Time Charter

A time charter (or Time Charter Party) can be defined as the hire contract for a vessel for a specific period of time or for a specified round-trip voyage. The charterer has the use of the vessel at a specified hire rate/day and provides and pays for fuel, port costs, and pilotage. The charterer may also sub-charter the vessel on a time charter or voyage charter basis. The shipowner retains responsibility for navigation and most operations aboard the vessel.The Voyage estimator enables an unlimited number of time charter calculations (or estimates) as to calculate and analyse potential profitability of voyages (compared to the cost of a vessel) without turning a calculation into an actual voyage. Several separate calculations for the same voyage can be performed, and maybe one selected for fixture.

Each calculation (or estimate) is identified by a unique number and can be shared, copied and if needed, retrieved at a later date. Each calculation can, however, only be edited by the user who initiated them. The estimates are auto-saved and several can be open in different tabs simultaneously at any one time.

The Time Charter interface is a single calculations screen divided into four main sections: the main calculation field, a port rotation panel and duration and rates panel displaying all duration and rates of an estimated voyage and a various revenue/cost panel for all cost/revenue items related to the voyage. There are additional features and functions to further improve accuracy and effectiveness, for example scheduling, running reports, etc.

All estimates can be frozen and transferred to the Bookings & Operations module for execution, thereby becoming Actual Voyages (or fixtures). Once frozen, Dataloy VMS automatically generates a voyage number, a schedule and a live copy of a calculation enabling future tracking, scheduling and post voyage analysis (i.e. the running of both a Preliminary and an Adjusted report of the voyage).