RULES & REGULATIONS

Rules and Regulations

Shipnext is a digital shipping platform, that covers all types of trades regardless of their size, type or destination, including wet-bulk, dry-bulk, breakbulk, oversized or containerized cargo, that operates both as a SaaS (Software as a Service) and MaaS (Marketplace as a Service) platform.

Shipnext patented the process of decrypting emails to extract Cargo and Fleet positions for the purpose of matching Demand and supply for Freight-matching and freight negotiations.

All Users that use Shipnext may choose to use it as a freemium platform or be involved in the process of using the platform to get access to Shipping data and other tools related to managing their shipments, fleet, communication (email and chat) or automating their workflow.

  • Every user, freemium or paid, must pass through a registration process to fill out important data such as Name, Surname, Company name, Company type, Telephone number, email, etc.
  • Shipnext can be easily used by any company that has relationship to shipping, transportation or freight, regardless of their business case: Shipbroker, Freight broker, Carrier, Freight forwarder, Ship Owner, Time Chart Operator, Trader, Exporter, Importer, Data-provider, Bank, Regulatory Organization;
  • Freemium users, or those who would like to use the Shipping platform free of charge, would have NO access to emailing, email-processing, Cargo-related company names (Broker, Trader, Shipper, Charterer), Fleet-related company names (Broker, Owner, Disponent owner, etc), Shipnext Freight index, Hire Index, market analytics;
  • Freemium users, or those who would like to use Shipnext free of charge, would still be able to Create or Add a Cargo/Tender/Freight request, Receive (or counteroffer or manage) all the incoming Offers related to their Cargo or create an Offer/Freight offer on other Cargo displayed on the Platform, in which case their Offers would only be available on the Platform, while being copied by email to the recipient from a do-not-reply@shipnext.com, which may mean they would only be able to receive a counter offer through Shipnext;
  • Port Agents, Surveyors, Stevedoring Companies, Terminal Operators, Ship Chandlers and Forwarders can register themselves as service providers, and/or additionally register their company contacts and provide services to other Shipnext users through the Port module;
  • Every Shipnext User can replace their existing Email services with Shipnext, while Email server should still be with Gmail, Microsoft or other mail provider;
  • Shipnext can be used as a readymade solution, or customized to meet corporate needs in terms of additional features, solutions, algorithms, supply-chain management or even business model.
  • Data related to Cargo (unless it is the User’s own Cargo and shared publicly), such as additional details, Charterer’s name, comments (except private comments), tags, freight idea, fixed freight is stored and accessible to that individual User and/or their team, if Shipnext is used as a corporate solution with corporate access rules;
  • Data related to Fleet such as speed and consumption, hire ideas, fixed freight, is stored and accessible to that individual User and/or their team, if Shipnext is used as a corporate solution with corporate access rules;
  • Email correspondence, Chat messages, Dashboard messages, Tagging are only available to the User and their team, if Shipnext is used as a corporate solution with corporate access rules, or those whom their Emails, Chat messages, Dashboard notifications and messages and Tags are designated to;
  • Users can restrict the access to their Cargo, Freight Requests, Tenders by creating their Whitelist. This Whitelist could be used to restrict access to anyone except those companies whose contacts are included in the Whitelist. Additionally, a Blacklist can be created to ban companies from any receiving any Cargo, Freight ideas or Tenders, if they are otherwise open to all other Shipnext users, until their name is removed from the Blacklist.

Creating Freight Requests (Cargo) on Shipnext

  • Fleet positions can be added by Brokers, regardless of whether they work independently, or for a broker company or as employees, representing a Trading, Exporting companies or even Shipping and Transportation companies;
  • Freight Requests (Cargo) can be made by sending them in a free e-mail format, on-line with the help of the “Add Cargo” feature and through a Shipnext Mobile App.;
  • Shipnext processes, decrypt and interprets only English language request, however other languages are available on demand;
  • The email with Freight request (Cargo) should preferably contain:
    • Port of Loading
    • Port of Discharge
    • Laycan dates (loading and canceling dates)
    • Cargo name
    • Cargo weight and/or volume
    • Number of units (if packed or unitary)
    • Unit weight (if packed or unitary)
    • IMO Class and UN number (if dangerous)
    • Loading rates (if any)
    • Discharge rates (if any)
    • Contract type (if any)
    • Commission (if any)
    • Other terms and conditions
  • SHIPNEXT recommends using the following form of Freight Request (Cargo):
    • POL: Port name
    • POD: Port name
    • LAYCAN: dd/mm-dd/mm
    • CARGO: Cargo name - total weight / total volume / quantity / max uw / etc
    • Other cargo description (IMO Class, UN Number, stackability, packing, etc)
    • FREIGHT: e.g.: fios, filo, lifo, flt, etc
    • LOAD: Loading rate, if free in (e.g.: 1000 mt shex uu htutc)
    • DISCH: Discharging rate, if free out (e.g.: 2000 mt fhinc)
    • OTHER TERMS: (e.g.: Shipment under deck, Last in First Out, Sole cargo shipment, etc)
    • CONTRACT: Contract Name
    • COMM: %
  • Any requests which are not, for some reason, automatically processed and displayed in the Cargo or Fleet stream on the Trading Desk, will be displayed with delay with latest 2 hours, after being re-checked manually by Shipnext Support Service;
  • Freight Requests (Cargo) get an automatically generated Reference Number by Shipnext;
  • Users can add Personal or customary Reference Numbers to their Freight Requests (Cargo) by editing their Freight Request;
  • Shipnext uses NLP (Natural Language Processing) and Machine Learning technology to process and transmit incoming e-mail to Cargo and Ships streams on the Trading Desk;
  • Every User or Client of Shipnext may choose to report their Cargo (Freight requests) to only a limited circle of companies (Carriers, Brokers, Shipowners, Forwarders, etc) or restricting anyone from seeing the Cargo Listing at all by creating a Whitelist (Settings/Whitelist);

*** SHIPNEXT will add more features to make the service more user friendly and advanced in the near future

Port or Place of Loading / Discharging

  • Port or Place of Loading can be written in both a short or full form, but Shipnext recommends using full and correct form. Port of Loading may also contain the name of a Terminal or Stevedoring Company, or other distinctive criteria, for example “Charterer’s berth”, “EXW”, etc.;
  • Port or Place of Discharging can be written in both a short or full form, but Shipnext recommends using full and correct form. Port of Loading may also contain the name of a Terminal or Stevedoring Company;
  • Any berth conditions, such as “1 good safe berth”, “1 good safe berth always afloat always accessible”, “1 gsb aaaa” or similar should be written separately in continuation of the Loading/Discharge Port or Place;
  • If no particular Loading or Discharge port is indicated in the Freight request, but there is a name of a country of origin or country of destination, Shipnext shall use the largest or most common port name of that country;
  • Port of Loading and port of Discharging can be shown either in one line or in 2 separate lines. E.g.:
    POL: Antwerp
    POD: Shanghai
    or
    Antwerp / Shanghai

Laycan or Shipment dates

  • Laycan presented as “beg September” shall be interpreted as “1-10 September”;
  • Laycan presented as “mid September” shall be interpreted as “10-20 September”;
  • Laycan presented as “end September” shall be interpreted as “20-30 September”;
  • Laycan presented as “10 September onw” or “10 September onwards” shall be interpreted as “10-17 September”;
  • Laycan presented as “spot onw”, “spot onwards”, “ppt onw”, “prompt onwards”, “spot prompt” or similar shall be interpreted as the laycan starting from the next day after the day the updated position was sent plus 7 days;
  • Laycan presented as “ready to load as from 20th of September” shall be interpreted as “20-27 September”;

Cargo Name

  • Cargo consisting of several kinds of steels, eg.: “coils, plates, steel rebars” it shall be interpreted as “Steel Products (Steel sheets in Coils, Steel Plates and Steel Rebars)” as Shipnext reserves the right to amend the initial name;
  • Cargo volume/weight consisting of a range, e.g.: “10-15.000mt”, it shall be interpreted and published as two Freight Requests (Cargo), where one is of 10.000mt, and the other is of 15.000mt;
  • Cargo quantity consisting of a range, e.g.: “10-15 units”, it shall be interpreted and published as two Freight Requests (Cargo), where one is of 10 units, and the other is of 15 units;
  • Cargo name written with grammar mistakes will be matched to the nearest correctly written Cargo;
  • Cargo consisting of a yacht, boat or another floating, as well as dangerous material or military material shall be defined as Equipment and Machinery for the purpose of Cargo-to-Fleet matching or Containerized freight solutions;
  • Cargo consisting of a “transformer”, “engine”, “generator” or similar, without clear mention of “accessories”, “spare parts”, “spares” or similar - shall be categorized as just a single unit of Equipment and Machinery for the purpose of Cargo-to-Fleet matching or Containerized freight solutions;
  • Cargo description containing “molchopt”, but not mentioning the exact amount of such an option in percentage, will be interpreted as “5% molchopt”;
  • Indicating max dimensions of the largest or heaviest units, such as max Length, max Width, max Height, max Weight, shall help match the cargo to the Fleet with sufficient characteristics in terms of space under deck, space on deck and sufficient gear, if necessary.

Loading and Discharging Rate

  • Loading and discharging rates, when not clearly defined/indicated, will be interpreted as CQD (Customary quick despatch). They could also be defined from the Port profile, if such loading/terms are defined as part of their official data. This could later be amended during negotiations or amended by editing the request;
  • Loading and discharging rates, when indicated as number only, e.g.: “2000/2000”, shall be interpreted as those being on “shex” basis in European, American and other countries following christianity as a main religion, and “fhex” in muslim countries. This could later on be amended during negotiations or amended by editing the request;
  • Loading and discharging rates defined as “ttl days”, without mention of exact number of days, will be interpreted as CQD (Customary quick despatch). This could later be amended during negotiations or amended by editing the request;
  • Loading and discharging rates shown by single or double digits only, e.g. 2/2 or 11/20, without clear mention of working days of holidays, shall be taken as days for loading and discharging on shex/sshex/shinc/fhex or other terms as the case may be.

*** SHIPNEXT will add more features to make the service more user friendly and advanced in the near future

Contract Name

  • Contract name, if not specifically indicated in the Freight Request (Cargo bid) shall be suggested by Shipnext;
  • In case of Free in or Free out terms used with general, bulk or breakbulk cargo, Shipnext will suggest using General Cargo Charter Party (GENCON). In case of Liner terms Shipnext shall suggest using Conline Booking note;
  • In case the cargo falls under wet-bulk, and the Users do not particularly specify any other Charter party form, Shipnext will use ASBATANKVOY by default;
  • Cargo Owner (Charter), Broker or Owner may, at any time, choose one or the existing Contracts (Charter Parties) available on Shipnext. If, for some reason, such a Charter Party is not available, Shipnext can help add it to the list on demand. This also refers to customized or corporate Contracts/Charter party forms;
  • Contract type can also be indicated in the Freight Request (Cargo Bid) in a short form. e.g.: C/P, BN, etc.;
  • As soon as the Fixture is made either Charterer (Cargo owner) or Broker or Owner shall receive and print an automatically filled in version of the selected Proforma Charter Party or Booking Note;
  • Contract (Charter Party) and Recap of agreed terms and conditions are saved in the Documents section in the User’s SHIPNEXT cabinet and shall be accessible to the User him or herself, or to their team, if such team is created and/or given access to this solution;
  • Each Contract (Charter Party) can be given a personal Reference Number by the User;

Commission

  • Commission shown in the Freight request (Cargo) in the form of a percentage, on preceded by the word “commission”, “comm” or similar, will be displayed in the Cargo listing on Shipnext;
  • Cargo Owners (Charterers) or Brokers can add or amend the commission during negotiations;
  • Owners and Brokers can always get to see who the company behind the Freight Request (Cargo) is and who is the actual Charterer (Cargo owner);
  • A new cargo request is displayed on Cargo menu during 96 hours and/or before the expiration of Laycan. Nevertheless, it remains on the Cargo Monitor until it is amended, relaunched and/or deleted.

*** SHIPNEXT will add more features to make the service more user friendly and advanced in the near future

Offering Freight solutions via Shipnext

  • Any Broker or Owner can make a Freight Offer on-line on any Freight Request, Freight tender or Cargo, except their own;
  • Freight Offer is copied by sending it to the Recipient by email as well as displayed on the Trading Desk and in Cargo Monitor and is available on the Web and Shipnext Mobile App;
  • Freight Offer remains valid for 24 hours unless the Freight bidder offers a different time frame, or unless declined, or counter-offered by the Cargo owner;
  • Freight Offer may contain standard terms and conditions suggested by Shipnext, as well as customary terms and conditions of each individual User;
  • Freight Carrier or Broker may choose to accept or repeat the Terms and Conditions in the Request, and/or amend them or use one of the pre-saved Terms and Conditions used before;
  • Cargo Owner or Charterer, or for that matter any User of Shipnext, can create a Cargo listing (Freight Request) using their own Terms and Conditions, or any of the previously saved Terms and Conditions;
  • Freight Offers by no means oblige Cargo Owners or Brokers for a reply;
  • Freight Offers (amount of freight) given through Shipnext are published in the Cargo Bid on the Cargo Menu. Only Freight amount is visible. No one can see who, in fact, has offered such a Freight, except the Owners of Broker of the Cargo itself;
  • Freight Offers given from several Owners are all displayed and stored in the Cargo Monitor;
  • Freight Offer may contain Charterer’s or Owner’s “subjects” (e.g. “subject to cargo readiness”, “subject to confirmation of BOD”, etc), which are to be reconfirmed separately prior the Fixture is made. The validity of such Subject shall be set for 24 hours, unless defined individually;
  • Charterer, Owner and Broker shall be reminded to lift their subjects 30 minutes before the time elapses;
  • Freight Offers can only be based on an existing vessel or a “TBN”. However, Cargo owners are advised to be careful with such offers and are recommended to give priority to Freight Offers containing a real <Ship name> or <Ship name> followed by “or sub”;
  • While making a Freight Offer the Broker or Owner can review the wording of every BIMCO clause individually;
  • Freight Offers can be based on any Charter Party form or a Conline Booking Note form shown in the list at the end of the terms and conditions of the Freight Offer;
  • When making an Offer a Broker or Ship Owner can review the limitations in the ports relating to the cargo by clicking on their names;
  • Cargo owner or Broker can reply to a Freight Offer by checking/unchecking the terms and conditions in the list, or by adding customary terms and conditions in the line below;
  • Counteroffer is received in the Offeror’s SHIPNEXT Cabinet (on the Web and on Shipnext Mobile App) as well as copied by email;
  • Contracts (or Bookings, or Fixtures) is given a Shipnext Reference number;
  • Contracts can be printed out or saved in a form of a Voyage Charter Party or a Conline Booking note;
  • BIMCO Charter Party forms can be used with the consent of are printed with permission of BIMCO;
  • Any Charter or Fixture can be canceled by either party, which may result in legal consequences;
  • Shipnext may help with legal support, but only as a separate service. Shipnext generally does not get involved in legal matters.

*** SHIPNEXT will add more features to make the service more user friendly and advanced in the near future

Announcing Open Ship Positions on Shipnext

  • Fleet positions can be added by Brokers, regardless of whether they work independently, or for a broker company or as employees, representing a Trading or Shipping company;
  • Open Fleet positions are used by Shipnext for the purpose of Cargo-to-Fleet matching and in the optimization of the entire maritime ecosystem;
  • Open Fleet Position published on Shipnext is being checked on the day of their publication to their actual position, destination and progress via Satellite/AIS;
  • If the actual position of the Fleet does not permit to fulfill the reported Position, the Fleet is then marked as that with no open position or “employed’ and is not used in Suitable Fleet search-engine;
  • Shipnext receives all the incoming emails and position updates and identifies the vessel name in combination with their IMO number or approximate dead-weight or approximate capacity, before matching it to the database of 87.000+ Vessels of deadweight varying between 500 and above, and up to 45 years in age, with their full details;
  • Ship position may be sent by email, in free format, or be added on-line or through a mobile Shipnext app, or even with the help of API or similar digital means;
  • Random individual email with Ship position should preferably contain:
    • - Ship/Vessel Name
    • - Approximate Deadweight or IMO number
    • - Dates of opening
    • - Place of opening
    • - Trade intention/preference (e.g.: “open for period”, “open for part cargo”)
  • Fleet positions remain on the Trading Desk until the last date of opening;
  • Fleet positions do not disappear from the Trading Desk when the opening dates end, they are simply sent to the bottom of the feed until the new open position is reported;
  • Ship positions who are not given a valid future position do not participate in Cargo matching and canvassing;
  • The first sender to send a certain Ship position is marked the main channel. However at any given moment the head-owner or head-operator can reclaim that right on permanent basis;
  • Ship Owners or Operators can have the right to edit and amend the Ship’s details and parameters;
  • Clicking on a particular Fleet (Ship, Vehicle, etc) or choosing to find suitable cargo for it activates an instant search among all the cargo in position that suits all the Vessel’s technical criteria;
  • Ships details may also, on individual basis, contain information as to:
    • Geographical limitations
    • Excluded areas of trade
    • Excluded cargo
    • Preferred areas of trade
    • Preferred cargo
    • Individual (temporary) speed and consumption
    • Technical and operational rating
    • Technical documentation and certificates
    • Vessel’s contact data, etc
  • Each Fleet Position receives an automatically generated Reference Number;
  • Each user of Shipnext may make a Time Charter bid or a Freight request on-line, using a pre-set and editable form;
  • Each Time Charter bid is sent to the Broker or Ship Owner or Disponent owner, depending on whom the bidder chooses, via email and through the platform and available only to the chosen recipient the bidder. However, the hire rate of each Time Charter bid is anonymized and stored by Shipnext for analytics purposes, but also verified to protect Shipnext users from potential abuse with the help of an algorithm-based verification process. No details, terms or conditions of the bid nor the Charterer’s name or contacts are published on Shipnext. No one can see neither WHO has made a t/c offer, nor WHAT was offered, except the actual party the offer is sent to (be it Broker or Owner);
  • Time Charterer bidders (Charterers) can pick whom to send his offer to (including Ship Brokers who recirculated the Ship position);
  • For all further details about sending a Time Charter bid please read in “Sending Time Charter Offers of Shipnext” below;
  • Every Shipnext User can make a Freight offer on a suitable cargo by either “dragging and dropping” the Vessel or vehicle onto a suitable Cargo, or choosing a “Offer Freight” on the Cargo details page;
  • For more information on making Freight Offers please go to “Sending Freight Offers via Shipnext”;
  • One can use filters to find:
    • Ship Name
    • Sender or Broker who sent the open position
    • Ship Owner’s (Disponent Owner’s) name
    • Ship type
    • Place (Port or Region or several Ports/Regions) of opening
    • Dates of opening
    • Potential capability of a Ship to reach a place/port
    • Current Place/Destination
    • IMO number
    • Reference number
    • Dead-weight
    • Gear
    • Date of position update
    • Status
    • ITF fitness
    • Hatch/Hold type (e.g. box-shaped)
    • Ice Class
    • LOA
    • Age
    • Beam
    • Speed
    • Draft
    • Flag
    • IMDG fitness
    • etc
  • Every Offer is sent in copy to Ship Owner’s or Broker’s e-mail address, depending on the Charterer’s choice;
  • Owners, Carriers or Brokers may choose to publish several positions for one vessel in direct continuation;
  • Owners, Carriers or Brokers may publish future positions;
  • When matched to Cargo, the open Fleet positions will be lined up or sorted according to their distance away from the first port of call, or their Status or Dead-weight;
  • It may be that 2 Ship Positions may appear on the screen, in which case the Owner or Broker may edit them online or report to support@shipnext.com, however this will not affect a cargo matching process;
  • Any abuse of Shipnext positions may result in Cancelation of Subscription.

*** SHIPNEXT will add more features to make the service more user friendly and advanced in the near future

Sending Time Charter bids via Shipnext

  • Each user of SHIPNEXT may make a Time Charter bid on-line.
  • Each Time Charter bid, including the hire rate only, is published on SHIPNEXT. No details of the bid nor the Charterer’s name or contacts are published on SHIPNEXT. No one can see neither WHO has made a t/c offer, nor what was offered, except the actual party the offer is sent to (be it Broker or Owner).
  • Time Charterers can pick whom to send his offer to (including Ship Brokers who recirculated the Ship position).
  • All Time Charter negotiations exchanges are copied by email to both parties.
  • The Registered ShipOwner, if any, also receives a copy of the Firm negotiations exchange.
  • Everything is negotiable except the Owner’s Bank details. Owner’s bank details must also be filled in either in the User’s profile or during negotiations.
  • Owner or Broker can amend the name of the official Owner/Carrier in the contract, as long as Charterer (Cargo Owner) agrees to it.
  • Both Charterer (Cargo Owner) and Ship Owner may have their Subject to be lifted after a certain time prior a fixture (Contract) is concluded.
  • Both Charterer and Owner shall be reminded 30 minutes prior expiration of a time for lifting of Subjects.
  • If Subjects are not lifted of time, Charterers or Owners have the option to agree to extend them by setting a new dead-line.
  • If the Subject is neither lifted nor extended the Contract (Fixture) is considered not concluded.
  • If the Contract negotiations (Fixture) are not concluded, the Cargo Owners and Ship Owner have an option to announce the Cargo/Ship open again.
  • All Time Charter negotiations can be based on a number of pre-loaded Standard C/P Proformas, however SHIPNEXT recommends using NYPE and BALTIME Charter Parties.
  • If Charterers require an individual Time Charter Proforma to be used, they are requested to contact SHIPNEXT on support@shipnext.com
  • Every Fixture or Contact of SHIPNEXT is binding.
  • Once a Contract (Time Charter Party) is agreed upon and fixed, it is stored in the “My Contracts
    → “Time Charter Parties” folder.
  • Every Charterer (Cargo Owner) or Ship Owner can cancel the Contract or Fixture, by choosing “Cancel Fixture” on SHIPNEXT.
  • Cargo and Ship Owners, in case of cancellation, receive a notification by email as well as in the SHIPNEXT Cabinet.
  • If the Fixture or Contact is Canceled, SHIPNEXT can be consulted for assistance.
  • In case of cancellation, the Cargo Owner is given an option to relaunch the Cargo bid (Freight Request), with new dates, if required.
  • In case of cancellation, the Ship Owner is given an option to relaunch the Ship position, with new dates, if required.
  • SHIPNEXT does not get involved into commercial disputes related to performance or cancellation of Contracts (Charter Parties) unless consulted individually, and as a separate service.

*** SHIPNEXT will add more features to make the service more user friendly and advanced in the near future

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