Becoming a signatory

Who can become a signatory of the Sea Cargo Charter?

The Sea Cargo Charter welcomes all charterers and shipowners of ships in the dry bulk and tanker trades. It is applicable to companies that occupy any position along the charterparty chain: charterers, sub-charterers, disponent owners, registered owners with commercial control.

The Sea Cargo Charter must be applied by signatories in bulk ship chartering activities that are:

  • on time or voyage charters, including contracts of affreightment and parceling, with a mechanism to allocate emissions from ballast voyages,
  • for voyages carried out by dry bulk carriers, chemical tankers, oil (crude and product) tankers, and liquefied gas carriers,
  • and where a vessel or vessels are engaged in international trade (excluding inland waterway trade).

Since 1 January 2022, vessels under 5000 gross tonnage are also included. 

In recognition of the diversity of charterers’ and shipowners’ roles, the reporting to the Sea Cargo Charter is divided into the following segments for charterers (C1-C4) and shipowners (S1-S4):

Segments for charterers:

  • SEGMENT C1 – Charterparties where the signatory is the only time charterer and there is no charterparty chain or, if there is a charterparty chain, the signatory is the final time charterer. (mandatory, if applicable)
  • SEGMENT C2 – Charterparties where the signatory is the voyage charterer. (mandatory, if applicable)
  • SEGMENT C3 – Charterparties where the signatory is an intermediate time charterer in a charterparty chain, or the bareboat charterer. (optional)
  • SEGMENT C4 – Owned vessels: if, in addition to being a charterer on certain transactions, signatories or companies within the same group also own vessels, they can also choose to include voyage of their owned vessels in their reporting. (optional)

Segments for shipowners:

  • SEGMENT S1– Voyage charterparties where the signatory is the owner. (mandatory, if applicable) 
  • SEGMENT S2 – Time charterparties where the signatory is the owner. (optional) 
  • SEGMENT S4 – Chartered vessels; if, in addition to being an owner on certain transactions, signatories or companies within the same group also charter-in vessels, they can also choose to include voyages of their chartered vessels in their reporting under C1, C2 or C3. (optional) 

There is no Segment S3 for shipowners. The numbering of segments for shipowners mirrors the one used for charterers. 

The first calendar year of reporting, signatories report on its chartering activities for the previous year (year of becoming a signatory), starting from the next fiscal quarter date after the date of becoming a signatory. Fiscal quarters starting dates are set as follows: Q1 – January 1st, Q2 – April 1st, Q3 – July 1st, Q4 – October 1st.

How to become a signatory?

Companies wishing to become a signatory of the Sea Cargo Charter must submit the Standard Declaration, the Signatory Application, and the Membership Agreement to the Secretariat of the Sea Cargo Charter Association. Once accepted into the Association, the signatory will have five months to complete and submit the Signatory Self-Assessment to the Secretariat. All relevant documents are available from the Secretariat.