HEAVYCON 2007

A standard bill of lading, HEAVYCONBILL, is intended to be used with it. The latest edition of this contract is HEAVYCON 2007.

Copyright in HEAVYCON 2007 is held by BIMCO.

HEAVYCON – BIMCO’s Standard Transportation Contract for Heavy and Voluminous Cargoes - was originally adopted by BIMCO’s Documentary Committee at its meeting in Copenhagen November 1985. The developments within the heavylift sector, which initiated the drafting of HEAVYCON, has since continued at a great speed with more types of cargoes and vessels tailor made for the various cargoes coming on to the market. 

To reflect recent developments, HEAVYCON has now been updated through a thorough revision and re-issued with the codename HEAVYCON 2007. It was adopted by the Documentary Committee at its meeting in Copenhagen November 2007. 

The new version of HEAVYCON has been developed by a team of heavylift specialists. BIMCO is grateful to the representatives of BigLift Shipping, Schiffahrtskontor Altes Land, Fairmount, Heerema, Larsen & Partners and the Standard Club for their extensive and valuable work on this project. 

Besides of bringing up to date the terms and conditions of HEAVYCON to reflect current commercial practice, the task of the drafting team has been to decide the applicability of the form to current trade practices in the industry. Originally HEAVYCON was intended for the super-heavylift (float-on/float-off) sector, but the form is to some extent also used by the midsized (lift-on/lift-off and roll-on/roll-off) sector.

The drafting team has aimed to make the HEAVYCON a suitable contract for the ocean carriage of heavy lifts, having sufficient flexibility to cover various loading and discharging methods, single or multiple loading and discharging ports, on or under deck stowage, entire or complete cargoes etc.

There are, however, various points by which the midsized sector distinguishes from the super-heavylift sector, and which make HEAVYCON less appropriate to the midsized sector. In the midsized sector, e.g., the cargo is often regarded as conventional cargo where the Hague/Hague Visby liability regime appropriately applies whereas HEAVYCON is based on a Knock for Knock liability regime. A form for the midsized heavy lift sector is therefore under development by a separate drafting team.

The drafting team has also discussed the applicability of HEAVYCON for installation operations. Installation operations are excluded from P&I cover and in general risks and liabilities introduced in installation projects were felt to fall outside the intended scope of HEAVYCON. 

HEAVYCON 2007 is classified as a Voyage Charter Party, and the word “Contract” as used in the original HEAVYCON has been replaced with “Charter Party” throughout the form. 

The drafting process has been thoroughly with several meetings. The drafting team has gone through every single provision of the original HEAVYCON to make sure that its provision are brought up to date with current commercial practice. Furthermore, recent versions of BIMCO’s standard clauses, e.g. BIMCO ice Clause for Voyage Charter parties, War Risks (VOYWAR 2004), BIMCO Dispute Resolution Clause. The result is a modern and comprehensive voyage charter party tailored to the specific needs of the heavylift sector. 

Common to BIMCO charter parties, the revised HEAVYCON uses the trademark Box Layout Part I which usefully summarises the key variable information added by the parties. Part II of the form contains the main terms and conditions of the agreement. 

To illustrate the changes made to the original HEAVYCON, the Secretariat has compiled the following clause by clause comparison between HEAVYCON and HEAVYCON 2007. The comparison does not include the new Part I box layout or the Annexes that accompany HEAVYCON 2007 as these documents are felt to be self-explanatory.