Difference between charter party contract and bill of lading contract

As we did our first class of carriage of goods today, I thought it would be helpful for all my friends to post a brief difference between Charter party contract and Bill of Lading contract.

A charter party contract is a contract between the ship owner and a merchant, by which a ship is let or hired for the conveyance of goods on a specified voyage, or for a defined period. In a charter party contract usually the whole ship is hired. There are usually two forms of charter contracts, depending upon whether the vessel is chartered for a period of time or for one or more voyages. In both cases ship owners retains control of equipping and managing the vessel and agrees to provide a carrying service.

Voyage charters- ship owner undertakes to carry a cargo between specified points.(e.g. CIF contracts)

 Time charter- Ship owner agrees to place the carrying capacity of his vessel at the disposal of the charterer for the period of time.

Bills of lading contracts on the other hand, are for shippers with a small quantity of cargo available. Their requirement are normally catered for the regular liner services which operates between major ports or alternatively they make use of the services which operates between major ports or alternatively they make use of the services of the tramp vessels which sails from port to port in search of a cargo. Once the cargo is loaded, the bill of lading will act as the evidence of the terms of the contract of carriage.

For details please see the book

Wilson J, Carriage of Goods by Sea (6th edition,Pearson Education ltd, Essex 2008)3