This book is the evolution of the “Chartering Practice Handbook” (2000) and the “Chartering Practice Manual” (2010), by Thomas Pagonis. The present profound edition is the result of combined forces and close cooperation based on the prolonged friendship of the authors Captain Nick Pentheroudakis and Thomas Pagonis.
It is a solid attempt to cover all aspects of Chartering in form of an easy-to-use vital tool, presented and expressed in plain practitioners’ language. The result of the commitment of the writers is this unique manual which is addressed to those dealing with shipping, trading, banking, insurance etc. both newcomers and executives. In fact, the authors experienced strong demand from clients and friends to proceed with this book.
Additionally, during their lectures the audiences, either shipping professionals or university students, insisted that their long experience should be maintained in a “scripta mannent” way in form of a Manual. And in fact, it seems that before this Book, such a tool written by practitioners, was unavailable worldwide.
The sequence of Chapters in this book is presented in such an order so that the whole chain of stages of the sea transportation is covered. That is, from the commodity sale contract to the delivery of cargo at the discharging port. Another very important part of this book is the commentaries of modern shipping documents and the comparison with the elder ones.
Additional distinguished part is the “Legal Element” and over 30 English court decisions presented in plain language, which give to the reader additional information and deeper knowledge. In this way, the reader comprehends how courts decide shipping disputes today. The authors, dedicated to present precise and applicable for the years to come material, spent numerous man-hours in gathering and analyzing, general and particular pieces of information from organizations like BIMCO, IMO, ICC, UNCITRAL, INTERCARGO, RIGHTSHIP, LMAA, IG P&I clubs, Law firms …etc.
The writing of this book, took longer than the authors expected, as during their efforts to present an integrated “Manual”, they surprisingly understood that there are always new fields to be explored and that the Journey of Knowledge never ends. Therefore, “Practitioners’ Book Avenue”, proudly presents the “Chartering Manual by Practitioners” which is a unique tool for the Shipping Industry of today, written by its own distinguished members.
January 2019