Statement of Facts

Background

What the SoF is and why it exists

A voyage charter party allocates the time risk of port operations between the shipowner and the charterer through the laytime and demurrage framework. Laytime is the time the charterer is allowed for cargo operations; if cargo operations exceed laytime, the charterer pays demurrage; if cargo operations are completed in less than laytime, some charter parties give the charterer despatch money for the time saved. Whether the cargo operation took five hours longer than allowed (a small claim) or seventy-two hours longer (a substantial claim) is a question of fact, and the Statement of Facts is the document of record.

The SoF is signed at the end of cargo operations, when the master and the agent agree on a chronological reconstruction of what happened. Each event has an entry: the vessel arrived at the pilot station at 03:14 on Tuesday; the Notice of Readiness was tendered at 03:30; pilot boarded at 04:42; the vessel berthed at 06:55; free pratique was granted at 07:20; cargo commenced at 09:30; rain stopped operations from 14:20 to 17:05; cargo completed at 18:40 on Wednesday; hoses disconnected at 19:15; pilot boarded at 20:30; the vessel sailed at 21:25. From those entries the laytime accountants on each side construct the laytime statement.

Without an agreed SoF, the laytime calculation rests on two unilateral accounts (the master’s deck log and the agent’s port log) that frequently disagree on small details. Small details matter: a thirty-minute disagreement on commencement of cargo can shift many thousands of dollars in demurrage on a Capesize voyage where the demurrage rate is 35,000 USD per day.

Distinction from related documents

The SoF is one of several time-related port documents and is sometimes confused with them:

• Deck log book: the master’s continuous record of vessel events, kept under SOLAS Chapter V regulation 28. The deck log is a unilateral document; the SoF is a bilateral one.
• Port log: the agent’s internal record of port events. Again unilateral.
• Pumping log (tankers): a high-resolution record of pumping rates, pressures and temperatures used to determine whether the tanker met the contractual pumping warranty. Often appended to the SoF.
• Time sheet: in some trades (Shellvoy 6, Vegoilvoy) the same document as the SoF, or a derived calculation worksheet that converts SoF entries into laytime used.
• Cargo tally sheet: the running record of bagged or break-bulk cargo loaded or discharged. Used for cargo quantity reconciliation, not directly for laytime.
• NOR ledger: the running record of every Notice of Readiness tendered, with timestamps and rejection notes.

The SoF aggregates the time-relevant entries from the deck log and the port log and is signed by both sides. It is the bilateral synthesis, not a separate measurement.

The role of BIMCO LAYTIMEDEFS 2013

The BIMCO LAYTIMEDEFS 2013 glossary, published jointly by BIMCO, CMI, FONASBA and INTERCARGO, provides standardised definitions of the events recorded in an SoF. When the charter party incorporates LAYTIMEDEFS 2013, terms like ‘commenced loading’, ‘shifting’, ‘weather working day’, ‘WIBON’ and ‘free pratique’ carry the precise meanings set out in the glossary. The SoF and the laytime calculation that depends on it become much harder to dispute when both sides know they mean the same thing by ‘commencement’.

LAYTIMEDEFS 2013 should be incorporated into every modern voyage charter; if it is not, the parties fall back on the older 1980 definitions, on the case law of the relevant jurisdiction or, worst of all, on local custom that varies port by port.

Composition of the Statement of Facts

Vessel and voyage particulars

Every SoF opens with identification of the vessel, the voyage and the parties:

• Vessel name, IMO number, flag.
• Port of loading or discharge, berth number, anchorage.
• Charterer, shipper or receiver, agent.
• Charter party date and type (GENCON 2022, Asbatankvoy, Shellvoy 6, BPVOY 5, etc.).
• Cargo description and quantity: e.g. ‘82,000 mt iron ore fines’ or ‘70,000 mt ULSD 10 ppm’.
• Voyage number for the owner’s records.

These particulars allow the SoF to be matched to the correct charter party when the laytime statement is assembled weeks or months later.

Chronological event log

The body of the SoF is a chronological list of events with timestamps. A typical dry-bulk SoF for a Panamax loading iron ore might contain:

For a tanker the equivalent log will include hose connection, manifold pressure tests, cargo-side line displacement, sample drawing, custody transfer survey, ullage, temperature, and detailed pumping log entries (rates, pressures, vacuum tests).

Each event is timestamped to the minute (or, on modern eSoF, to the second). Time zone is port local time, with the time zone offset stated explicitly to avoid confusion in international charters.

Signatures and stamps

The SoF is signed at the bottom of each page (or on a single signature page if the SoF is short) by:

• Master of the vessel (or chief officer if the master is unavailable).
• Agent appointed by the charterer, normally the local port agent.
• Terminal representative in some ports, particularly for cargoes with detailed handover procedures (LNG, LPG, ammonia, parcel chemicals).
• Surveyors if appointed by either side, particularly the independent loadmaster or discharge supervisor.
• Port authority stamp in some jurisdictions (e.g. Russian Black Sea ports historically required port authority countersignature).

The vessel’s stamp (‘Master, M/V Aquarius, IMO 9456789’) is applied next to the master’s signature. The agent’s stamp (‘Acme Shipping Agency, Port of Santos, Brazil’) is applied next to the agent’s signature. Stamps reduce the scope for later disputes about which official tendered the document.

Standard forms

BIMCO SOF 2014

The BIMCO Standard Statement of Facts (Short Form), code name SOF 2014, is the most widely used general-purpose SoF for dry-bulk and break-bulk trades. It was issued in 2014 to replace the 1996 version and is published in BIMCO’s IDEA contract editor as a standalone form that can be exchanged in PDF or as part of an XML data package.

SOF 2014 is laid out as:

• Header with vessel and voyage particulars.
• Pre-formatted event lines for the standard arrival and cargo events (NOR tender, NOR accepted, vessel berthed, free pratique, commencement, completion).
• Free-text rows for ad-hoc events (rain, breakdown, shifting, etc.).
• Signature block.

A separate BIMCO Time Sheet (Short Form), code name TS 2009, can be used together with SOF 2014 to record the laytime calculation derived from the SoF entries.

Asbatankvoy SoF and Shellvoy 6 timesheet

Tanker trades use specialised forms that include pumping particulars, cargo grade, cargo temperature and the master’s pumping warranty:

• Asbatankvoy SoF is the canonical tanker SoF, used in conjunction with the Asbatankvoy charter party originating from the Association of Ship Brokers & Agents (ASBA). Common in Atlantic Basin trades.
• Shellvoy 6 timesheet is built into the Shell Voyage Charter Party 6 (Shellvoy 6) suite. The timesheet is more than just an SoF: it directly converts events into laytime used and identifies who is responsible for each delay.
• BPVOY 5 timesheet is BP’s equivalent for the Big Oil charterer market.
• ExxonMobil VOY2005 has its own timesheet template, occasionally used by independent traders chartering ExxonMobil tonnage.

Tanker SoF and timesheet rules are tighter than dry-bulk because the pumping warranty in the charter party (typically 100 PSI at the manifold sustained, or 24 hours total pumping time, whichever is shorter) interacts with the laytime calculation: time lost due to vessel pumping under-performance is for the owner’s account regardless of laytime exhaustion.

Port-specific and terminal-specific forms

Many ports and terminals issue their own SoF templates that override or supplement the contractual standard:

• Brazilian iron ore ports (Tubarão, Ponta da Madeira) use Vale and CSN-issued templates with detailed weather and equipment-availability columns.
• Australian coal ports (Newcastle, Gladstone, Hay Point) use HVCCC and DBCT templates with hour-by-hour vessel queue and shipping channel availability records.
• Singapore bunker terminals use MPA-mandated formats since the 2017 mass flow meter regulations.
• Refinery jetties worldwide often use the terminal’s own SoF specifying valve line-up steps that do not appear on a generic charter SoF.

When the port-specific form differs from the contractual form, the master should sign both (the port form for port records, the contractual form for charter accounting) and ensure the entries are consistent.

Signing protocols and protests

Joint signing

The ideal SoF is jointly drafted and signed: the master and the agent sit together at the end of cargo operations, reconcile their respective logs, agree on each entry and sign without reservation. A jointly signed SoF carries strong evidential weight in any subsequent dispute.

Joint signing assumes the master and the agent agree on every entry. In practice they often disagree on at least one entry, particularly:

• The time of NOR acceptance (the master records the tender time, the agent records the receipt or acceptance time, which may be hours later).
• The time of free pratique (formal grant time vs effective availability of the vessel for cargo work).
• Suspension start and end times (rain stops are easier to agree than equipment breakdowns where each side has different log times).
• The time of completion of cargo vs time of completion of documents.

Disagreements should be resolved at the table where possible. Where they cannot, a protest is recorded.

‘For receipt only’ signing

If the master receives an SoF prepared by the agent and disagrees with one or more entries, the master can sign ‘for receipt only’: a notation indicating the master acknowledges receipt of the document but does not endorse its content. The signature is still useful (it proves the document was tendered) but it does not estop the owner from challenging the contested entries later.

The corresponding move from the agent’s side is to sign the master’s draft ‘subject to charterer’s approval’ or with a similar reservation.

Letters of protest

A more formal mechanism is the Letter of Protest (LOP): a separate document tendered to the agent (or the receiving party) recording a specific objection. LOPs are routinely tendered for:

• Excessive waiting time at anchorage beyond the WIPON or WIFPON grace.
• Slow loader rates below the warranted rate in the charter party.
• Cargo quality concerns at loading (off-spec sample, contamination).
• Pumping under-performance excuses at discharge (terminal restriction, line pressure issues).
• Delays caused by terminal equipment breakdown rather than the vessel.

The LOP is attached to the SoF and forms part of the package sent to the owner’s claims department. The owner’s department uses the LOP to back up the laytime calculation against the charterer’s rebuttal.

A standard LOP is one page: addressee, vessel particulars, statement of fact, statement of objection, demand for reply, signature and stamp. BIMCO publishes a template LOP form (LOP) covering most common scenarios.

Refusal to sign

Refusing to sign the SoF is the ultimate protest. It signals fundamental disagreement and forces the agent to record on their internal port log that the master refused. Refusal is reserved for cases where the SoF is so badly wrong (e.g. a fabricated suspension period, a backdated NOR entry, a missing rain stoppage) that even ‘for receipt only’ is inadequate.

The downside of refusal is that the laytime calculation has to be reconstructed from the deck log alone, which is a unilateral document with weaker evidentiary value. Most masters prefer to sign ‘for receipt only’ with a strong protest attached rather than refuse outright.

Use in laytime calculation

Building the laytime statement

The SoF entries feed the laytime statement, the spreadsheet (or eSoF-derived data structure) that converts events into laytime used:

1. Identify commencement of laytime from the NOR tender time plus any contractual grace period (typically ‘six hours after acceptance’ or ‘on the next working day’).
2. Identify completion of laytime from the time of cargo completion (typically the moment the last lift left the dock or the manifold valves closed and pressure dropped to zero).
3. From the period between commencement and completion, subtract excluded periods per the charter party SHEX/SHINC clause: Sundays, holidays, weather, breakdowns, shifting, surveys, the master’s faults.
4. The remaining time is laytime used.
5. Compare to laytime allowed: if used > allowed, the excess is demurrage time; if used < allowed, the saved time may be despatch time.

The arithmetic is mechanical, but the classification of each SoF entry (excluded or counted, fully or partly, owner’s account or charterer’s account) is contractual and frequently disputed.

The laytime calculator, the SHEX SHINC time exclusion calculator and the weather working day calculator all consume SoF data and apply the relevant exclusion rules.

Example: a contested suspension

Suppose the SoF records:

• 14:20 Tue: loading suspended ‘rain’.
• 17:05 Tue: loading resumed.

The exclusion is 2 hours 45 minutes. Two questions arise:

• Is the rain stop agreed by both sides as rain? The master should attach a meteorological report or the port’s weather station log. Some charters require the rain to be ‘serious’ or ‘heavy’, not just drizzle.
• Does the charter party use weather working day (counting time only when weather permits) or WIBON (weather permitted only)? The exclusion only counts toward laytime savings if the weather convention permits.

A WWD charter would normally exclude the 2:45 from laytime; an unconditional charter (rare) would count it as laytime regardless of rain. The SoF entry must be precise enough to allow either calculation; the laytime statement then applies the contractual rule.

Demurrage and despatch claims

The owner’s claims department uses the SoF to draft the demurrage invoice (if laytime exceeded) or pay despatch (if laytime saved). The invoice includes:

• A laytime statement itemising commencement, used, allowed, exceeded.
• The rate per the charter party (e.g. 32,500 USD per day pro rata).
• The total claim in USD.
• Supporting documents: SoF, NOR, deck log extracts, pumping log, weather reports, LOPs.

The package is submitted to the charterer within the time bar stipulated in the charter party (typically 90 days from completion of discharge, or 180 days for some forms). Late submission may be challenged as time-barred regardless of merit; see the demurrage time bar calculator for the standard calculations and the demurrage article for the case law on strict time bars.

Common disputes

NOR tender vs NOR acceptance

A frequent dispute is whether laytime starts from the time of NOR tender by the master, or from the time of NOR acceptance by the charterer. The charter party should specify; if it does not, the default is normally tender (subject to the NOR being valid). The SoF should record both times with care, particularly if the agent is unavailable at the moment of tender (an out-of-hours email tender treated as acceptable on the next working morning, for example).

See Notice of Readiness for the full discussion of NOR validity and the NOR validity check calculator.

Free pratique vs cargo readiness

Free pratique is the port health authority’s clearance that the vessel may interact with shore. In some jurisdictions free pratique is granted automatically by radio (a quarantine code from the master); in others it requires a physical inspection of the vessel. The SoF should record the time of grant rather than the time the master submitted the request.

Free pratique is a precondition of cargo readiness. The vessel cannot start cargo before pratique is granted, so the time between NOR tender and pratique is owner’s account unless the charter has a specific ‘free pratique waiver’ clause (common in WIBON charters where pratique is treated as a formality).

Shifting

Shifting is the movement of the vessel from one berth to another (or from anchorage to berth). Shifting time is normally excluded from laytime if it is at the charterer’s request (e.g. the loader at berth 7 broke down and the vessel must shift to berth 9). It is counted if it is for the vessel’s purposes (e.g. fuelling).

The SoF should record the time of unmooring at berth A, the time of all-fast at berth B and a brief reason. Disputes turn on whether the reason was charterer-driven or vessel-driven.

Equipment breakdowns

Breakdowns can be on the vessel (ship’s gear, ship’s pumps) or on shore (loader, conveyor, terminal pumps). The SoF should record:

• Time of breakdown (when operations stopped).
• Side responsible (vessel or shore).
• Time of repair (when operations resumed).
• Nature of fault (briefly: ’loader belt jammed’, ’no. 3 cargo pump tripped on overload’).

Vessel-side breakdowns are normally owner’s account; shore-side breakdowns are normally charterer’s account. Mixed-cause breakdowns (e.g. an interaction between vessel pump and terminal valve) generate the most disputes.

The breakdown exclusion calculator handles the standard apportionment rules.

Documents on board

Some charter parties require documents on board (Bills of Lading, Mate’s Receipts, certificates) to be signed and delivered to the master before laytime ends. If the documents are delayed by the charterer’s office, the additional time may be charterer’s account under a ‘documents-on-board clause’. The SoF should record the time of cargo completion separately from the time of documents on board to allow either calculation.

Digital Statement of Facts (eSoF)

Why eSoF

The traditional paper or PDF SoF is signed at the end of each port call, scanned, emailed and filed. The format makes laytime accounting laborious: every entry is re-keyed by the owner’s claims department into the laytime spreadsheet, with manual classification of each entry against the charter party rules. Errors are common.

Digital Statement of Facts (eSoF) replaces the human re-keying with machine-readable data exchange. The agent’s port system or the terminal operator’s terminal management system pushes timestamped events into a structured format (XML, JSON or EDI); the owner’s claims system ingests them automatically; the laytime calculation runs without manual intervention.

Standards landscape

Several competing or overlapping eSoF standards exist:

• BIMCO eDocs project, building on the SOF 2014 paper form with an XML schema.
• DCSA (Digital Container Shipping Association) eBL schemas, used for container trades but extending to charter party documents.
• IMO FAL Convention message formats (FAL.6 for ship arrival, FAL.7 for departure), which carry SoF-relevant timestamps as a side effect of port clearance.
• Veson Nautical IMOS internal data model, used by many tramp owners and operators.
• OpenInd open-source schemas for tanker pumping logs.

The lack of a universal standard means eSoF is often a hybrid: structured XML for the bulk events, with PDF attachments for the signed documents. Full automation requires the agent and the owner to agree on a single format in advance.

Adoption

Adoption of eSoF varies by trade:

• Tanker trades: relatively high, driven by majors (Shell, BP, ExxonMobil) requiring digital pumping logs and timesheet integration.
• Dry-bulk trades: moderate; large operators (Cargill, Bunge, Vale) use proprietary platforms but smaller operators still rely on PDF SoFs.
• Container trades: high for the operational data (vessel calls, container moves) but charter party SoFs are rare because container shipping uses different commercial structures.
• Tramp trades: low; the charter-by-charter nature of tramp work makes consistent format adoption difficult.

A vessel calling at a major terminal will typically receive both an eSoF and a PDF; the master signs the PDF for the contractual record and the eSoF data feed runs in parallel for analytics.

Practical guidance for the master

Before arrival

• Confirm the charter party form and the SoF template required.
• Check the BIMCO LAYTIMEDEFS 2013 incorporation status.
• Brief the chief officer on what entries to record from EOSP through completion.
• Pre-prepare the NOR for tender per the charter party requirements; see Notice of Readiness.

During port stay

• Record events to the minute in the deck log.
• Note the reason for every suspension, not just the time.
• Photograph or screenshot weather radar during rain stops.
• Keep a separate file of LOPs tendered and received.
• For tankers, monitor pumping rate continuously and log under-performance with cause.

At completion

• Reconcile deck log with agent’s port log.
• Negotiate disputed entries; record agreed times in the SoF.
• For unresolved disputes, sign ‘for receipt only’ and attach an LOP.
• Email the signed SoF to the owner immediately, with all attachments.
• Keep originals on board until handover.

After departure

• Voyage report with the SoF as appendix.
• Ready response to any owner queries within 72 hours; the laytime statement may need confirmation of details by the master.

Related Calculators

• Statement of Facts builder Calculator
• Laytime Used Calculator
• Laytime / Demurrage, Days & USD Calculator
• Demurrage / Despatch Calculator
• SHEX SHINC time exclusion Calculator
• Weather working day calculator
• Demurrage time bar deadline Calculator
• NOR validity check Calculator
• Breakdown exclusion calculator

See also

• Laytime - the framework that the SoF feeds.
• Demurrage - the financial consequence of laytime overrun.
• Notice of Readiness - the SoF entry that starts laytime.
• Statement of Facts builder - calculator for assembling a structured SoF.
• Laytime calculator - converts SoF entries into laytime used.
• Demurrage calculator - calculates demurrage amount payable.
• Despatch calculator - calculates despatch amount payable.
• SHEX SHINC time exclusion calculator - applies SHEX/SHINC exclusions to SoF data.
• Weather working day calculator - applies WWD exclusions.
• NOR validity check calculator - tests NOR validity at the SoF tender time.
• Demurrage time bar calculator - confirms claim is in time.
• Calculator catalogue - full listing of computational tools.
• ShipCalculators.com home - return to the home page.

Additional formula references:

• Cargo Tank Cleaning Time
• Cargo Tank Cleaning Water Vol
• Tanker Tank Cleaning Gas Free

Additional related wiki articles:

• Voyage charter party

References

• BIMCO, SOF 2014 - Standard Statement of Facts (Short Form), BIMCO Documentary Committee, 2014.
• BIMCO, CMI, FONASBA and INTERCARGO, Laytime Definitions for Charter Parties 2013, joint publication, 2013.
• BIMCO, GENCON 2022 - General Voyage Charter Party, BIMCO Documentary Committee, 2022.
• ASBA, Asbatankvoy - Tanker Voyage Charter Party, Association of Ship Brokers & Agents, current edition.
• Shell International Trading and Shipping Company, Shellvoy 6 - Voyage Charter Party, Shell, current edition.
• BP Shipping, BPVOY 5 - Voyage Charter Party, BP, current edition.
• John Schofield, Laytime and Demurrage, 8th edition, Informa Law from Routledge, 2021.
• Donald Davies, Commencement of Laytime, 4th edition, Informa Law, 2006.
• Sir Bernard Eder et al., Scrutton on Charterparties and Bills of Lading, 24th edition, Sweet & Maxwell, 2020.
• IMO, FAL Convention - Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic, 1965 as amended.
• Veson Nautical, IMOS Voyage Management Documentation, Veson Nautical Corporation, 2024.