Plain terms for a chartering desk.

1. Who we are and what we do

LaycanDesk is a shipbroking and chartering desk. We broker voyage charters, trip and period time charters, contracts of affreightment and part-cargo bookings between shipowners and operators on one side and charterers, shippers and receivers on the other, for dry cargo and tankers. We act as broker: we find and negotiate the fixture on our principal's instructions, but we are not the owner, carrier, charterer or a party to the charter party. We do not give legal, sanctions, insurance or investment advice.

2. How we broker

• We act on the instructions of the party who appoints us, and we put an offer or a counter only when that party has authorised it.
• Indications, freight ideas and hire ideas are for guidance only and bind no one.
• Nothing is fixed until the main terms are agreed and both principals have confirmed the recap in writing. A fixture is always subject to details unless the recap says otherwise.
• The fixture is negotiated through the desk. We do not pass one party's contact details to the other.
• Every counterparty, vessel and route is screened before an offer goes out, as set out in section 9.

3. Commission

Our brokerage is paid by owners under the brokerage clause of the charter party, at the rate agreed in the recap, and is earned on fixture. Charterers, shippers and receivers pay nothing to the desk unless a separate written agreement says otherwise.

4. Freight quote requests

A request sent through the RFQ form, the vessel requirement form or by email is an invitation to indicate, not an offer or a fixture. Any indication we return is subject to owners' approval, full terms and counterparty screening, and lapses if not confirmed within the time stated in the reply. Positions sent through the open tonnage form are held on our board and are put to a cargo only when they fit.

5. Estimates and screening are drafts

Voyage estimates are built from stated assumptions, each labelled with its source, and are indications only. Sanctions screening is a first-pass check against public lists and our own criteria; it is not a substitute for each principal's own compliance process. Each principal remains responsible for its own decision to fix and for its own performance under the charter party.

6. Desk software for subscribers

• You must be at least 18 and authorised to bind the organisation you sign up for. Each seat is for one named person; do not share logins.
• You are responsible for what is forwarded into your workspace and for having the right to forward it.
• Everything you forward, and everything derived from it, belongs to your organisation. We process it only to run the service for you, as set out on the privacy page. We never pool, resell or show one desk's data to another, and we never send market messages on your behalf without an explicit action by one of your users.
• Every field the system extracts is marked pending until a person on your desk approves it. You remain responsible for every offer, fixture and message that leaves your desk.

7. Early-access programme

Founding desks pay the discounted rate shown on the pricing page from the start, on two conditions: a short weekly feedback call during the first three months, and at least one fixture closed on the desk within the first six months of the subscription. A fixture is closed when both parties have confirmed the recap and the fixture is marked closed on the desk. The first closed fixture confirms the founding rate for as long as the desk remains a customer without interruption; if none is closed within six months, the subscription renews at the standard rate. Founding places are limited to fifteen desks and are counted by confirmed fixture, not by date of signup. Features during early access may change or be withdrawn with notice.

8. Fees and acceptable use

Software fees are per seat, billed annually in advance in US dollars unless the order form says otherwise. Seats added mid-term are pro-rated. Late payment may suspend access after 14 days' written notice.

• No scraping, reselling or building a competing dataset from the website or the service.
• No forwarding of content you do not have the right to process.
• No attempts to access another organisation's data or to test our security without written consent.

9. Sanctions and cargo origin

This section applies to every enquiry, order, position and quote sent to the desk, to every fixture we broker, and to every subscriber on every plan, founding desks included. By sending us business, and each time a user forwards a message, posts an order or requests a quote, your organisation represents and warrants that:

• it is not, and is not owned, controlled by or acting for, a person, vessel or entity designated under United Nations, United States (OFAC), European Union, United Kingdom or Swiss (SECO) sanctions, and no such person will be given access to the service;
• it will not ask us to work, quote, match, market or fix, and will not use the service to do so for, any cargo, vessel or counterparty where the cargo's origin, destination or any transhipment point, or the vessel, its owner, manager or charterer, is subject to those sanctions, or where the cargo is of sanctioned-state origin whatever certificate is issued at a port of transhipment;
• it will not involve any vessel that engages in deceptive practices, including an undisclosed beneficial owner, flag or identity changes to evade scrutiny, AIS manipulation or operation without a valid IMO number, or that has called a sanctioned port on the voyage that brought the cargo to the load port;
• it will establish origin before an owner is approached: the producer, the inbound vessel and the shipper of record. LaycanDesk applies its own origin gate to every enquiry it handles.

We screen counterparties, vessels and routes against public lists and our own criteria, and we may decline, hold or withdraw from any order, quote, negotiation or message without giving reasons. A breach of this section is a material breach: we may stop work on the business concerned and suspend or end access immediately, fees already paid are not refunded, and any founding-desk discount ends. Our screening does not transfer to us any responsibility for your compliance.

10. Contact and support

The desk works by email at hello@laycandesk.com, so every offer and instruction is on the record. For subscribers, we aim for the software to be available around the clock and give notice of planned maintenance; support is answered on working days.

11. Liability

As broker we are not liable for the performance of the owner, the charterer, the ship or the cargo, or for freight, hire, demurrage or claims between the principals. Our liability arising from a fixture we broker is limited to the commission we received on that fixture. For the desk software, we are liable for direct loss caused by our breach of these terms up to the fees you paid in the twelve months before the claim, and not for lost profit, lost fixtures, demurrage, claims from counterparties, or any consequence of acting on an extraction, estimate, screening result or draft that your desk had the opportunity to review. Nothing here limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

12. Termination

Either side may end a software subscription at the end of the current term with 30 days' notice. We may suspend or end access, or stop work on any business, immediately for a material breach of section 8 or section 9. On termination subscribers can export their data, and we delete it as described on the privacy page. Commission earned on fixtures concluded before termination remains payable.

13. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction, unless the order form or the charter party names another law and forum.

14. Changes

We may update these terms. Material changes are announced to subscriber administrators by email at least 30 days before they take effect; continued use after that date is acceptance.