HA - Hatchway - Opening in the deck of a ship though which cargo is loaded into, or discharged from, the hold.
Hague Rules - Rules governing the carriage of goods by sea and identifying the rights and responsibilities of carriers and owners of cargo. These rules were published in 1924 following an international convention and were subsequently given the force of law by many maritime nations.
Hague-Visby Rules - Set of rules, amending the Hague Rules, published and subsequently given the force of law by many maritime nations.
Half Hire - Provision in a time Charter-Party that half of daily hire is payable under certain circumstances. For example, if a ship is lost at sea, It may be agreed That half hire is payable from the date the ship was last heard from until the calculated date of arrival at her destination.
Hamburg Rules - Rules governing the rights and responsibilities of carrier and cargo interests which may be incorporated into a contract for the carriage of goods by sea either by agreement of the parties or statutorily. The rules were adopted by the United Nations Convention on the Carriage of goods by sea in 1978.
Harbor Dues - Charge levied against a shipowner or ship operator by a port authority for the use of a harbor.
Head Charter - Contract for the charter of a ship between her owner and a charterer. This term is used to distinguish between this Charter-Party and any contract: which the charterer may have with a third party to whom he sub-lets the ship.
Head Charterer - Charterer whose contract is direct with the shipowner in respect of a ship that is being chartered out and the sub-chartered, perhaps several times. The head charterer is thus distinguished from all the sub-charterers.
Hire or Hire Money - Money paid by a charterer to a shipowner for the hire of a ship taken on time charter. It may be expressed, for example, as an amount per day or per deadweight ton per month, hire is payable, by agreement, at regular intervals such as monthly or semimonthly, normally in advance. It is important that hire money is paid on time since otherwise the shipowner has the right to withdraw the ship from the service of the charterer.
Hire Statement - Written statement of the amount of hire money payable by a time charterer to a shipowner, showing the number of days that have elapsed since the commencement of the charter or since last statement. Deductions may be made for items disbursed by the charterer on behalf of the shipowner, such as cash advanced to the master, claims against the shipowner and off hire periods are also often deducted. The first and last statements detail the quantity of bunkers on board at the time of delivery and redelivery respectively of the ship, and corresponding adjustments made to the amounts of the remittances to take account of the purchase of bunkers on board on delivery by the charterer and the subsequent sale of bunkers on board on redelivery to the shipowner.
Ho. - Hold - Space below the deck of a ship, used for carry cargo. If a ship has more than one hold, they are numbered consecutively from one upwards starting with the forward-most; this is done for the purposes of identifying the hold and locating cargo stowed in them.
House Bill of Lading - Bill of Lading issued by a forwarding agent to a shipper covering a consignment, which the forwarding agent has grouped with consignments from other shippers to the same destination. The forwarding agent receives one groupage Bill of Lading from the carrier that covers all the consignments.
Husbandry Agent - This is the agent appointed by the shipowners to attend only to those non-cargo matters - specifically those matters concerning vessel crew, repairs. supplies, and provisioning and classification society surveys.
