Chartering of vessels according to time principle: Attitudes of Turkish ship owners about chartering

The simplest rule of the sea transportation is to offer the attractive opportunities to the demanding companies with suitable prices. On this point, vessel owners and cargo owners meet on a trade being called as vessel chartering.This study aims to analyze chartering according to time principle and determine attitudes of the Turkish ship owners. To achieve this, sea transportation and chartering types and the international shipping market is explained in the first step. Then the study is narrowed on the chartering of the vessels according to the time principle by observing eight different standard vessel chartering contracts of this type. Finally, by interviewing with the ship owners and surveying, it?s tried to determine what kinds of chartering types the Turkish ship owners use, and which of these types are used more frequently and what kind of factors are effective while determining the type of chartering to be used.Key Words: vessel, vessel chartering, time charter, Turkish ship owners, attitudes