A dispute rarely starts at the moment of the dispute. More often, it starts earlier, when the parties see familiar wording, assume it is standard, and sign without checking the details.
The point is not to turn every trade into a legal memorandum before signature. The point is to know what has actually been agreed: the goods, quality, weight, timing, standard form, laytime, documents and dispute mechanism.
The cargo description must be verifiable. If a laboratory will not issue the relevant certificate and the inspector will not confirm the exact wording, the description becomes a source of dispute.
A description that is too broad leaves room for something approximate. A description that is too narrow can turn an acceptable parcel into a quality dispute.
At loading and at discharge can be two different commercial constructions. The contract should state where the result is final, who nominates the inspector, which laboratory performs the analysis, and which certificate is binding.
as a matter of practice
When the contract is silent, parties tend to rely on practice. The problem is that each side’s practice somehow always favours that side.
Extension must be read in the particular form. It matters what is extended, who can claim it, by what notice, at whose cost, and whether the mechanism works with the shipment period in the contract.
The word extension does not by itself create extra time. Sometimes it is simply default in more polite packaging.
A reference to GAFTA, FOSFA or standard terms is not decorative. The form contains arbitration, time bars, default, force majeure, notices, sampling, weighing and other terms that may later become decisive.
usual terms
If the contract refers only to usual terms, the parties need to know whose usual terms are incorporated. Each side usually has its own.
SHEX, FHEX, WWD, NOR, whether in berth or not decide when the clock starts, what stops it, and who pays demurrage. If laytime is only “more or less clear”, it is not clear.
The contract should be checked for which documents are needed for payment, in what form, who issues them, and what happens if one document arrives late.
A bank does not deal in fairness. A bank reads the text. Wording, dates or formal differences can become a discrepancy, after which payment may depend on the buyer’s decision.
The arbitration clause should be understood before the dispute: which arbitration, which law and which time bars apply. In trade, a party can be right on the merits and still lose on time.
If these questions have answers, the contract can at least be signed consciously. If the answer is “it is usually fine”, that is not an answer. It is a trailer for a future dispute.