Statement of facts in shipping: what it records and why

A statement of facts is the chronological record of a ship's stay in port, from arrival to sailing. It logs every event and stoppage with its time and reason, and is the factual basis for calculating laytime and demurrage. The ship's agent normally draws it up on the spot and the master confirms it.

What goes into a statement of facts

The entries follow the port call in order, each with date and time:

• Arrival: pilot station or anchorage, and the time the notice of readiness was tendered.
• Clearance: free pratique (in BIMCO's definitions, the ship meeting port health requirements) and other formalities.
• Berthing: shifting and all fast.
• Inspections: hold or tank inspection, initial and final draft survey.
• Cargo work: commencement, completion, and each interruption with start, end and reason.
• Weather: anything that stopped work, or would have.
• Departure: documents on board, vessel sailed.

BIMCO publishes a Standard Statement of Facts from 1975, recommended by BIMCO and FONASBA (the Federation of National Associations of Ship Brokers and Agents), with a separate tanker version. Our template does not reproduce it.

The timestamps of a tanker discharge, in order

A surveyor attending a tanker keeps a timeline of his or her own beside the agent's statement. The standard entries are: end of sea passage; notice of readiness tendered; pilot on board; dropped anchor and anchor away, if the ship anchors; then sampling, measuring and calculating, which is what the surveyor does on board; waiting for analysis; shore line connected; commenced pumping; completed pumping; sweeping, tank by tank when more than one tank is discharged; blowing lines; and shore line disconnected, the time that matters most for the end of the job. The order depends on the situation: a ship that does not anchor has no anchor entries, and sampling and waiting for analysis may come before pumping starts.

Statement of facts, notice of readiness and laytime

Laytime is the time the charter party allows for loading or discharging without payment beyond the freight. Once it has expired, demurrage is payable to the owner: an agreed amount for further delay the owner is not responsible for. If the work finishes early, the owner pays despatch where agreed. So say BIMCO's Laytime Definitions for Charter Parties 2013, which apply only where a charter party incorporates them.

The notice of readiness tells the charterer, shipper, receiver or whoever the charter party names that the ship has arrived and is ready. Gard (2019) notes that most voyage charter parties make the start of laytime conditional on a valid notice. A notice that is untrue when given is invalid, and does not become valid once the facts catch up; a master in doubt should tender a further notice, without prejudice to the earlier one.

The statement of facts therefore needs more than one time: when notice was tendered, when it was accepted if it was, when the ship was actually ready, and when any further notice went out. In our template's worked example, notice was tendered at 06:30 and the ship was all fast at 11:20. Whether those four hours and fifty minutes count is for the charter party to decide. How notice, laytime and demurrage connect is set out in notice of readiness, laytime and demurrage.

The time sheet: where facts meet the charter party

The statement of facts says what happened. The time sheet, or laytime statement, applies the charter party to it and works out when laytime ran out. BIMCO and FONASBA recommend a separate Standard Time Sheet for that, also from 1975, so our template stops at the facts and totals. Which charter party clauses bear on a survey is covered in charter party basics for agri cargoes.

Record times in one time zone and say which. In The Maria (2021), the English High Court held that completion of discharge is dated by local time at the place of discharge unless the contract says otherwise. The owners had dated completion by European time, a calendar day later, and their 30-day demurrage notice was held too late.

Why every stoppage needs a time and a reason

A stoppage without a reason cannot be allocated to either side. Weather shows why. Under BIMCO's "weather working day", the share of the day's working time lost decides what share of that day is excluded from laytime; under the two "24 hours" variants, the actual period is excluded. All three also apply to weather that would have stopped work while the ship was still waiting for her turn, so a statement that notes rain only during cargo work leaves a gap.

The reason matters after laytime too: demurrage covers only delay the owner is not responsible for, and a charter party can extend laytime exceptions to demurrage (BIMCO, definition 30). When laytime ran out is only known once the time sheet is made, so record every stoppage.

The cargo-work part of the same example:

Period	Event	Hours
14-09 13:30 to 22:00	Discharging	8.50
14-09 22:00 to 15-09 01:15	Stopped: rain, hatches closed	3.25
15-09 01:15 to 18:45	Discharging	17.50
15-09 18:45 to 20:00	Stopped: shore conveyor breakdown	1.25
15-09 20:00 to 16-09 09:30	Discharging	13.50

Discharging 8.50 + 17.50 + 13.50 = 39.50 hours; stopped 3.25 + 1.25 = 4.50 hours; together the 44.00 hours from commencement to completion. All times fall on the quarter hour, so nothing is rounded. One stoppage is weather, the other a failure ashore; a charter party may treat them differently, so the example stops at the totals.

The Newforest (Skuld, 2008) shows what the stated reason weighs. The charter party said demurrage would be calculated on the basis of the statement and excepted bad-weather stoppages from laytime. The statement gave bad weather as the cause of delays; the owners argued it had been a shortage of lighters or inadequate fenders. The court found the statement not final and binding under that charter wording, but held its evidential value strong "almost regardless of its contractual status", because it was prepared on the spot.

Signing: remarks, "for receipt only" and protest

Besides agent and master, receivers or the port authority signed in the cases Skuld reports; our template adds lines for terminal and surveyor. A party that disagrees can sign "for receipt only", which Skuld describes as signalling that all or part is not necessarily agreed. Skuld's advice goes further: gather documentary evidence and write the objection as a remark on the statement itself, or failing that, in the log book or a letter of protest.

Not signing is a weak defence. In London Arbitration 1/00 the tribunal treated a statement signed on the spot by the receivers, the owners and the owners' agents as the best available evidence, although the charterers had not signed.

Based on the working practice of our sector specialist: 25 years in the port, 20 of them as a cargo surveyor. All delays go in the statement of facts, including a delay caused by the surveyor himself or herself, entered as "waiting for surveyor" with the reason. If a surveyor holds a ship up, the demurrage runs for the charterer's account first, and the party that hired the ship passes it on to whoever was responsible; in the end the client the surveyor represents pays.

The statement of facts as evidence in a claim

Steamship Mutual (2024) lists the statement of facts with the notice of readiness, port log, time sheet and master's letter of protest among the documents that generally support a demurrage claim. Where a time bar clause asks for all supporting documents, that includes evidence of time used and stoppages; failing to comply can invalidate an otherwise valid claim.

For cargo claims, West of England's guidance for ships' personnel lists the notice of readiness, statement of facts, stevedore time sheets and the weather, including stoppages and hatch closures due to rain or other precipitation, among the records to keep when cargo is damaged or lost. It sits next to the outturn report and the other evidence in cargo claims in bulk shipping, and it dates the work of the cargo surveyor.

Our statement of facts template

The template on this page is free. Its Excel file calculates each period's duration and totals, unrounded, the lines starting with "Loading" or "Discharging" as working time and those starting with "Stopped" as stoppages. The printable version's signature line leaves room for "for receipt only" or remarks.

FOSS is software for inspection companies and the port, with a sector specialist at the table. Measurements are entered once, offline on board if need be, and nine report types come from that same input.