A vessel charter is the hire of a ship, or of space on one, for a specific cargo, route or period. Total Connection arranges voyage charters, time charters and contracts of affreightment for shippers moving fuel and clean products, chemicals, breakbulk and project cargo, and dry bulk commodities, under FMC OTI/NVOCC license 026203NF and with the same operators who run your tankers, ISO tanks and project freight on land.
Container service works until the parcel is 30,000 barrels of diesel, a 180-ton transformer with its own delivery date, or 25,000 metric tons of fertilizer that has to arrive before planting. At that point the cargo sets the terms: a vessel has to be found, vetted and fixed for that lifting, with laycan, load and discharge ports, laytime and demurrage written for the shipper rather than for a sailing calendar.
Total Connection handles that fixture end to end. We qualify the cargo and the ports, go to the market for suitable tonnage, negotiate the charter party, and run the voyage operationally: notice of readiness, laytime, statements of facts, bills of lading, surveys and the pre-carriage and on-carriage at either end. It is the same account team that handles your liquid bulk and chemical freight, project cargo and ocean freight, from the plant gate to the discharge terminal.
Gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, naphtha, fuel oil and crude move on tankers fixed for the specific grade, parcel size and discharge terminal. We work with MR product tankers in the 45,000 to 55,000 DWT range for clean products, smaller coastal and Caribbean-trade tonnage for shorter liftings, and larger dirty tankers for crude and fuel oil.
Every candidate vessel is checked for OCIMF SIRE inspection history, class, flag, age and cargo-tank coating before an offer reaches you. The charter party is typically on ASBATANKVOY or SHELLVOY terms with the laycan, laytime and demurrage rate agreed before the fixture.
Liquid chemicals move on IMO Type 2 and Type 3 chemical tankers with stainless or coated tanks, as full charters or as parcels on a vessel already fixed. Lots too small for a parcel-tanker fixture ship in ISO tanks on liner or chartered tonnage, which keeps the product in dedicated equipment from loading to delivery.
This is our home freight. The team that fixes the vessel also checks MARPOL Annex II carriage requirements, prior-cargo and tank-cleaning rules, CDI or SIRE inspection status, heating and nitrogen blanket needs, and the SDS against the ship's certificate of fitness.
Transformers, reactors, rig components, cable reels, line pipe, steel and modules that will not fit a container ship move on multipurpose and heavy-lift vessels chartered for the lift. We match the cargo's dimensions, weight and lifting points to the vessel's crane capacity, hold and deck space, and the load and discharge berths, then plan the stow with the carrier's port captain.
The sea leg is one piece of a project move. Our project cargo team handles the inland heavy haul, permits and escorts, port handling, lashing and securing surveys, and the on-carriage at destination, so the charter is coordinated with everything that happens before and after the ship.
Dry bulk cargo moves on Handysize and Supramax tonnage, roughly 28,000 to 60,000 DWT, fixed on voyage or COA terms with the loading and discharge rates, stevedoring arrangement and trimming written into the recap. Fertilizers and ag inputs, grain and feed, mined minerals, petcoke and construction aggregates are the commodities we see most.
Hold cleanliness, compatibility with previous cargoes, IMSBC Code requirements and moisture limits are checked before fixing, because a rejected hold at the load port costs more than the freight.
A voyage charter hires the vessel for one lifting between named load and discharge ports, with freight paid per metric ton or as a lump sum. The owner carries the voyage costs; the charterer takes on laytime and demurrage. It fits spot liftings, a single project move, or a cargo whose timing is set by an allocation or a construction schedule.
A time charter puts the vessel on hire for a period, from a few months to several years, with the charterer directing where it trades and paying hire per day plus bunkers and port costs. It fits shippers with recurring liftings on fixed routes who want control of the schedule. We run the commercial and operational management of the ship on their behalf.
A COA commits an owner to carry a stated volume over a term in a series of liftings, with freight fixed per ton and a vessel nominated for each lifting. It fits annual supply programs for fuel, fertilizer or chemicals where the volume is known but the shipper does not want a ship on hire year-round.
The choice comes down to volume, frequency and control. One cargo: voyage charter. Recurring volume with flexible timing: COA. Recurring volume where the schedule and the ship matter more than per-ton freight: time charter. We model all three against your lifting program and recommend one with the numbers behind it.
A voyage charter hires a vessel for one cargo between named ports, with the owner paying voyage costs and the charterer responsible for laytime and demurrage. A time charter hires the vessel for a period, with the charterer paying daily hire plus bunkers and port costs and directing where the ship trades. Voyage charters fit single liftings; time charters fit recurring programs where schedule control matters.
A charter enquiry needs the cargo and quantity, load and discharge ports, the laycan window, and the cargo specifics: grade and SDS for fuel and chemicals, dimensions and weights for breakbulk, stowage factor and IMSBC classification for dry bulk. With that we can go to the market the same day and return firm offers, usually within a few working days depending on the trade.
Demurrage is paid by the charterer when loading or discharging takes longer than the laytime agreed in the charter party. We write the laytime, the notice of readiness rules and the demurrage rate into the fixture, monitor the statement of facts during operations, and review the owner's demurrage claim line by line before anything is paid.
Tanker vetting checks the vessel's OCIMF SIRE inspection history, class and flag status, age, P&I cover, cargo-tank coating and the terminal acceptance criteria at both ends. For chemical cargoes we also confirm the ship's certificate of fitness covers the product under MARPOL Annex II. A vessel that fails any of those checks is not offered.
The inland side is part of the service. Our team books the tank trucks, ISO tanks, railcars, heavy haul and drayage that move the cargo to the load port and away from the discharge port, plus the customs entry on international legs, so the fixture and the land freight are coordinated by one group.
One-time project liftings are a large share of the charters we arrange. A single transformer, a drilling package or a plant module usually moves on a voyage charter or on a part-cargo basis on a multipurpose vessel, planned together with the heavy haul and port handling on either end.
Related services: Ocean freight, Project cargo, Liquid bulk and chemical logistics, Infrastructure programs and about Total Connection (OTI/NVOCC 026203NF, MC 280101).
Send the cargo, quantity, ports and laycan. An operator comes back with a proposed arrangement and firm market offers.
