Always afloat

Always afloat is a charter-party warranty that the nominated berth or place must keep the vessel waterborne at every state of the tide, so she never takes the ground. It puts the risk of a soft or tidal berth on the charterer: if the only available berth dries out, that berth does not satisfy the nomination and the charterer must find another. The contrast term is ‘NAABSA’ (not always afloat but safely aground), used in trades like the River Plate and parts of India where vessels routinely sit on a soft bottom at low water. Always afloat protects the hull; NAABSA shifts that risk back to the owner.