Laytime

Lay Days (or Laytime) is the period of time a charterparty agreement allows for the loading or discharge of cargo at a port, after which demurrage begins to accrue. Laytime starts when a Notice of Readiness (NOR) is tendered by the ship’s master and accepted by the charterer’s shore agent, and is recorded in the Statement of Facts (SoF) signed by both parties at the conclusion of operations. Lay days are central to bulk-vessel chartering, tanker shipments, dry-bulk carriers, project-cargo ships, where the charterer commits to a specific load or discharge rate (e.g. “10,000 MT per weather working day, Sundays and holidays excluded”). Container shipping uses free time + demurrage rather than laytime, but the underlying concept is the same. This entry also covers Notice of Readiness and Statement of Facts.

How laytime works

A typical charterparty laytime clause:

“Cargo to be loaded at the rate of 10,000 metric tonnes per weather working day of 24 consecutive hours, Sundays and holidays excluded (SHEX), once notice of readiness has been tendered. Laytime to commence at 14:00 on the next working day after NOR has been tendered, unless sooner commenced.”

Three elements:

1. The rate. Tonnes per day or hours per parcel. For a 30,000 MT parcel at 10,000 MT/day, the laytime is 3 days.
2. The exclusions. SHEX (Sundays and holidays excluded) is common; SHINC (Sundays and holidays included) is the alternative. Weather exceptions can also apply.
3. The commencement. When the laytime clock starts after NOR is tendered.

If the cargo is loaded faster than the laytime rate, the charterer earns despatch (a refund from the owner). If slower, the charterer pays demurrage. Despatch rates are typically half of the demurrage rate.

Notice of Readiness (NOR)

The Notice of Readiness is a formal written declaration by the ship’s master that the vessel has arrived at the port and is ready in all respects to load or discharge:

NOR is typically tendered by VHF radio, telex, email, or hand delivery. The agent’s acceptance (or rejection) determines when laytime commences.

For chemical cargo on tankers, additional NOR conditions often apply: tank-cleanliness inspection by an independent surveyor, prior cargo compatibility, segregation requirements, and inert-gas system verification. A tanker tendering NOR before passing tank inspection has its NOR rejected; laytime does not start until the rejection is cured.

Statement of Facts (SoF)

The Statement of Facts is the chronological log of events at the port from arrival to departure, signed by the ship’s master and the shore agent. It is the primary evidence in any laytime calculation dispute.

A typical SoF entry sequence:

For laytime calculation, the SoF is examined hour by hour. Time excluded from laytime (weather suspension, equipment breakdown on shore, agent delay) is netted out; time charged to laytime is summed; if the cumulative laytime exceeds the contract allowance, demurrage applies.

Demurrage and despatch

Demurrage rates for chemical-cargo tankers in 2026 typically run USD 25,000-45,000 per day for clean tanker ships and USD 15,000-25,000 per day for dry-bulk carriers. For a 30,000 MT chemical cargo with 3-day laytime, every additional day in port costs the charterer USD 25,000-45,000.

How laytime catches charterers off guard

Three failure patterns recur:

1. NOR rejection on arrival. A tanker arriving with a tank-inspection failure has its NOR rejected. Laytime does not start. The owner argues laytime should start anyway because the vessel was at the port; the charterer argues NOR was not validly tendered. Disputes go to charterparty arbitration (usually London).
2. Weather exception ambiguity. A “WWD SHEX” (weather working day, Sundays and holidays excluded) clause excludes time when weather prevents loading. But if the vessel could load but the shore equipment is rain-affected, the time is debatable. SoF entries determine the dispute outcome.
3. Pumping rate vs intake rate. For liquid cargo, the loading rate is governed by the slower of the vessel’s pumping rate or the shore intake rate. A vessel with rated 1,200 MT/hour pumping that loads at 600 MT/hour because the shore tank-line is the bottleneck still gets credit for the slower loading rate. Documentation matters.

Laytime vs container free time

For chemical buyers, the key distinction:

Container chemical buyers see free time and demurrage but rarely see laytime. Bulk chemical buyers (project cargo, large tank shipments by tanker, dry-bulk shipments by bulker) deal with laytime as a routine operational concept.

Practical sourcing notes

For chemical buyers receiving bulk cargo:

• Confirm the laytime clause in the charterparty before agreeing to terms. The rate, exclusions, and commencement provisions matter.
• Maintain SoF discipline. Have a representative on the dock who can countersign the SoF or note objections in real time.
• Track shore-side delays separately. Equipment breakdown, tank-line restriction, or terminal congestion can be argued out of laytime if the SoF supports it.
• For repeat shipments, negotiate laytime allowances based on historical performance, a port that consistently hits 12,000 MT/day deserves a 12,000 MT/day laytime, not the optimistic owner-quoted 15,000.

Related terms

Demurrage is the post-laytime charge. Free Time is the container-shipping equivalent of laytime. FOB and CIF Incoterms determine who absorbs the laytime risk in the contract price. ISO Tank cargo and Twenty-Foot Container cargo follow free-time rules rather than laytime.