Largest Hatch Principle

Largest Hatch Principle

Summary of Largest Hatch Principle

In charter parties covering movement of dry cargoes it is not uncommon to fix laytime in terms of a quantity of cargo to be loaded (or discharged) “per workable hatch per day.”Recognizing that any given vessel is apt to have hatches of varying sizes, and that the size of the hatch affects the amount of cargo which can be loaded or unloaded during a given tíme period, some courts have held that it may be unreasonable to compute laytime as a function of the number of holds times the days specified in the contract. The principle asserts that once they have been fully 'worked,' i.e., stowed or stripped of cargo, the smaller holds should be disregarded in computing the ship's ability to be worked. The largest hatch principle is supported in English case law by The Sandgate (1929) Ll.L. Rep 151 (C.A.) and the Corfu Island (1953) 2 Lloyd's Rep 472 (Q-B.).

(Main Author: William J. Miller)


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