Off-hire

Under a time charter, the charterer pays the shipowner a daily hire rate for use of the vessel. Off-hire is the period during which hire stops being earned because the vessel is unavailable or under-performing through no fault of the charterer — for example: breakdown, dry-docking, crew arrest, deficiency, inability to maintain warranted speed/consumption.

Off-hire clauses vary by charter party form (NYPE, BALTIME etc.), but typically include the events that trigger off-hire, the start/end mechanics, and whether bunker consumed during off-hire is for owner's or charterer's account.

Off-hire is a major commercial issue: every day of off-hire is revenue lost to the shipowner. Ship management software tracks every off-hire event with start/end timestamps, root cause, supporting evidence (master's log, surveyor's report) and the hire adjustment.