Once a Time Charter invoice has been raised, the owner field in the contract will be locked and it will no longer be possible to change the TC owner. Additionally, a single voyage cannot be linked to more than one Time Charter contract.
Background: why this happens
When a vessel's legal owning entity changes, the counterparty on the charter changes too. This is a formal, documented process — the outgoing and incoming owners typically go through a legal/audit review, and actual redelivery/delivery certificates are issued and endorsed by the vessel's master at the "change of hands" on board. Because the counterparty is different, the cleanest approach — and the one this article reflects — is to treat it as a redelivery from the old owner followed by a new delivery from the new owner, rather than trying to edit the existing TC In contract mid-stream.
To handle a change in TC ownership in this scenario, follow these steps:
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Update the existing TCI contract by modifying the redelivery port to reflect the port where the vessel was located at the time the ownership changed.
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Update the voyage itinerary by setting this port as the final port of the voyage and assigning it port function Z (Redelivery).
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Remove all other ports from the voyage itinerary to reflect the redelivery.
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Create a new TCI contract under the new owner's name, starting from the redelivery port of the previous contract. The new delivery date/time should match the redelivery date/time on the old contract, consistent with the actual on-board redelivery/delivery certificates.
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Schedule a new voyage and link it to the new TCI contract. This voyage should start from the same port, using port function Y (Delivery).
Important limitation: Statement of Account (SoA)
Because the old and new owner are on two separate TC In contracts, you cannot print a single SoA that spans from the original vessel delivery (under the old owner) through to the redelivery under the new owner's contract. The SoA is scoped to each contract individually, so it will only ever cover one owner's period at a time. This should be flagged to the client up front so they aren't expecting a single consolidated statement across the ownership change.
Recommendation
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Settle all outstanding hire/invoices with the old owner under the original TCI contract up to the redelivery date.
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Going forward, run settlements with the new owner under the new TCI contract from the delivery date.
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This keeps each owner's books clean and avoids trying to reconcile a single SoA across two different counterparties.
By following these steps, the system will correctly reflect the transition of ownership on the Hire Statement, with the original owner covering the period up to the vessel's redelivery and the new owner covering the period from the new delivery onward — but as two separate SoAs, not one continuous statement.