An introduction to Gencon 2022

Gencon was last revised almost 30 years ago. That version was introduced by BIMCO as a modest review, designed to add clarity and certainty, but making no fundamental change to the basic character of the charter. The result was a document which stays surprisingly close to its 1922 ancestor.

In 2018 BIMCO set up a new sub-committee to consider a broader revision of the Gencon form. By then, it was clear that the time had come to rethink the form's purpose and context. According to the available statistics, based on BIMCO's records of electronic access, Gencon was the most widely used of its voyage charters; but these records did not disclose how far its content was modified by the addition of manuscript clauses - including the Clause Paramount, as recommended by the P&I Clubs. ¹ Simply put, if you paste such a provision onto Gencon 1994, you might as well draw a heavy black line through its famous clause 2.