Key takeaways
- Confirm the agreed despatch basis before preparing a credit or invoice.
- Keep contractual time saved distinct from schedule improvement.
- Review loading and discharge treatment together where the agreement requires it.
Establish the contractual basis for the review
Collect the recap, form and amendments and locate the despatch provisions. Identify the agreed rate expression, time-saving basis, relevant ports and any related settlement procedure. If the wording is incomplete or inconsistent, obtain clarification from the responsible contractual reviewer before treating a projected credit as an agreed receivable.
BIMCO's laytime definitions distinguish despatch on different bases of time saved. Where those definitions are incorporated, their distinctions require attention; they should not be replaced by the everyday meaning of “finished early”. BIMCO laytime definitions.
Create a short rule sheet with source references. Keep it separate from the voyage budget, which may contain productivity assumptions for planning. An operation beating the budget is commercially useful, but the despatch review must follow the agreement rather than the planner's expectation.
Verify the allowance and completion evidence
Identify the agreed allowance basis and the quantity or other input used to establish it. Obtain the relevant source document and check that the workbook uses the correct unit and version. Do not substitute a convenient cargo figure merely because it is already available in the accounting system.
Next identify the completion event required for the review. The statement of facts may record cargo completion, document completion, departure readiness and sailing as separate events. Their presence in the chronology does not make them interchangeable. Ask the reviewer which event is relevant under the actual wording and retain the supporting evidence.
Where completion is disputed, preserve both accounts and the documents behind them. A commercial team should not ask the agent to amend a factual record simply to align with a preferred credit. Instead, show the disputed input clearly and prepare alternative treatments if instructed.
Reconstruct the remaining time carefully
The review needs to show how time is treated after the relevant completion event under the agreed despatch basis. Prepare a calendar that includes the applicable working periods, excluded periods and any conditions that the agreement makes relevant. Keep the source of local calendar information and avoid applying a generic holiday list without checking its relevance.
Review the relationship between loading and discharge. Some agreements require the analyst to consider the stages together in a particular way; others do not. The preparer should identify the approved arrangement and ensure that one port's draft credit is not finalised before the required voyage information is available.
Where several parcels or ports are involved, map each operation to the applicable allowance and completion record. Avoid allocating time saved according to a convenient accounting split unless the agreed basis supports that treatment. Document any approved commercial allocation separately from the underlying time review.
Use a despatch decision table
| Review question | Evidence needed | Decision to record |
|---|---|---|
| Is despatch agreed? | Actual recap and contractual provisions | Proceed, clarify or stop the credit workflow |
| What time is saved? | Agreed definition and calendar treatment | Approved counting basis |
| What allowance applies? | Clause and relevant quantity source | Verified input and unit |
| When did work complete? | Port chronology and supporting report | Selected event or unresolved alternatives |
| Are stages linked? | Loading and discharge provisions | Separate or combined review as agreed |
| How is it settled? | Approved account and submission instructions | Recipient, documents and authorisation |
Use the table to identify substantive questions before the accounting entry is made. An operations estimate may be suitable for an internal forecast, but finance needs to know whether the underlying review is provisional, approved or disputed.
Keep the source links available in the final working paper. A concise table is valuable only if another person can follow it back to the actual agreement and records. It should reduce repeated searching, not substitute a checklist assertion for evidence.
Reconcile the result with the voyage account
Prepare a clear explanation of the proposed despatch treatment alongside the calculation. Identify any unresolved events or assumptions and show whether the amount is being proposed, agreed or adjusted for settlement. Avoid using the same status label for all three stages.
Check the relevant account structure before issuing a credit or making a deduction. The person preparing the operational review may not have authority to offset amounts against freight or another balance. Obtain the appropriate instruction and preserve it with the account records.
If an agreed commercial adjustment differs from the pure calculation, show the adjustment separately. This allows later reviewers to understand why the settlement figure does not reproduce directly from the time sheet. It also prevents a negotiated compromise from becoming an unintended precedent in the next fixture's calculation template.
Before closing the file, reconcile the final account with the approved calculation version and supporting correspondence. Keep superseded drafts but identify them clearly. The team should be able to explain which result was settled and which earlier assumptions were replaced.
Fictional case: fast discharge before an excluded period
In this fictional case, a receiver completes discharge ahead of the planning forecast shortly before a period that may be excluded under the charter's time provisions. The commercial desk initially estimates despatch by comparing completion with a projected finishing date from the voyage budget.
The preparer separates the planning forecast from the contractual review. The analyst checks the agreed despatch basis, relevant calendar and completion evidence, then presents the result with the assumptions visible. The contractual reviewer resolves the treatment of the intervening period.
Finance receives an approved calculation and a clear instruction about its account treatment. The process avoids turning a useful operational achievement into an unsupported payment assertion. It also leaves a record of why the final review differs from the initial planning estimate.
Common mistakes
Do not assume despatch is payable solely because cargo work finished quickly. Locate the agreed provision and its basis. Another error is applying a familiar relationship between despatch and demurrage rates without checking the actual fixture.
Mixing voyage-budget dates with contractual time calculations can produce a plausible but unsupported result. Keep them separate. Finally, avoid making an account deduction before the responsible desk approves both the calculation and the settlement method. A completed working paper is not itself payment authority.
Where Zeaclub fits
Zeaclub provides a multi-party shared workspace for owners, charterers, brokers and port agents.
Zeaclub offers digitalised procedures across the voyage workflow.
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Educational information only; not legal, financial or trading advice. Contract wording and applicable rules control. Verify current requirements and obtain qualified advice before acting.
Frequently asked questions
Does early completion always mean despatch?
No conclusion should be drawn without checking the agreement. The review must establish whether despatch is provided for and the relevant basis of time saved. Finishing before an operational forecast does not by itself answer those contractual questions.
Should holidays be included in the review?
Include the relevant calendar information in the preparation file, then apply the agreed basis with appropriate review. Different wording can require different treatment. Do not assume a local holiday automatically counts or is excluded without connecting it to the actual provision.
Can loading despatch be finalised before discharge?
Check whether the agreement links the stages and what settlement process applies. A provisional port review may still be useful, but its status should be explicit. Finalising too early can obscure information needed to assess the voyage on the agreed basis.
What should finance receive?
Provide the approved calculation, supporting completion and allowance inputs, relevant correspondence and the authorised settlement instruction. Identify any remaining dispute. Finance should not have to decide the time-saving basis or infer permission to offset the proposed credit against another payment.