Grain Imports Risks: Time Charter Contracts for Shipping

The experiences of trading units in the recent crisis showed that a significant portion of the risks are concentrated in the shipping lines. For example, during the 12-day war, ships that were in the Persian Gulf on a voyage charter to Iran were delayed entering Iranian waters due to uncertainty or witnessed strikes by ship crews that prevented the unloading of cargo. In this situation, importers needed to change ship crews overnight, which was accompanied by unusual and expensive legal claims due to the risks of war.

Therefore, Iranian importers must manage the problems and challenges in a way that does not endanger the country’s food security. To control these conditions, they must either cooperate with shipowners who adhere to their contractual obligations or, instead of purchasing in bulk under voyage charter contracts, where the ship is under the control of the owner, move towards time charter contracts, where the ship is under the control of the importer and in a crisis situation, there is the possibility of issuing an evacuation order from the importer.

Of course, creating a national, Iranian-owned bulk carrier fleet is one of the effective but time-consuming solutions to counter these threats.