《装卸时间与滞期费》第6版

CHAPTER 3 第3章

Commencement of laytime 装卸时间的起算

Notice of readiness 准备就绪通知书

3.222 The Voylayrules 1993 provide:

‘‘ NOTICE OF READINESS’’ (NOR) shall mean the notice to the charterer, shipper, receiver or other person as required by the charterparty that the vessel has arrived at the port or berth as the case may be and is ready to load or discharge.

A slightly different definition appears in Baltic Code 2007:

NOTICE OF READINESS (NOR)—the notice to charterer, shipper, receiver or other person as required by the charterparty that the vessel has arrived at the port or berth, as the case may be, and is ready to load or discharge. (Alternatively: the notice may be specified to relate to the vessel arriving at/off the port or berth.)

The alternative definition is perhaps more accurately described as a notice of arrival rather than readiness and is something an owner might wish to give in relation to a claim for detention rather than to commence laytime. However an attempt by owners to say that a notice of arrival was not a notice of readiness in order to obtain an attractive detention rate failed in London Arbitration 15/01. The only cause of potential delay in discharging (other than berth congestion) was the lack of the original bill of lading and/or completion of inward cargo paperwork and/or payment of import duties and railway fees, none of which were within the power of the owners and all of which were the responsibility of the receivers.

3.222《1993年航次租船合同装卸时间解释规则》中规定:

‘准备就绪通知书-NOR’是指按租船合同的要求，向承租人、托运人、收货人或其他人递交的关于船舶已经到达港口或泊位（视情况而定）并已准备就绪进行装货或卸货的通知书。

在《波罗的海航运公会2007规则》中显示好像有稍微的差别:

‘准备就绪通知书-NOR’是指按租船合同的要求，向承租人、托运人、收货人或其他人递交的关于船舶已经到达港口或泊位（视情况而定）并已准备就绪进行装货或卸货的通知书。（另外：通知书可能明确规定有关船舶抵达港口/泊位，或在港口/泊位之外）。

这种替代性定义也许是更准确地描述为一个抵达通知而不是准备就绪，船东可能希望索赔有关船舶滞期延迟损失而发出这种通知而不是仅仅起算装卸时间。然而，在报道的伦敦仲裁2001年第15号案，船东为了获得诱人的滞期损失费率而企图说到达通知不是准备就绪通知书，但未能成功。在卸货中潜在延迟的唯一原因是（除了泊位拥挤之外）没有正本提单和/或完成进口货物文件手续和/或支付进口关税和铁路费用，其中没有任何一项是船东权力范围内，和所有这些工作都是收货人的责任。

3.223 An unusual dispute was resolved in London Arbitration 14/87. In this case, charterers relied upon clause 4 of the Vegoil form of charter which provided for notice to be given ‘‘to the charterer or its agent’’. Notice was not given to the charterers, but was given to the shippers, consignees or forwarding agents, who in each case were the relevant party for arranging loading and discharge. The charterers appointed no agents as such. At the time no complaint was made by the charterers and the arbitrators held that in the circumstances the parties, to whom notices were given, had to be considered as ‘‘agents’’ for the purpose of clause 4. The notices were therefore valid.

3.223在报道的伦敦仲裁1987年第14号案中解决了一个罕见的争议。在该案中，承租人的依据植物油租船合同格式范本中的第4条款的规定：准备就绪通知书应该递交给‘承租人或其代理人’。当时通知书并没递交给承租人，而是递交给了托运人、收货人或货物运输代理人，即在每一种情况下，是安排货物装载和卸载的相关当事人。承租人也没有指定这样的代理。当时承租人并没有提出不满意见，因此仲裁员裁定：在这些情况下，当时通知书所递交给的当事方一定被认为是第4条款中所指的‘代理人’，因而，该通知书是有效的。

3.224 A similar challenge was mounted in London Arbitration 20/98 in relation to clause 6 of an Asbatankvoy form which required notice to be given to the charterer. What happened was that notice was given to the shippers and the local agents. On the facts, it was shown that the local agents were the only agents at the port and acted as agents for both the ship and the shippers. The tribunal therefore held that the shippers and their agents were to be treated as if they were ‘‘charterers’’’ agents for the purpose of tendering notice of readiness unless the charterparty specifically designated other agents, which it had not done.

3.224在报道的伦敦仲裁1998年第20号案，是对Asbatankvoy格式范本第6条款发起类似的挑战，该条款规定：准备就绪通知书要求递交给承租人。案情是这样的，通知书是递交给了托运人和当地代理人。事实表明，当地的代理人是该港唯一代理并同时担任船方和托运人代理。因此，仲裁庭裁定，就准备就绪通知书递交来说，托运人及其代理人都被视为是‘承租人’的代理人，除非租船合同特别指定的其他代理人，但并没有这样做。

3.225 If notice is tendered to agents, they must therefore be those of the shippers or charterers, not just of the owners.

3.225如果准备就绪通知书是递交给代理人，因此，他们也必须是托运人或承租人的代理人，而不仅仅是船东的代理人。

When and how to be given 何时以及如何递交

3.226 The practical answer to this question to be given to any master is as follows:

It is a good working rule... to give notice of readiness and to go on giving such notices in order that, when later the lawyers are brought in, no one shall be able to say: ‘‘If only the master had given notice of readiness, laytime would have begun and the owners would now be able to claim demurrage’’.

and for those to whom these notice are tendered:

Just as it is a good working rule for a master, when in doubt, to give notices of readiness, it is an equally good working rule for charterers’ agents to reject them if there is any conceivable doubt as to their validity.

3.226在实践中，对递交这个问题，给予每一位船长的答案如下是：

这是一个良好的工作规范/准则……递交准备就绪通知书并不断地递交这种通知书，依次传递下去以至后来若有律师牵涉进来，就没有人会说：‘只要船长已经递交了准备就绪通知书，装卸时间就应该起算，因而船东现在就可以索赔滞期费了’。

而对于那些接受通知书的人来说，还有下面一段话：

正像对船长来说，无论任何时间有怀疑，就不断递交准备就绪通知书是一个良好的工作规范/准则，同样地，对承租人的代理来说一个良好的工作规范/准则就是：当对所递交的准备就绪通知书的有效性有任何可能想到的疑问时就拒绝接收。

3.227 At common law, notice of readiness may be given either orally or in writing, or if no notice is given, the shipowner must show that the charterer was aware that the vessel was ready to load, having reached her specified destination at the first load port. Notice need not be given, in the absence of specific requirements to the contrary, at subsequent load ports or at discharge ports.

3.227根据普通法，准备就绪通知书可以通过口头或书面形式递交，或者若没有递交通知书，船东则必须证明承租人已经知道该轮已做好装货准备，已经抵达了所指定的第一装港的目的地。如果没有相反的特别规定要求的话，在接下来的装港或卸港，就没有必要再递交通知书了。

3.228 The logic behind this is quite simple. When a vessel arrives at the first load port, she may well have on board a cargo from the previous charter for discharge at that port. Whilst the new charterers, through their agents, may well be aware of her arrival, they will not know until they are so informed that she has completed discharge of that cargo and is now at their disposal. The situation is thus analogous to a vessel going on-hire under a time charter.

3.228这背后的逻辑非常简单。当船舶抵达第一个装货港时，她或许载有上一个租船合同所要卸在该港的货物。尽管新的承租人可以通过其代理了解到该轮已抵达，但他们并不知道该轮何时才能卸完货，只有得到通知该轮已卸完货，这时才能在其支配之下。因此，这种情况如同期租合同下船舶何时起租类似。

3.229 Once the charterers know that the vessel is available, they can order her to load and then proceed to subsequent load and discharge ports. Their agents at these, knowing that the vessel is proceeding under charterers’ orders, may be expected to watch for her arrival and upon this event take action accordingly.

3.229承租人一旦知道船舶是可用状态，他们即可指示她装货并驶往下一装货港和卸货港。他们的代理也已经知道该轮是按照承租人的指示运行，就会希望关注该轮的抵达时间并照此安排一系列工作。

3.230 Needless to say, in practice this does not happen so simply and additional notice requirements are invariably included in charterparties.

3.230不用讲，在实践中情况并不这样简单，许多有关通知书的额外要求照样会被加进租船合同之中去。

3.231 In Fairbridge v. Pace, where the owners complained of a failure by the charterers to supply a cargo, Rolfe B said:

Of the arrival of the ship the agents of the defendant may have been bound to take notice; but of the time at which the cargo discharged they could know nothing, and they were, therefore, entitled to notice of that fact from the captain.

3.231在Fairbridge v. Pace案中，船东控告承租人未能供货，Rolfe法官说：

或许被告的代理人本应该收到了船舶抵达的通知；但当时他们却无法获知该轮要在哪儿卸货，因此，他们有权从船长那里知道有关这些事实。