Customary pilotage
Overview
BIMCO is confronted from time to time with inquiries as to whether pilotage in a certain area may be "customary". It seems that more and more time charter parties refer to such pilotage. BIMCO is not sure how and when the expression crept into a time charter party the first time. However, it is fairly certain that the implications of the salient provision are obscure, even to those who invented it. The point is that it is quite difficult, if not impossible, to establish whether or not pilotage in a certain area may be termed "customary". The first difficulty is that it is necessary to find an objective yardstick when trying to establish whether or not pilotage may be "customary". Various factors will have to be considered; vessel's size, the frequency of the particular size plying the particular area, the total number of ships plying the particular area, the time of year, etc., etc. For instance, it may be common for vessels of a particular size to employ a pilot, but what if the particular size is a minority in the particular area? Can one say then that pilotage in the area is "customary"? If the masters employed by the particular ship-owner as a rule employ pilots when trading in the particular area does that make it "customary"? Would time charterers have a point if they could show that the previous five ships in their time charter did not employ pilot when trading to the particul...
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Posted:
02 June 2016
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