Compensation for delay

Compensation for delay is the money payable when a party’s breach of a charter-party time obligation causes loss, distinct from demurrage, which is the agreed daily rate for laytime overrun. It covers delay outside the laytime regime: late delivery of the vessel, failure to load the contractual cargo, slow steaming in breach of a speed warranty, or detention where no demurrage rate is fixed. Damages are assessed on ordinary contract principles, the actual loss reasonably foreseeable, rather than a liquidated figure. Where the parties have fixed a demurrage rate, that rate is usually the exclusive remedy for laytime overrun and bars a separate detention claim.