A ship chartering contract, which is concluded between at least two parties, the ship owner and the ship charterer, brings with it unique features.

Some of the important points you will learn in this section are:

• First, the nature of the contract
• And second, the agreements between the parties
• The first point we should mention is the division of ship costs

It is explained that if the ship owner wants to use the ship for commercial purposes or to transport goods and services, in addition to the cost of purchasing the ship, he must also bear the administrative and operational costs, personnel, insurance and services, depreciation, and in general, all types of costs that are conceivable for ships.

However, when the owner procures the ship for the purpose of leasing, firstly, he immediately compensates an amount of the previous costs from the place of leasing the ship, and secondly, during the operation of the ship, its conceivable costs will be divided between the owner and the lessee, which can vary depending on the agreements between the parties and the type of contract.

• Another point in ship chartering contracts is the division of ship management and responsibilities.

It is natural that the use of a ship for commercial or international transportation purposes consists of various responsibilities and management needs such as operations management, human resource management, meeting current and fixed needs, financial management and other matters.

Now, when the ship owner separates the interests of the ship from the owner, the responsibilities are divided between the two persons and as a result, not only the best utilization of the ship is achieved, but also the costs arising from human or system errors or mistakes are also reduced or divided between the parties.

• The next point that we should mention is the flexibility of the chartering contract clauses, which can meet the needs and interests of each of the ship owner and the ship charterer in the best interest.

For example, in a time-based ship chartering contract, the contract between the parties revolves around the time of the contract.

That is, in this contract, the duration of the ship rental plays a vital role and the parties can adjust the other clauses of the contract at their discretion.

Whereas in a voyage charter contract, what constitutes the basis of the lease contract is the transfer of the benefits of the ship for a specific voyage to the lessee, and other clauses and conditions of the contract are negotiable and adjustable.

As a result, as can be seen, the preparation of a ship charter contract can divide the costs and responsibilities of each owner and lessee, and as a result, adjust the risk that each of them bears.

Also, considering the strengths and weaknesses as well as the needs of each person, he can decide to take the place of the ship owner and lease its benefits or to benefit only from the benefits of the ship as a lessee.