Charter chains and sub-chartering
Head owner, disponent owner and sub-charterer: back-to-back terms, the mismatch risk, and the lien on sub-freights.
A charter chain exists where a ship is chartered and then sub-chartered down a series of contracts, each a separate charter party. The intermediate party, who holds the ship on a head charter and charters it out again, is the disponent owner.
The disponent owner takes the spread between what it pays up the chain and what it earns down it, and carries the risk that the two contracts do not match. A back-to-back mismatch, where a liability incurred on the head charter is not recoverable on the sub-charter because the wording diverges, is the standing hazard of chain chartering. Chains are common in dry bulk and in the offshore and project trades, and can run several links deep on different forms.
The full article will cover the disponent owner’s position, back-to-back drafting and the terms that most often fail to match, consent to sub-charter, the owner’s lien on cargo and sub-freights, and how a claim is passed up or down a chain within the applicable time bars.