Hire
Meaning
Hire is the payment for a ship under a time charter, normally a fixed amount per day, paid in advance at regular intervals.
Also written as Charter hire, Daily hire
Hire explained
Hire is usually paid every 15 or 30 days in advance. If the charterer pays late, the owner may be able to suspend service or withdraw the ship after giving notice, depending on the anti-technicality clause.
Hire stops while the ship is off hire, for example during a breakdown, and the charterer deducts it from the next payment.
Related terms
Time charter
A time charter hires the ship for a period at a daily rate; the charterer directs its employment and pays for voyage costs like bunkers and port fees.
Off-hire
Off-hire is a period when a time-chartered ship cannot work as required, such as during a breakdown, so the charterer stops paying hire.
TCE
TCE (time charter equivalent) converts a voyage's freight into daily earnings: freight minus voyage costs, divided by the days the voyage takes.