Laytime and laydays are often confused as referring to the same idea. Laydays refers to the time when a ship must present itself to the charterer. If the ship arrives before the laydays specified, the charterer does not have to take control or start loading (depending on the type of charter). If the ship arrives after the laydays, then the contract can be cancelled – hence laydays are often presented as the term Laydays and Cancelling and can be shortened to Laycan