Performance claim

A performance claim is a charterer’s claim against the owner for breach of the vessel’s described speed and bunker-consumption warranties in a time charter. The warranties state a service speed at a stated consumption ‘in good weather’, usually defined by a wind force on the Beaufort scale (commonly up to Beaufort 4) and a sea-state limit. The charterer’s weather-routing analysis compares warranted against actual performance over good-weather periods and converts any shortfall into lost time and overconsumed bunkers, deducted from hire or claimed separately. Owners contest the good-weather sample, current allowances, and whether the warranty is a continuing one or applies only as at the charter date.