and its implications for EU transit.

1. Introduction

In the container transport sector, shared chartering is commonly known as "slot chartering." A slot is a portion of the ship's cargo space with a precise size that corresponds to a container or a container unit. There are two types of containers:

  1. TEU = twenty-foot equivalent unit
    and
  2. FEU = forty-foot equivalent unit (also known as 2 TEU container)

Note: There are other types of containers, namely 10-foot, high cube, 45-foot, etc.

2. Slot charter modalities

There are two basic modalities:

  1. ordinary slot chartering;
  2. the ship-sharing agreement.

3. Ordinary slot chartering

Under an ordinary slot charter party, a charterer (a shipping company) charters a specified number of slots from an owner (another shipping company with free cargo capacity on a vessel). The charterer will (usually) pay an amount for the total number of chartered slots, regardless of whether they can use all of them or not. Ordinary slot chartering will (generally) be contracted for each individual voyage.

4. Ship-sharing agreement

Under a vessel sharing agreement, two (or more) shipping companies agree to make a specified number of slots available to each other(s) on designated vessels or routes. Generally, these agreements are established on a reciprocal basis, and the participating shipping companies do not expect any payment in return for the use of the slots.

5. Commercial consequences

  1. Apart from the fact that ordinary slot chartering involves the payment of a sum and vessel sharing agreements do not, both types of chartering are carried out using the same legal procedure.

  2. The system operates as an ordinary charter, meaning that goods shipped under vessel-sharing agreements or ordinary slot charter parties are transported in the name of the charterer according to their bill of lading and the corresponding manifests. The shipowner shall issue a single maritime bill of lading showing the total number of slots used (and not a separate bill of lading for each container or shipment). The shipowner shall not have (apart from the declarations for the transport of dangerous goods and similar goods) the underlying documentation for each individual shipment: shipper, recipient, content, etc.

  3. Goods transported under vessel-sharing agreements or slot charter parties are in fact carried as if on board one of the charterer's vessels.

  4. The shipper/consignee shall not be required to know, nor shall there be any obligation to inform him/her, that part of the carriage was carried out on board a vessel under a vessel-sharing agreement or a slot charter party.

  5. The shipper/consignee will receive a bill of lading issued by the shipping company with which they signed the transport contract.

6. Consequences for the transition of the Union

In the case of shared chartering commercial agreements, each of the participating shipping companies may act as the holder of the regime provided that all manifests fully comply with the requirements stipulated in Articles 50 and 51 of the ADT.

Furthermore, the reference to the maritime bill of lading appearing in the manifest of the vessel carrying the goods will indicate to the competent authorities at the port of destination that transit controls must be carried out on the charterer's manifests and bills of lading.

7. Consequences for the authorization of regular maritime services

  1. In the event of shared chartering agreements, the application for authorization to establish a regular service will be submitted by the person (the lessor or charterer) who defines the regular maritime service.  Customs authorities may request any information they deem necessary to evaluate the applicant, including the charter party.

  2. Examples:

Example 1:

  • The vessel Goodwill is owned by shipowner A, who has entered into a time charter party with shipping company B. Under the charter party, A places his vessel at the disposal of B.
  • B assumes responsibility for the commercial management of the leased vessel. Specify the ports your vessel will serve (regular maritime service). B enters into a vessel sharing agreement (share charter) with C, another shipping company, to ensure that the vessel is fully utilized, thereby entering into a share charter arrangement under which B assigns commercial operation of part of the vessel Goodwill to C, but retains operational use of the remainder of the vessel. B will request authorization to establish a regular maritime service using the vessel Goodwill.

Example 2:

Services
(1)		 Ships
(2)		 People in charge of defining the service(3) Charterers on shared charter(4)
Rotterdam — Dublin — Rosslare — Antwerp — Le Havre — Lisbon — Leixões — Vigo Corvette
and
Caravel		 A B: in the Corvette: Rosslare — Antwerp — Le Havre — Lisbon; on the Caravel: Rosslare — Antwerp — Le Havre — Lisbon — Vigo
C: in the Corvette: Rotterdam — Rosslare — Antwerp — Le Havre — Lisbon; on the Caravel: Rosslare — Antwerp — Le Havre — Lisbon — Vigo
D: in the Corvette: Rotterdam — Rosslare — Antwerp — Le Havre — Lisbon
Rotterdam — Dublin — Rosslare — Antwerp — Le Havre — Bilbao — Lisbon — Leixões — Vigo Douro B A: Rotterdam — Dublin — Rosslare — Antwerp — Le Havre — Bilbao
C: Rosslare — Antwerp — Le Havre — Bilbao — Lisbon — Leixões
D: Antwerp — Le Havre — Bilbao — Lisbon — Leixões — Vigo
Rotterdam — Dublin — Rosslare — Antwerp — Le Havre — Lisbon — Leixoes – Vigo Angela J C A: Rotterdam — Dublin — Rosslare — Antwerp — Le Havre — Lisbon
B: Rotterdam — Rosslare — Antwerp — Le Havre — Lisbon
D: Antwerp — Le Havre — Lisbon — Leixões — Vigo
Rotterdam — Dublin — Rosslare — Antwerp — Le Havre — Bilbao — Lisbon — Leixões — Vigo Goodwill D A: Rotterdam — Dublin — Rosslare — Antwerp — Le Havre — Lisbon
B: Rotterdam — Rosslare — Antwerp — Le Havre — Lisbon
C: Antwerp — Le Havre — Lisbon — Leixões — Vigo

  • Column 1 lists the services, indicating the ports to be used by the vessel(s). Regular maritime service authorization is required for these services.

  • Column 2 includes the names of the vessel(s) assigned to the different services. If covered by a single application for regular maritime service authorization, vessels must call at all ports mentioned in the application.

  • Column 3 shows the name of the person responsible for establishing the service (ports of call, etc.). This is the same person who requests the authorization and who must inform the charterers of the shared charter (see column 4) of the "regular" service status. Obviously, this person can also transport goods using this service.

  • Column 4 lists the names of the various members of the charterparty who have rented space on a vessel from a lessor. These persons do not need to apply for any authorization, but they must follow, or ensure that their clients do, the customs procedures applicable (depending on the customs status of the goods transported) to "regular" services.

c) Contents of the application and authorization for regular maritime service:

The regular maritime service authorization is completed by following the instructions below:

  • General instructions:
    The European Commission and the customs authorities of the Member States will archive the authorization and have access to it, as well as any amendments to it, using the electronic information and communication system for regular maritime services.

  • Casillas:

Box 1:

Please provide the name of the shipping company or its representative, as well as their full address.
If the commercial management of a vessel is shared by several companies that specify common ports of service, please indicate the name of each of the shipping companies in question or their representative, as well as their full address.
In this case, each shipping company must be listed as an applicant in the individual application for regular maritime service.

Box 2:

Please list all ports of call, in order of call, for a given route. The name of each port must be followed by the corresponding ISO country code [for example: Rotterdam (NL), Dublin (IE), Le Havre (FR)].
When the authorization granted covers several routes, each of them must be identified by a number [for example: 1. Rotterdam (NL) — Dublin (IE), Le Havre (FR)]; 2. Lisbon (PT) – Vigo (ES) – Bilbao (ES); etc.].

Box 3:

Indicate the name of the vessel or vessels that will operate on the route specified in box 2. If more than one route is shown in box 2, vessels must be identified by the number of the route they serve (for example: 1. Neptune, Goodwill; 2. Corvette; 3. Douro; etc.).

Box 4:

Please indicate the name of the charterer(s) participating in the share charter (not the name of the vessels). The person requesting authorization must provide the name(s) of the charterers involved in the shared charter to the customs authorities. It should be noted that charterers on a share charter are not certificate holders and are not listed in Box 1.

Box 5:

The shipping company(ies) or their representatives listed in box 1 must date and sign this box.

Box A:

The name of the Member State shall be followed by its ISO country code in parentheses: (AT), (BE), (BG), (CY), (CZ), (DE), (DK), (EE), (ES), (FI), (FR), (GR), (HR), (HU), (IE), (IT), (LT), (LU), (LV), (MT), (NL), (PL), (PT), (RO), (SE), (SI) or (SK).