Notice of readiness

The notice of readiness is the master’s or agent’s formal tender to the charterer that the vessel has arrived and is ready in all respects to load or discharge, and it is the trigger that starts laytime after any agreed notice time. To be valid the ship must be an arrived ship under the charter (a berth or port charter test), physically and legally ready, and the NOR served as the charter requires (in writing, within set hours, to the named party). A premature or invalid NOR can fail to start laytime, a frequent source of demurrage disputes.