CQD

CQD stands for customary quick despatch, a laytime term under which the charterer must load or discharge as fast as is customary at the particular port, with no fixed number of laydays and, as a rule, no demurrage. Because no laytime figure is agreed, the owner’s remedy for slow working is damages for detention, proved by reference to the normal rate of work at that port for that cargo, not a liquidated daily rate. CQD suits liner and berth-charter trades where the owner controls cargo operations. It carries more uncertainty than fixed laytime, since ‘customary’ has to be established by evidence.