Also known as: nolissements · affreightment · chartering
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A contractual arrangement by which a shipowner hires out a vessel for the transport of goods or passengers.
Nexus Financial charters a vessel under a nolissement to move goods in interstate trade. Congress relies on the Necessary and Proper Clause to authorize the underlying federal program that enables the charter. The arrangement carries out enumerated powers without creating new substantive authority.
Northstar Logistics enters a nolissement with a foreign shipowner to transport cargo. The charter is performed in multiple states. Courts recognize the validity of the arrangement under principles governing foreign corporations doing business across state lines.
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Neptune Energy and a rival carrier execute a nolissement for shared vessel use. The transaction raises antitrust concerns in the relevant shipping market. Regulators assess whether the charter substantially lessens competition in commercial transportation.
Nordic Ventures concludes a nolissement for a transatlantic voyage. An unforeseen canal closure prevents performance. The carrier invokes commercial impracticability to excuse the charter obligations.
Noah Nakamura charters a vessel through a nolissement arranged by a Delaware corporation. A later ownership dispute arises. The forum state must establish minimum contacts before exercising jurisdiction over the nonresident parties.
Nalini Narula uses a nolissement to operate a vessel for political advocacy. The corporation claims First Amendment protection for its expenditures tied to the charter. Limits on independent expenditures are challenged as unconstitutional restrictions.
Courts give technical maritime terms their established trade meanings when the parties use a standard industry form and offer expert testimony on usage. Ordinary dictionary definitions yield to settled maritime practice unless the contract shows a contrary intent.
A person whose property is under court-appointed guardianship lacks capacity to contract. Any purported nolissement signed by that individual is void and creates no enforceable obligations against the estate.
A nonbreaching party may recover reasonable costs incurred chartering substitute vessels or trucks to mitigate damages. Recovery is allowed even if the mitigation efforts ultimately fail to prevent all loss, provided the efforts were reasonable under the circumstances.
Lost profits are foreseeable when the buyer discloses during negotiations that the trailers are needed to secure a specific national supply contract. Foreseeability turns on the seller's reason to know the probable consequences at the time of contracting.
…managers to book." Koster v. Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co. , 330 U. S. 518, 522, 524 (1947). Viewed in this light, the chartering State has an unusually powerful interest in insuring the availability of a convenient forum for litigating claims involving a possible multiplicity of defendant fiduciaries and for…