Abbriviation :  

Term :  Affreightment

Description :  Comes from French, and means “the hiring of a ship to carry cargo”. This term describes a “contract of carriage” and is less frequently used today. Rather, such a contract is now more simply referred to as a “charter”. However, modern shipping terminology has assigned a specific meaning to a “Contract of Affreightment” (COA). A COA refers to a contract to move a (large) volume of cargo over an agreed period of time.