6.1.2　Charter Shipping租船运输

An overwhelming majority of ocean transport goes by liner.However,liner shipping cannot satisfy all the needs for international transport.A number of factors may prevent you from shipping by a liner.For example,there is no direct ship to your port of destination,or no liner service at all for cargoes of certain physical nature,size or quantity,such as some low-value or price-sensitive commodities.In these cases,you may hire a vessel just for your service.This is called charter shipping or tramp shipping.The word “charter”can be used both as a noun and a verb.As a verb,it means “to hire a vehicle for one’s own use”.If you go by charter shipping,neither the route nor the loading port,unloading port or sailing date is fixed.Different from a standard shipping contract under liner shipping,you sign a unique contract with the ship owner,which is called a “charter party”,and you,the shipper,will be the “charterer”.Both you and the ship owner’s rights and obligations are negotiated and stipulated in the charter party.