Despatch-All time saved (ATS). If the charterparty does not specify which description of time attracts despatch, it is presumed that despatch will be payable for all time saved. In this situation, the time saved to the vessel will be from the completion of loading and/or discharging until the expiry of the allowed laytime and will include periods which would normally be exceptions to laytime. This differs from despatch payable for “all working time saved”.
The reason for the presumption of despatch payable on all time saved, in the absence of express words, is that if demurrage was payable, the principle “once on demurrage, always on demurrage” leads to a presumption of demurrage payable without the charterer’s normally benefiting from the exceptions to laytime.
If one clause in the charterparty specifies the laytime allowed and also deals with despatch but another clause specifies the demurrage payable, the owner may be able to establish that the presumption does not apply because the same clause prescribes laytime and its exceptions and therefore the exceptions should also apply to despatch.
If the same clause in the charterparty prescribes laytime, demurrage and despatch, but the words specifically except periods for which despatch is payable, the presumption also may not apply. For example, if despatch is payable for “each `clear’ day saved in loading (or discharging) “, an arbitrator or a court may decide that despatch is not payable for Sundays and holidays because these are not “clear days.
