Time Bar

A time bar is the limitation period within which a claim must be brought or it is extinguished. The most-cited in carriage of goods by sea is Article III Rule 6 of the Hague-Visby Rules: suit against the carrier must be brought within one year of delivery or the date the goods should have been delivered. Charterparty demurrage, general-average, and indemnity claims carry their own periods, often shortened by contract, and the failure to extend or commence in time is one of the commonest ways a good claim is lost.