Clear days. The “Charterparty Laytime Definitions” give a definition of “clear days” as:
” `CLEAR DAYS’-means that the day on which the notice (of readiness) is given and the day on which the notice expires are not included in the notice period.”
Charterparties for cargoes of coal sometimes stipulate that “7 clear days’ notice of the expected date of readiness at port of loading will have to be given by owners to charterers in order to enable the charterers to arrange for delivery of the coal at the port of shipment in time. The addition “clear” implies that the first and last days are not included.
Some charterparties provide for so many “clear working days’ notice”, in which case, of course, the notice time will have to be the number of clear days’ notice, deducting any intervening Sundays and holidays.
