Plain terms for a desk tool.

1. The service

LaycanDesk reads market email a customer forwards to it, extracts cargo orders and tonnage positions, matches them, estimates voyages, screens counterparties and drafts messages. It is a tool for licensed brokers and chartering staff. It is not a broker, a marketplace, a shipping exchange or a party to any fixture, and it does not give legal, sanctions, insurance or investment advice.

2. Your account

• You must be at least 18 and authorised to bind the organisation you sign up for.
• Each seat is for one named person. Do not share logins.
• You are responsible for what is forwarded into your workspace and for having the right to forward it.

3. Your data

Everything you forward, and everything derived from it, belongs to your organisation. We process it only to run the service for you, as set out on the privacy page. We never pool, resell or show one desk's data to another, and we never send market messages on your behalf without an explicit action by one of your users.

4. Extraction, estimates and screening are drafts

Every field the system extracts is marked pending until a person on your desk approves it. Voyage estimates are built from stated assumptions, each labelled with its source, and are indications only. Sanctions screening is a first-pass check against public lists and is not a substitute for your own compliance process. You remain responsible for every offer, fixture and message that leaves your desk.

5. Freight quote requests

A request sent through the RFQ formis an invitation to indicate, not an offer or a fixture. Any indication we return is subject to owners' approval, full terms and counterparty screening, and lapses if not confirmed within the time stated in the reply.

6. Early-access programme

Founding desks pay the discounted rate shown on the pricing page from the start, on two conditions: a short weekly feedback call during the first three months, and at least one fixture closed on the desk within the first six months of the subscription. A fixture is closed when both parties have confirmed the recap and the fixture is marked closed on the desk. The first closed fixture confirms the founding rate for as long as the desk remains a customer without interruption; if none is closed within six months, the subscription renews at the standard rate. Founding places are limited to fifteen desks and are counted by confirmed fixture, not by date of signup. Features during early access may change or be withdrawn with notice.

7. Fees

Fees are per seat, billed annually in advance in US dollars unless the order form says otherwise. Seats added mid-term are pro-rated. Late payment may suspend access after 14 days' written notice.

8. Acceptable use

• No scraping, reselling or building a competing dataset from the service.
• No forwarding of content you do not have the right to process.
• No attempts to access another organisation's data or to test our security without written consent.

9. Sanctions and cargo origin

This section is a condition of access on every plan, founding desks included. By signing up, and each time a user forwards a message, posts an order or requests a quote, your organisation represents and warrants that:

• it is not, and is not owned, controlled by or acting for, a person, vessel or entity designated under United Nations, United States (OFAC), European Union, United Kingdom or Swiss (SECO) sanctions, and no such person will be given access to the service;
• it will not use the service to work, quote, match, market or fix any cargo, vessel or counterparty where the cargo's origin, destination or any transhipment point, or the vessel, its owner, manager or charterer, is subject to those sanctions, or where the cargo is of sanctioned-state origin whatever certificate is issued at a port of transhipment;
• it will not use the service in connection with any vessel that engages in deceptive practices, including an undisclosed beneficial owner, flag or identity changes to evade scrutiny, AIS manipulation or operation without a valid IMO number, or that has called a sanctioned port on the voyage that brought the cargo to the load port;
• it will establish origin before approaching an owner: the producer, the inbound vessel and the shipper of record. LaycanDesk publishes its own origin gate and applies it to every enquiry it handles itself.

We screen counterparties, vessels and routes against public lists and our own criteria, and we may decline, hold or remove any order, quote or message without giving reasons. A breach of this section is a material breach: we may suspend or end access immediately, fees already paid are not refunded, and any founding-desk discount ends. Our screening is a first-pass check and does not transfer to us any responsibility for your compliance.

10. Availability and support

We aim for the service to be available around the clock and give notice of planned maintenance. Support is by email at hello@laycandesk.com, answered on working days.

11. Liability

We are liable for direct loss caused by our breach of these terms up to the fees you paid in the twelve months before the claim. We are not liable for lost profit, lost fixtures, demurrage, claims from counterparties, or any consequence of acting on an extraction, estimate, screening result or draft that your desk had the opportunity to review. Nothing here limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

12. Termination

Either side may end the agreement at the end of the current term with 30 days' notice. We may suspend or end access immediately for a material breach of section 8 or section 9. On termination you can export your data, and we delete it as described on the privacy page.

13. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction, unless the order form names another law and forum.

13. Changes

We may update these terms. Material changes are announced to customer administrators by email at least 30 days before they take effect; continued use after that date is acceptance.