7.1 Contractual setting

Many aspects of shipping commerce are negotiated and documented using standard form contracts which have, over time, earned acceptance from the international maritime community. For some shipping activities, most notably time chartering, numerous standard forms are available to meet the specific requirements of particular vessel types and trading demands. Other core areas such as technical ship management and crewing lend themselves more naturally to a uniform approach and this is reflected by the predominance, in each case, of a single standard form to regulate the contracting of these activities.