Long Term Contracts of Affreightment

A contract of affreightment shall employ a bill of lading, a charter party, or both in order to ship the goods. A contract of affreightment is also known as contract of carriage and is abbreviated as COA. A contract between a vessel owner/operator and a charterer in which the vessel owner/operator agrees to provide tonnage, usually unnamed, and the charterer agrees to provide cargoes, usually bulk cargoes, from a specified place or places to another place or places during an expressly stated period of time.