Dry Bulk Chartering: Why Loading Terms Matter to the Freight Rate

Cargo owners often request a freight rate by providing the commodity, quantity, loading port and destination.

For dry bulk shipping, that is only part of the calculation.

Loading and discharging terms can materially affect the freight a shipowner is prepared to quote.

A vessel earns freight while transporting cargo, but it also spends time waiting and working in port.

If loading or discharging is slow, the total voyage takes longer.

That additional time has a commercial value.

Consider two otherwise identical cargoes.

One terminal can load 8,000 tonnes per day. Another can load only 2,500 tonnes per day.

The voyage distance may be exactly the same, but the vessel employment period is not.

The same applies at the discharge port.

For this reason, owners normally want to know:

• cargo quantity;
• loading and discharging ports;
• laycan;
• loading rate;
• discharging rate;
• working-hour restrictions;
• berth limitations;
• whether terms are FIO, FIOS, liner or otherwise agreed.

Port congestion and draft restrictions can further affect the calculation.

Providing realistic loading and discharging terms from the beginning helps the broker obtain a freight indication that reflects the actual voyage rather than an incomplete theoretical calculation.

Kiev Shipping works with coaster, Handysize, Supramax and other dry bulk tonnage across the Black Sea, Mediterranean, Continent, Baltic, Red Sea and Middle East trades.

A good freight enquiry should describe not only where the cargo is going, but also how quickly the vessel can work at both ends.

More information: dry bulk cargo chartering.