LAYCAN is shorten from Laydays and Canceling. It is a period expressing a number of days to be fixed within a set of begin and end date of a commodity delivery contract.
Laydays refers to the time when a ship must present herself to the charterer. If the ship arrives before the laydays specifed, the charterer does not have to take control or start loading (depending on the type of charter) before the specified laydays. If the ship arrives after the Laydays then the charterer get the right to cancel the contract. Thus, Laydays are often presented as the term LAYCAN (Laydays and Canceling).