Emergency Contact Late re-delivery Home Latest updates Publications Late re-delivery 1 Apr 2025 View PDF Sign up for alerts The following guide explores the legal implications of late re-delivery of time-chartered vessels, examining charterers’ liability and the ways in which this can be mitigated. This is a common area of dispute and for more detail, please reach out to the Club’s Legal Costs Cover (LCC) department . What is the general position with regards to re-delivery? When a time-chartered vessel is re-delivered late by the charterers, the clear and established legal position is that charterers are liable to owners for damages. This applies even if the last voyage orders were legitimate, as it does not change the fact that late re-delivery is a breach of contract. Charterers can only exclude liability for such a breach in instances where there is a relevant contractual exclusion or if the late re-delivery was caused by the owners. A re-delivery clause will usually set out the requirements for re-delivery notices and the consequences of late re-delivery. A standard charterparty provision will typically stipulate that damages are calculated on the basis of the prevailing market rates for any period exceeding the termination or re-delivery date, if such market rates are higher than the rates agreed in the charterparty. The period exceeding the contractual re-delivery or termination date is known as the overrun period. What can charterers do? Charterers may be tempted to delete the charterparty reference to the “ higher market rates for any time exceeding the agreed period ” to avoid being liable for damages for higher market rates in the event of late delivery. In addition to deleting the provision on damages, charterers may also argue that certain wording in the charterparty stating, “ charterers shall have the use of the vessel to enable them to complete the voyage provided … ",  can be construed as allowing them to exclude their liability for damages in