Fixture recap
What a recap contains, why it prevails over the later formal charter party, and why the standard form edition must be named in it.
A fixture recap is the message that records the terms agreed at the moment of fixing: the ship, the cargo or the period, the freight or hire, the laycan, the trading limits, the named standard form with its edition, and every amendment to that form.
The recap is the operative contract from the moment of fixing, and the formal charter party document drawn up afterwards records the same terms at greater length. A recap reading “GENCON 2022 as amended per recap” pulls in the whole printed form and overlays only the listed changes, which is why naming the edition matters: GENCON 1994 and GENCON 2022 are materially different contracts on liability, laytime and cancellation.
The full article will cover recap structure and the order in which terms are read, the relationship between the recap, the printed form and the rider clauses, the evidential status of the broker’s recap, and the disputes that arise when a recap is silent or ambiguous.