Certain issues of defining the voyage charter agreement as a separate type of ship charter agreement

Introduction. The paper explores the legal nature of voyage charter agreements in maritime transport. It highlights the peculiarities of this type of charter, focusing on the reasons to consider it as a different agreement to agreements of carriage of goods by the sea. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the voyage charter as a type of commercial contract in maritime transport and to determine its role within the framework of merchant shipping and maritime law. Results. The paper provides a detailed analysis of the structure of the voyage charter, emphasizing that the charterer does not act as a party to a carriage contract but enters into a commercial agreement for the use of the vessel’s transport capacity. It is argued that the voyage charter regulates a broader range of obligations than a standard carriage contract, including freight terms, loading and unloading responsibilities, demurrage, and dead freight. The author points out that the subject of the voyage charter is the performance of a voyage by the vessel, not the transport of cargo for a consignee. Attention is given to the dual nature of demurrage, the allocation of commercial risk, and the necessity of distinguishing charter agreements from contracts of carriage in legal classification. Conclusion. The study concludes that a voyage charter must be treated as an independent form of business agreement within maritime commercial law, not as a variety of carriage contract. This distinction has practical implications for liability, regulation, and dispute resolution, and should be reflected in Ukrainian legislation through clearer differentiation and harmonization with international practice.