Rate of loading or discharging. This is usually given in a charterparty in tons per day and is used to calculate the laytime.
It can be qualified by a reference to the method used to handle the cargo such as “x metric tons per day mechanical”. When a charterer wishes to protect his possible right to despatch he may give a low cargo-handling rate and when the cargo operations are corned out the faster rate allows the vessel to be completed within the agreed laytime. In a fixture, the rates for each operation may differ depending on the cargo-handling facilities in the loading and discharging ports, or the laytime may be fixed for both operations. The rate of loading and discharging may also be mixed for example; the laytime for loading can be, say, five days and that for discharging calculated at 10,000 metric tons per day. For example, a fixture can be reported as follows:
Duluth to Venice, Vessel, 18,000t, heavy grains/sorghum/soya beans, $28, fio, three days/3,000t, Oct 25-30 (2013).
