Lien is a charge on proprety for the payment of a debt. 

Lien is special property right in a vessel given to a creditor by law as security for debt or claim arising from some service rendered to the ship.

Basic purpose of lien is to provide security for a claim while permitting the ship to proceed on her way in order to earn the freight or hire necessary to pay off the claim. 

It is different from the general common law lien.

It is a secret lien.

Maritime Lien does not require recordation. 

Contract Lien

                For maritime lien to exist, there must be a maritime claim. There is no maritime lien for breach of an executory contract.

Preferred Ship Mortgages 

Lien for necessaries.

Heavy weight, often sea water, which gives a ship stability and improves handling when she is at sea and

not carrying cargo.

The hiring or leasing of a ship for a period of time during which the shipowner provides only the ship while the charterer provides the crew together with all stores and bunkers and pays all operating costs. 

This type of charter is favoured by persons or companies who wish to own a ship for investment purposes but who do not have the desire or expertise to operate the ship. For example, banking organisations may finance a newbuilding and charter it out to a ship operator.

Document issued by a shipowner to a shipper of goods. It serves three purposes: a receipt for the goods, evidence of the contract of carriage and document of title. It contains full details of the cargo. 

One original bill of lading is surrendered to the carrying ship at the discharge port or destination in exchange for the goods. Such a bill of lading is then said to be accomplished.

Generally, all the information relating to the cargo, the origin and destination and the name of ship is contained in boxes on one side of the document. The contents on the reverse of the document depend on the nature of the contract itself.

Content of Bill of Lading Box

Shipper; consignee; notify party; place of receipt; vessel name; port of loading; port of discharge; place of delivery; number and kind of packages; description of goods; gross weight; freight details and charges; place and date of issue; signature.

One of the three functions of the bill of lading is that of document of title. In this capacity, it may be passed by the shipper to a third party, most often the buyer of the goods or the buyer’s agent. This third party, once in possession of the bill of lading, is known as the bearer of the bill of lading. Copy bills of lading are used for administrative purposes only and are said to be non-negotiable bills of lading.

Most liner bills of lading are printed on both sides. On the face (front) are boxes or spaces into which are entered all the information necessary to identify the particular cargo, the journey, the names and addresses of cargo interests and, possibly, other details, such as freight. The back of charter-party bills of lading usually contains a reference to the charter-party together with a small number of the more important clauses such as the clause paramount and the general average clause.

Clause paramount; deck cargo clause; demise clause; demurrage clause; deviation clause; exception clause; general average clause; freight clause; lien clause; litigation clause; war, strike and ice clause.

Ship’s fuel. The amount of fuel burned by a ship, the prices paid and changes in price are important in a number of contexts: in time charters, voyage charters and liner contracts.

Shipping lines and liner conferences may set their freight rates for long periods, typically for a year, and are therefore vulnerable to changes in the prices of bunkers. For this reason, they may apply a surcharge, known variously as a bunker surcharge, bunker adjustment factor, fuel oil surcharge, fuel adjustment factor or interim fuel participation, to reflect fluctuations in prices. This surcharge is expressed in different ways: as an amount per container, per freight ton or as a percentage of the freight.

Organisations whose main function is to carry out surveys of ships whilst being built and at regular intervals after construction, their purpose being to set and maintain standards of construction and upkeep for ships and their equipment. Each classification society has a set of rules governing the requirements for surveys and a number of classes; these are categories denoting the type of ship and the classification society with which she is classed. Probably the best known class is 100Al used by Lloyd’s Register of Shipping and other classification societies. The assigning of a class depends on a ship being constructed in accordance with the classification society’s rules and, for a ship to maintain her class, she must continue

to comply with these rules.

In its general sense, a contract of affreightment is any contract for the hire of a ship. However, it has a specialised meaning, that is, a contract for a series of voyages involving bulk cargoes.

BIMCO, the Baltic and International Maritime Council, publishes two forms to cover this type of contract: a Standard Volume Contract of Affreightment for the Transportation of Bulk Dry Cargoes, codenamed Volcoa, and a Tanker Contract of Affreightment, codenamed Intercoa 80, this latter being issued by INTERTANKO, the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners.

Rules governing the interpretation of terms used in international trade, published by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). Against each of the terms are defined the duties of buyer and seller. These rules are incorporated into a contract of sale by agreement of the two parties. This is done by means of a clause in the contract.

CFR

“Cost and Freight” means that the seller must pay the costs and freight necessary to bring the goods to the named port of destination but the risk of loss of or damage to the goods, as well as any additional costs due to events occurring after the time the goods have been delivered on board the vessel, is transferred from the seller to the buyer when the goods pass the ship’s rail in the port of shipment.

The CFR term requires the seller to clear the goods for export. This term can only be used for sea and inland waterway transport. When the ship’s rail serves no practical purpose, such as in the case of roll-on/roll-off or container traffic, the CPT term is more appropriate to use.

CIF

“Cost, Insurance and Freight” means that the seller has the same obligations as under CFR but with the addition that he has to procure marine insurance against the buyer’s risk of loss of or damage to the goods during the carriage. The seller contracts for insurance and pays the insurance premium.

The buyer should note that under the CIF term the seller is only required to obtain insurance on minimum coverage. The CIF term requires the seller to clear the goods for export. This term can only be used for sea and inland waterway transport. When the ship’s rail serves no practical purposes such as in the case of roll-on/roll-off or container traffic, the CIP term is more appropriate to use.

CPT

“Carriage paid to …” means that the seller pays the freight for the carriage of the goods to the named destination. The risk of loss of or damage to the goods, as well as any additional costs due to events occurring after the time the goods have been delivered to the carrier, is transferred from the seller to the buyer when the goods have been delivered into the custody of the carrier. “Carrier” means any person who, in a contract of carriage, undertakes to perform or to procure the performance of, carriage, by rail, road, sea, air, inland waterway or by a combination of such modes. If subsequent carriers are used for the carriage to the agreed destination, the risk passes when the goods have been delivered to the first carrier. The CPT term requires the seller to clear the goods for export. This term may be used for any mode of transport including multimodal transport.

“Carriage and insurance paid to …” means that the seller has the same obligations as under CPT but with the addition that the seller has to procure cargo insurance against the buyer’s risk of loss of or damage to the goods during the carriage. The seller contracts for insurance and pays the insurance premium.

The buyer should note that under the CIP term the seller is only required to obtain insurance on minimum coverage. The CIP term requires the seller to clear the goods for export. This term may be used for any mode of transport including multimodal transport.

“Ex works” means that the seller fulfils his obligation to deliver when he has made the goods available at his premises (i.e. works, factory, warehouse, etc.) to the buyer. In particular, he is not responsible for loading the goods on the vehicle provided by the buyer or for clearing the goods for export, unless otherwise agreed. The buyer bears all costs and risks involved in taking the goods from the seller’s premises to the desired destination. This term thus represents the minimum obligation for the seller. This term should not be used when the buyer cannot carry out directly or indirectly the export formalities. In such circumstances, the FCA term should be used.

FCA

“Free Carrier” means that the seller fulfils his obligation to deliver when he has handed over the goods, cleared for export, into the charge of the carrier named by the buyer at the named place or point. If no precise point is indicated by the buyer, the seller may choose within the place or range stipulated where the carrier shall take the goods into his charge. When, according to commercial practice, the seller’s assistance is required in making the contract with the carrier (such as in rail or air transport) the seller may act at the buyer’s risk and expense. This term may be used for any mode of transport, including multimodal transport.

 “Carrier” means any person who, in a contract of carriage, undertakes to perform or to procure the performance of carriage by rail, road, sea, air, inland waterway or by a combination of such modes. If the buyer instructs the seller to deliver the cargo to a person, e.g. a freight forwarder who is not a “carrier”, the seller is deemed to have fulfilled his obligation to deliver the goods when they are in the custody of that person.

“Transport terminal”, means a railway terminal, a freight station, a container terminal or yard, a multipurpose cargo terminal or any similar receiving point.

“Container” includes any equipment used to unitise cargo, e.g. all types of containers and/or flats, whether ISO accepted or not, trailers, swap bodies, ro-ro equipment, and applies to all modes of transport.

“Free Alongside Ship” means that the seller fulfils his obligation to deliver when the goods have been placed alongside the vessel on the quay or in lighters at the named port of shipment.

This means that the buyer has to bear all costs and risks of loss of or damage to the goods from that moment. The FAS term requires the buyer to clear the goods for export. It should not be used when the buyer cannot carry out directly or indirectly the export formalities.

This term can only be used for sea or inland waterway transport.

“Free on Board” means that the seller fulfils his obligation to deliver when the goods have passed over the ship’s rail at the named port of shipment. This means that the buyer has to bear all costs and risks of loss of or damage to the goods from that point.

The FOB term requires the seller to clear the goods for export.

This term can only be used for sea or inland waterway transport. When the ship’s rail serves no practical purpose, such as in the case of roll-on/roll-off or container traffic, the FCA term is more appropriate to use.