Settle Laytime and Demurrage Claims Faster With Fewer Disputes
Build laytime statements from clean evidence so demurrage claims are calculated once, agreed quickly and paid without months of back-and-forth.
A vessel waits five days at anchorage. The owner sends a demurrage claim. The charterer replies months later disputing the NOR tender time, rain stoppages and shifting time. The agent's statement of facts differs from the terminal's. Everyone digs through emails, and the claim sits unpaid while both sides argue about hours.
Laytime calculation is rarely the hard part. The hard part is agreeing which facts and which clauses apply. When the SOF, NOR, pumping logs and charter party exceptions are scattered, every claim gets built from scratch, errors creep in, and some claims miss the time bar entirely and are lost.
What is the difference between laytime and demurrage?
Laytime is the time the charter party allows for loading or discharging without extra payment. Demurrage is the agreed amount the charterer pays the owner when that time is exceeded. Despatch, if agreed, is paid by the owner when cargo work finishes early.
Why do demurrage claims get rejected?
Common reasons are disputed NOR validity, conflicting statements of facts, exceptions not applied, missing supporting documents and claims submitted after the time bar. Most can be avoided by reconciling evidence before calculating and submitting a complete pack.
What is a demurrage time bar?
Many charter parties include a clause requiring demurrage claims, with specified supporting documents, to be submitted within a set period after discharge. If missed, the claim may be lost. Check the exact wording in each charter party, as terms vary.