Lumpsum charter and Lumpsum freight. Sometimes a vessel is chartered on a “lumpsum” basis and not for a freight rate dependent on the quantity of cargo it carries.
A fixed sum is payable by the charterers for the capacity made available to them by the shipowner. (For timber cargoes, see Intaken Measure.) A report of a fixture of a tanker for a single voyage may read as follows:
Port Bonython (South Australia) to Singapore-“Cloudesdale”, complete cargo black oil (“dirty”) 83,000 dwcc, lumpsum $730,000, option South Korea/Japan, lumpsum $740,000, Delivery date 20 April 2013.
Such a fixture does lead to considerable certainty and removes possible problems such as those connected with deadfreight.
Lumpsum chartering can also be used by liner companies, which may be temporarily short of vessels or capacity and have to resort to chattering tramp vessels in order to meet the requirements of the advertised service. Usually loading and discharging expenses are for the account of the charterers.
