Fixture Recap

What is a fixture recap?

A fixture recap is the broker-circulated message that records the main terms the owner and charterer have agreed. It binds both parties once the subjects are lifted, ahead of the formal charter party being drawn up. The recap, not the later document, is the contract.

In dry bulk chartering the recap is the moment a negotiation becomes a fixture. A broker carries offers and counters between owner and charterer, and when the principals agree on the headline commercial points (vessel, cargo, quantity, laycan, freight, demurrage and the governing charter-party form) the broker writes those points up and circulates them as the recap. Under standard chartering practice, as reflected in BIMCO guidance on the use of standard forms and recaps, the recap is treated as the operative record of the bargain. The charter party that follows is the formalisation of terms already agreed, not a fresh negotiation.

The recap matters because it fixes the contract well before anyone signs a charter party. The headline terms are negotiated against benchmarks such as the freight rate and the prevailing time-charter equivalent for the trade, and once the parties confirm them clean, the deal is done. Treating the recap as provisional, or as merely a step toward the “real” contract, is the single most common and costly misreading of how a fixture works.

What a recap contains: the main terms

A recap is built from a fixed set of main terms. These are the commercial heads of agreement that every dry-bulk voyage fixture needs in order to be complete. Each one resolves to its own detail page, and the recap is in effect the line-item list of those terms with the agreed values filled in.

Main term	What it fixes in the recap	Detail
Vessel / tonnage	Names the ship or describes the tonnage (class, dwt, draft, gear) the owner offers to perform the lift.	Panamax
Cargo	States the commodity to be carried, with any grade, stowage or loading-method detail.	Coal
Quantity	The agreed stem, usually with an owner's option margin (for example 5 pct more or less in owner's option).	Voyage estimate
Laycan	The arrival window: the layday after which the charterer must accept the ship, and the cancelling date after which the charterer may walk.	Laycan
Load and discharge ports	Names the load and discharge ports or ranges, and the safe-berth and safe-port basis.	Loading and discharge rate
Freight rate	The price of carriage, quoted in USD per tonne on the agreed quantity, with the payment basis (prepaid or collect).	Freight rate
Laytime	The free time allowed for cargo operations, expressed as a rate or a fixed period and a regime (weather working days, SHINC and so on).	Laytime
Demurrage	The agreed daily rate the charterer pays if laytime is exceeded, plus any dispatch rate for time saved.	Demurrage
Commission / brokerage	The address commission and brokerage payable on freight and demurrage, expressed as percentages.	Ship-brokering
Charter party form	The standard form the parties will use (a GENCON-family voyage form, for example), with the agreed amendments.	Voyage charter

Below these main terms sit the rider clauses: the longer, detailed provisions on cargo handling, off-spec cargo, deductions, time bars, law and arbitration, and the rest. The recap usually agrees the main terms in full and references the rider clauses by form (“otherwise as per owners’ pro-forma charter party”). The phrase “main terms agreed, subjects on details” captures the usual sequence: the commercial heads are locked, while the detailed rider wording is still being finalised against the chosen form.

Fixture recap vs the charter party

The recap and the charter party are often confused because they cover the same deal, but they play different roles. The recap is the concise, binding summary of agreed main terms, circulated by the broker as the negotiation closes. The charter party is the full formal contract document, drawn up and signed afterwards, that expands those terms into complete clauses. It is also worth separating the recap from a firm offer: an offer is one party’s position that the other can still decline, whereas a recap records terms both sides have accepted.

The practical point is that the contract is made at the recap, not at signature. If the charter party that is later drawn up departs from the recap, the recap is strong evidence of what was actually agreed, and a well-run desk reconciles the two before signing so that the formal document does not silently rewrite the deal.

From recap to clean recap to charter party

The recap sits near the end of the chartering sequence. Negotiation runs on offers and counters, often under “subjects” (conditions such as subject to management approval or subject to stem confirmation). When those subjects are lifted, the recap becomes clean and the fixture is concluded. Only then does the formal charter party get drawn up and signed, after which the voyage performs.

1. 01

   Subjects lifted

   Entry point

   The entry point to this stage. The parties have agreed the main terms on subjects (management approval, stem confirmation and the like). Lifting those subjects removes the conditions and turns the agreement into a firm fixture.

2. 02

   Recap

   The broker circulates the recap recording the agreed main terms. This is the binding summary of the bargain that both principals confirm.

3. 03

   Clean recap

   Once every subject is lifted and both sides confirm the recap without further amendment, it is clean. The fixture is now fully concluded and neither party can withdraw on the agreed terms.

4. 04

   Charter party drawn up and signed

   The full charter party is produced from the recap on the agreed standard form, with the negotiated amendments and rider clauses, and signed by both parties. It formalises terms that already bind.

5. 05

   Performance

   The vessel performs the fixture: loading, voyage, discharge, and settlement of freight, demurrage and dispatch against the laytime statement once cargo operations are complete.

The sequence shows why the recap is decisive: by the time the charter party is signed, the parties have already been bound since the clean recap. The signed document records the deal; it does not create it.

An annotated sample recap

The card below is a representative, anonymised recap for a Panamax coal voyage. It is not a real fixture. It shows how a recap reads as a compact list of agreed main terms, with the detailed rider wording still referenced to the chosen form.

01 Fixture Example

Panamax coal, Indonesia to South China

Vessel / tonnage

MV representative, Panamax 76,000 dwt, gearless

Cargo

Steam coal in bulk

Quantity

70,000 mt, 5 pct more or less owner's option

Laycan

10-19 June 2026

Load / disch ports

1 safe berth Kalimantan / 1 safe berth South China

Freight

USD 12.50 per mt FIO, freight prepaid

Laytime

20,000 mt per weather working day SHEX, both ends

Demurrage

USD 18,000 per day pro rata, dispatch half demurrage

Commission

2.5 pct address, 1.25 pct brokerage

Charter party form

GENCON-family voyage form, otherwise as per owners' pro-forma

A recap reads top to bottom as the main terms with their agreed values. The opening lines fix the ship and the cargo: the vessel / tonnage line describes the Panamax the owner offers, and cargo and quantity state what is carried, with the usual owner’s option margin on the stem.

The middle block is the commercial core. Laycan sets the arrival window, load and discharge ports the safe-berth basis, and freight the price of carriage and the payment basis. Laytime and demurrage together set the time bargain: how much free time is allowed and what the charterer pays for going over it.

The closing lines handle money owed to the broker (commission) and the contract framework (charter party form). The phrase “otherwise as per owners’ pro-forma” is what “main terms agreed, sub details” means in practice: the main terms above are locked, while the full rider clauses are taken from the named form and finalised into the charter party that follows.

Image Placeholder Panamax bulk carrier loading coal at an Indonesian anchorage Representative dry-bulk recap, anonymised, not a real fixture

Common confusions about recaps

Recaps are short, so the confusion is rarely about content. It is about status: what the recap commits the parties to and how it relates to the documents around it.

• Assuming the recap is not binding until the charter party is signed. This is the most consequential error. Once the subjects are lifted and the recap is clean, the parties are bound. Walking away after a clean recap because “we never signed anything” is a repudiation of a concluded fixture, not a withdrawal from negotiations.
• Leaving “subject” terms open and treating the recap as firm. The opposite error. A recap that still carries live subjects (subject to stem, subject to board approval) is conditional. The fixture is not firm until those subjects are lifted, and either party can fall away cleanly while a subject remains.
• Confusing a recap with a clean recap. A recap circulated with outstanding subjects or unagreed points is not yet clean. The clean recap is the version both sides confirm without further amendment, with all subjects lifted. Only the clean recap concludes the fixture.
• Treating main terms as the whole contract. The recap fixes the main terms and references the rider clauses to the chosen form. The rider clauses (law and arbitration, deductions, off-spec cargo, time bars) are still binding once incorporated by reference, even though the recap states them only as “otherwise as per” the named form. They are not optional extras.
• Assuming the later charter party can quietly change the deal. If the signed charter party departs from the clean recap, the recap is the better evidence of what was agreed. The formal document should mirror the recap, and any deliberate change needs both parties’ agreement, not a unilateral edit during drafting.

Scope and what this page does not cover

This page explains the fixture recap as a commercial and contractual concept in dry-bulk chartering: what it records, how it relates to the firm offer, the clean recap and the formal charter party, and the confusions that surround its binding status. It does not draft recap or charter-party wording, opine on whether a particular recap concluded a binding fixture under a given law and forum, resolve a dispute over lifted or outstanding subjects, or advise on the address-commission and brokerage arrangements on a specific deal. Those questions are matters for chartering counsel and the desk’s operations team, working from the actual recap exchange, the negotiation record and the chosen charter-party form. The sample recap on this page is representative and anonymised, not a real fixture or a market quote. For the wider negotiation sequence around the recap, see the chartering process, chartering negotiations and the voyage charter and time charter instruments the recap fixes.