The ballast leg is covered by which payment?

• A. Ballast leg
• B. Main cargo leg
• C. Laden leg
• D. Off-hire leg

Answer: (A)

In voyage chartering, a voyage is made up of two main legs: ballast, when the ship sails empty to pick up cargo, and laden, when it carries cargo to the destination. The compensation for the entire voyage is arranged so that the ballast portion is covered by the ballast leg payment. Even though there’s no cargo during ballast, the vessel still needs to be paid for repositioning, and that payment aligns with the ballast leg. The other terms describe cargo-carrying segments or separate concepts (off-hire), which aren’t the specific payment for the empty, ballast portion.