As we progress through the 1990s the volume of international trade will continue to increase and it will be market led. Professional standards will continue to rise and communication technology will further accelerate the timescale of prompt negotiations involving several persons or entities: shipowner, manning, management, and possibly the operation and trading of the vessel. The area of chartering will not be immune from this area and it is pleasing to note that the second edition of A Practical Guide to Contracts of Affreightment and Hybrid Contracts has now been published by Lloyd’s of London Press Ltd. Written by two experienced authors, it continues to fill the gap in the provision of a textbook dealing with the contract of affreightment and hybrid contractors in a practical, lucid and very professional manner. In short an aide memoire to the shipping executive dealing with the increasingly complex area of the process of chartering.