The NOR Was Tendered at Noon. Demurrage Started at Midnight. Here Is Why.
Quote from chief_editor on May 15, 2026, 8:02 pmNotice of readiness timing determines when laytime starts. Most buyers discover the mechanism after the demurrage claim arrives.
A vessel tendered its Notice of Readiness at 12:14 on a Tuesday at the port of Tubarao, Brazil. The vessel was not yet at the berth — it was at anchor waiting for a berth to open. The NOR was rejected by the port agent as premature. The vessel berthed at 09:30 on Wednesday. Laytime was counted from Wednesday morning. The vessel finished loading Saturday evening and departed. No demurrage claim.
Three months later, on a similar cargo from the same port, the vessel tendered NOR at 11:45, also at anchor. The NOR was accepted. Laytime started at 18:00 that day — six hours after tender, per the charterparty's WIBON clause. The vessel waited until Thursday before a berth opened, then loaded through the weekend. Demurrage accrued at $18,500 per day for 2.1 days, totaling $38,850.
The two voyages were structurally identical. Port congestion, same vessel type, same cargo volume. The difference was whether the NOR was accepted.
WIBON Does Not Mean What Most Buyers Think It Means
The clause "Whether in Berth or Not" appears in charterparties across bulk commodity trades and is almost universally misunderstood by buyers who are not intimately familiar with charter terms. WIBON means that laytime can begin counting even when the vessel is not at the loading or discharging berth — as long as she is within the port limits and has tendered a valid NOR. The effect is that time spent waiting for a berth counts against the buyer's laytime allowance.
Most buyers operating under CIF or CFR contracts believe that demurrage is a shipping problem — it belongs to the vessel owner and the charterer, and the cargo buyer only gets involved if something exceptional happens. This is partially true for well-structured CIF contracts where the seller manages freight and absorbs demurrage. It is entirely untrue for FOB buyers who charter their own vessels, and it is dangerously half-true for CIF contracts where the seller passes port-related demurrage back to buyers through contractual mechanisms that buyers did not read carefully when they signed.
In FOB trades, the buyer is the charterer. Every hour of waiting time that qualifies under the charterparty's laytime clause counts. Whether port infrastructure is congested, whether the terminal was prioritizing a competitor's vessel, whether a berth breakdown caused the delay — most of these circumstances do not stop laytime from counting unless the charterparty specifically provides for it. The list of excepted periods varies by contract, and the negotiation of those exceptions at the charterparty stage is where the financial exposure is actually determined.
The Port Congestion Problem Is Structural, Not Random
Tubarao, Port Hedland, Richards Bay, Dampier — these are among the world's busiest bulk commodity export terminals, and all of them experience seasonal and market-driven congestion. Iron ore, coal, and aluminum oxide exports from these ports follow commodity pricing cycles. When spot prices rise, vessel bookings cluster. When vessel bookings cluster, waiting times extend. Industry estimates for peak congestion periods at major Australian iron ore export terminals suggest waiting times of 3 to 7 days have occurred during high-volume cycles — time that accrues against charterers under WIBON charterparties.
The operationally critical principle: the charterparty defines when laytime starts, which delays are excepted, and at what rate demurrage applies. These terms are negotiated before the voyage, typically in a market where the charterer is focused on securing the vessel rather than examining the fine print of laytime calculations. The demurrage claim arrives afterward, when there is no longer anything to negotiate.
Buyers who are new to physical commodity trading and vessel chartering typically discover the mechanics of NOR timing, WIBON clauses, and laytime calculation when they receive their first demurrage invoice. The invoice is mathematically precise and contractually correct. Understanding whether the claim is actually valid under the charterparty — whether the NOR was properly tendered, whether any excepted periods apply, whether the terminal's equipment failure qualifies as force majeure under the specific language used — requires someone who has read the charterparty carefully and who knows the case law around these disputes. That person is rarely the cargo buyer on their first voyage.
Notice of readiness timing determines when laytime starts. Most buyers discover the mechanism after the demurrage claim arrives.
A vessel tendered its Notice of Readiness at 12:14 on a Tuesday at the port of Tubarao, Brazil. The vessel was not yet at the berth — it was at anchor waiting for a berth to open. The NOR was rejected by the port agent as premature. The vessel berthed at 09:30 on Wednesday. Laytime was counted from Wednesday morning. The vessel finished loading Saturday evening and departed. No demurrage claim.
Three months later, on a similar cargo from the same port, the vessel tendered NOR at 11:45, also at anchor. The NOR was accepted. Laytime started at 18:00 that day — six hours after tender, per the charterparty's WIBON clause. The vessel waited until Thursday before a berth opened, then loaded through the weekend. Demurrage accrued at $18,500 per day for 2.1 days, totaling $38,850.
The two voyages were structurally identical. Port congestion, same vessel type, same cargo volume. The difference was whether the NOR was accepted.
WIBON Does Not Mean What Most Buyers Think It Means
The clause "Whether in Berth or Not" appears in charterparties across bulk commodity trades and is almost universally misunderstood by buyers who are not intimately familiar with charter terms. WIBON means that laytime can begin counting even when the vessel is not at the loading or discharging berth — as long as she is within the port limits and has tendered a valid NOR. The effect is that time spent waiting for a berth counts against the buyer's laytime allowance.
Most buyers operating under CIF or CFR contracts believe that demurrage is a shipping problem — it belongs to the vessel owner and the charterer, and the cargo buyer only gets involved if something exceptional happens. This is partially true for well-structured CIF contracts where the seller manages freight and absorbs demurrage. It is entirely untrue for FOB buyers who charter their own vessels, and it is dangerously half-true for CIF contracts where the seller passes port-related demurrage back to buyers through contractual mechanisms that buyers did not read carefully when they signed.
In FOB trades, the buyer is the charterer. Every hour of waiting time that qualifies under the charterparty's laytime clause counts. Whether port infrastructure is congested, whether the terminal was prioritizing a competitor's vessel, whether a berth breakdown caused the delay — most of these circumstances do not stop laytime from counting unless the charterparty specifically provides for it. The list of excepted periods varies by contract, and the negotiation of those exceptions at the charterparty stage is where the financial exposure is actually determined.
The Port Congestion Problem Is Structural, Not Random
Tubarao, Port Hedland, Richards Bay, Dampier — these are among the world's busiest bulk commodity export terminals, and all of them experience seasonal and market-driven congestion. Iron ore, coal, and aluminum oxide exports from these ports follow commodity pricing cycles. When spot prices rise, vessel bookings cluster. When vessel bookings cluster, waiting times extend. Industry estimates for peak congestion periods at major Australian iron ore export terminals suggest waiting times of 3 to 7 days have occurred during high-volume cycles — time that accrues against charterers under WIBON charterparties.
The operationally critical principle: the charterparty defines when laytime starts, which delays are excepted, and at what rate demurrage applies. These terms are negotiated before the voyage, typically in a market where the charterer is focused on securing the vessel rather than examining the fine print of laytime calculations. The demurrage claim arrives afterward, when there is no longer anything to negotiate.
Buyers who are new to physical commodity trading and vessel chartering typically discover the mechanics of NOR timing, WIBON clauses, and laytime calculation when they receive their first demurrage invoice. The invoice is mathematically precise and contractually correct. Understanding whether the claim is actually valid under the charterparty — whether the NOR was properly tendered, whether any excepted periods apply, whether the terminal's equipment failure qualifies as force majeure under the specific language used — requires someone who has read the charterparty carefully and who knows the case law around these disputes. That person is rarely the cargo buyer on their first voyage.
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