ABSTRACT
A time charter is simply a contract by which the Owners of a vessel agree to provide the Charterers with the services of the Master and crew of that vessel for the performance of the voyages for the Charterers pursuant to their orders. If the Charterer fails or refuses to pay hire pursuant to the charter, the Owner of the vessel has several immediate albeit temporary remedies. These remedies are 'temporary' in the sense that they do not require the termination of the charter. The Court of Appeal held that the obligation to make punctual payment of hire was not a condition in standard form charterparties and that The Astra was wrongly decided. Historically, withdrawal clauses were included in charterparties to put beyond argument the shipowner's entitlement to terminate the charterparty where the Charterer had failed to make a timely payment of hire.
