Charter agreements form the contractual backbone of the aviation and maritime industries, defining the crucial terms for the hire of an aircraft or vessel. Our law firm provides specialized legal expertise in structuring, negotiating, and formalizing these complex agreements to ensure full compliance with Georgian law and the protection of our clients' commercial interests. We represent owners, operators, charterers, and financial institutions, providing precise legal guidance grounded in the detailed provisions of the Air Code of Georgia and the Maritime Code of Georgia. Our approach is to create clear, enforceable contracts that mitigate risk and precisely allocate operational, financial, and legal responsibilities between all parties involved, preventing costly disputes before they arise.
In the aviation sector, we possess comprehensive experience with all forms of aircraft leasing and charter contracts. This includes the meticulous drafting and review of wet lease agreements, where the aircraft is provided with a full crew, maintenance, and insurance by the lessor, and dry lease agreements, where only the aircraft is leased and the lessee assumes operational control. Each arrangement carries distinct legal implications for operational control, maintenance, and insurance responsibilities, which must be carefully defined to align with the regulations of the Georgian Civil Aviation Agency (GCAA). We ensure every agreement clearly outlines critical terms regarding flight duration, payment schedules, liability limits, and regulatory compliance, thereby safeguarding our clients’ operational integrity and financial investment.
For maritime operations, our expertise encompasses the full spectrum of charterparties recognized under the Maritime Code of Georgia. We provide robust legal counsel on voyage charters for the transport of specific cargo on a single journey, time charters for the hire of a vessel and crew for a set period, and bareboat charters, where the charterer obtains full possession and operational control of the vessel, akin to a temporary owner. Each type of agreement requires a unique legal approach to define critical obligations related to vessel seaworthiness, cargo handling responsibilities, laytime and demurrage calculations, and vessel redelivery conditions. We ensure all charterparty agreements are robustly drafted to manage the inherent risks of maritime transit and are fully aligned with Georgian legal standards and prevailing international shipping conventions.
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