Maritime Law Glossary

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Cable ship: a specially constructed ship for the laying and repairing of telegraph and telephone cables across channels, seas, lakes, and oceans.

Cabotage: the carriage of goods or passengers for remuneration taken on at one point and discharged at another point within the territory of the same country.

Cabotage policies: reservation of a country’s coastal (domestic) shipping for its own flag vessels.

CAF: currency adjustment factor, a charge that is applied to compensate ocean carriers for currency fluctuations. 

Caorf: computer-assisted operations research facility. A marad r&d facility located at u.s. merchant marine academy, kings point, new york.

Cargo: freight loaded into a ship.

Cargo handling: the act of loading and discharging a cargo ship.

Cargo manifest: a manifest that lists all cargo carried on a specific vessel voyage.

Cargo plan: a plan giving the quantities and description of the various grades carried in the ship’s cargo tanks, after the loading is completed.

Cargo preference: reserving a portion of a nation’s imports and exports to national-flag vessels. 

Carriage of goods by sea act 1936 (cosga): a law enacted in 1936 covering the transportation of merchandise by sea to or from ports of the united states and in foreign trades.

Carriers: owners or operators of vessels providing transportation to shippers. The term is also used to refer to the vessels.

Catamaran: a double or treble-hulled vessel constructed in wood, aluminum or reinforced glass fiber and is also composed of two or three hulls diagonally joined together by various methods. Normally no ballast is needed to counteract the center buoyancy since it enjoys good stability at sea.

Catug: short for catamaran tug. A rigid catamaran tug connected to a barge. When joined together, they form and look like a single hull of a ship; oceangoing integrated tug-barge vessels.

Catwalk: a raised bridge running fore and aft from the mid-ship, and also called “walkway.” it affords safe passage over the pipelines and other deck obstructions.

CCC: commodity credit corporation, an agency within the u.s. department of agriculture.

CCF: capital construction fund; a tax benefit for operators of u.s.-built, u.s.-flag ships in the u.s. foreign, great lakes, or noncontiguous domestic trades, by which taxes may be deferred on income deposited in a fund to be used for the replacement of vessels.

CDS: construction differential subsidy: a direct subsidy paid to u.s. shipyards building u.s.-flag ships to offset high construction costs in american shipyards. An amount of subsidy (up to 50 percent) is determined by estimates of construction cost differentials between u.s. and foreign yards. Program has not been funded since 1981.

Cercla: comprehensive environmental response, compensation and liability act.

Certificate of inspection: the document issued by the u.s. coast guard certifying an american-flag vessel’s compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

Certificate of registry: a document specifying the nation registry of the vessel. 

C & F: cost and freight

C & I: cost and insurance

Chandler: a person who deals in the selling of provisions, dried stores, etc.

Charterer: the person to whom is given the use of the whole of the carrying capacity of a ship for the transportation of cargo or passengers to a stated port for a specified time. 

Charter party: a contractual agreement between a ship owner and a cargo owner, usually arranged by a broker, whereby a ship is chartered (hired) either for one voyage or a period of time.

Charter rates: the tariff applied for chartering tonnage in a particular trade.

Chief engineer: head of engineer department. This individual keeps records of all engine parts and repairs. Generally tends to the functioning of all mechanical equipment on ship. Also calculates fuel and water consumption and requirements and coordinates operations with shore side port engineer.

Chief mate: the officer in the deck department next in rank to the master; second in command of a ship. He is next to the master most especially in the navigation and as far as the deck department is concerned. The chief mate assumes the position of the master in his absence.

C.I.F.: cost, insurance and freight: export term in which the price quoted by the exporter includes the costs of ocean transportation to the port of destination and insurance coverage.

Classification society: worldwide experienced and reputable societies, which undertake to arrange inspections and advise on the hull and machinery of a ship. A private organization that supervises vessels during their construction and afterward, in respect to their seaworthiness, and the placing of vessels in grades or “classes” according to the society’s rules for each particular type. It is not compulsory by law that a ship-owner has his vessel built according to the rules of any classification society; but in practice, the difficulty in securing satisfactory insurance rates for an un-classed vessel makes it a commercial obligation.

Clean ship: refers to tankers which have their cargo tanks free of traces of dark persistent oils which remain after carrying crude and heavy fuel oils.

Coastwise: domestic shipping routes along a single coast. 

Code of liner conduct (unctad): a convention drafted under the auspices of the united nations conference on trade and development which provides that all shipping traffic between two foreign countries is to be regulated as far as the quantities of shipments are concerned on the following percentages: 40% for owners of the country of origin, 40% for owners of country of destination, and 20% for owners of the country which is neither the origin nor the destination. 

COFR: certificate of financial responsibility.

Cogsa: carriage of goods by sea act of 1936. U.s. federal codification passed in 1936 which standardizes carrier’s liability under carrier’s bill of lading. 

Collier: vessel used for transporting coal.

Collision avoidance system: electronic system commonly used to prevent collisions in inland navigable waterways.

Colreg: convention on international regulations for preventing collisions at sea.

Combi: combination passenger/cargo vessel; a vessel specifically designed to carry both containers and conventional cargoes.

Combination passenger and cargo ships: ships with a capacity for 13 or more passengers.

Common carrier: holds himself out for hire to the general public. Must post rates and cannot discriminate against customers whose cargo he is equipped to carry.

Complement: the number of officers and crew employed upon a vessel for its safe navigation and operation.

Conference: an affiliation for ship-owners operating over the same route(s) who agree to charge uniform rates and other terms of carriage. A conference is “closed” if one can enter only by the consent of existing members of the conference. It is “open” if anyone can enter by meeting certain technical and financial standards. Conference members are common carriers.

Consignee: the person to whom cargo is consigned as stated on the bills of lading.

Consignor: the person named in the bill of lading as the one from whom the goods have been received for shipment.

Container: a van, flat rack, open top trailer or other similar trailer body on or into which cargo is loaded and transported without chassis aboard ocean vessels.; a large rectangular or square container/box of a strong structure that can withstand continuous rough handling from ship to shore and back. It opens from one side to allow cargo to be stacked and stowed into it. 

Container manifest: document showing contents and loading sequence of a container.

Container terminal: an area designated for the stowage of cargoes in container; usually accessible by truck, railroad and marine transportation. Here containers are picked up, dropped off, maintained and housed. 

Continerizable cargo: cargo that will fit into a container. 

Containership: a ship constructed in such a way that she can easily stack containers near and on top of each other as well as on deck. A vessel designed to carry standard inter-modal containers enabling efficient loading, unloading, and transport to and from the vessel. Oceangoing merchant ship designed to transport a unit load of standardized containers 8 feet square and 20 or 40 feet long. The hull is divided into cells that are easily accessible through large hatches, and more containers can be loaded on deck atop the closed hatches. Loading and unloading can proceed simultaneously using giant traveling cranes at special berths. Container ships usually carry in the range of 25,000 to 50,000 deadweight tons. Whereas a general cargo ship may spend as much as 70 percent of its life in port loading and discharging cargo, a container ship can be turned around in 36 hours or less, spending as little as 20 percent of its time in port. This ship type is the result of american design innovation. Specialized types of container ships are the lash and seabee which carry floating containers (or “lighters,”) and roro ships, which may carry containers on truck trailers.

Contraband: cargo that is prohibited.

Contract of affreightment (COA): a service contract under which a ship owner agrees to transport a specified quantity of fuel products or specialty products, at a specified rate per ton, between designated loading and discharge ports. This type contract differs from a spot or consecutive voyage charter in that no particular vessel is specified.

Contract carrier: any person who is not a common carrier but transports passengers or property for compensation.

CPI: consumer price index.

Crew: the personnel engaged on board ship, excluding the master and officers and the passengers on passenger ships.

Crew list: list prepared by the master of a ship showing the full names, nationality, passport or discharge book number, rank and age of every officer and crew member engaged on board that ship. This serves as one of the essential ship’s documents which is always requested to be presented and handed over to the customs and immigration authorities when they board the vessel on arrival.

Cross-trades: foreign-to-foreign trade carried by ships from a nation other than the two trading nations.

Crude oil washing: a technique of cleaning tanks in oil tankers.

CSR: continuous synopsis record, an on-board record of the history of a ship.

CTAC: chemical transportation advisory committee, an industry advisory body to the u.s. coast guard.

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