What is "affreightment"

Affreightment \Af*freight"ment\, n. [Cf. F. affr['e]tement.] The act of hiring, or the contract for the use of, a vessel, or some part of it, to convey cargo.

n. (context nautical English) The act of hiring, or the contract for use of, a vessel, or some part of it, to convey cargo.

Affreightment (from freight) is a legal term used in shipping.

A contract of affreightment is a contract between a ship-owner and another person (called the charterer), in which the ship-owner agrees to carry goods for the charterer in the ship, or to give the charterer the use of the whole or part of the ship's cargo-carrying space for the carriage of goods on a specified voyage or voyages or for a specified time. The charterer agrees to pay a specified price, called freight, for the carriage of the goods or the use of the ship.

A ship may be let, like a house, to a person who takes possession and control of it for a specified term. The person who hires a ship in this way occupies during the specified time the position of ship-owner. The contract under which a ship is so let may be called a charter-party—but it is not, properly speaking, a contract of affreightment, and is mentioned here only to clarify the distinction between a charter-party of this kind, which is sometimes called a demise of the ship, and a charter-party that is a contract of affreightment.