Turn time: Where is 12 hours not enough?

The dry bulk industry practice is to allocate 12 hours as “turn time” when calculating voyage results.

But is that always enough?

Turn time is a commonly used term in the industry, but often the interpretation of it differs. The actual definition is related to laytime and refers to a clause within charterparties.

“….to provide for there to be a period of time before laytime commences, either from when the vessel is actually ready to load, or discharge having reached the specified destination or from when the Notice of Readiness (NOR) is tendered.”

The dry industry practice is to allow 12 hours in charterparties, which can be seen as a grace period for the cargo owner to not pay laytime.

Consequently, there is also a practice for chartering teams to apply those same 12 hours in their Voyage Management Systems, assuming this will be a sufficient buffer to cover for time lost on both arrival and departure, before and after the laytime counting period.