Affreightment (from freight) is a legal term used in shipping.
Contract of Affreightment is the expression usually employed to describe the contract between a ship-owner and another person called the charterer, by which the ship-owner agrees to carry goods of the charterer in his ship, or to give to the charterer the use of the whole or part of the cargo-carrying space of the ship for the carriage of his goods on a specified voyage or voyages or for a specified time. The charterer on his part agrees to pay a specified price, called freight, for the carriage of the goods or the use of the ship.
A ship may be let like a house to a person who takes possession and control of it for a specified term. The person who hires a ship in this way occupies during the specified time the position of ship-owner. The contract by which a ship is so let may be called a charter-party; but it is not, properly speaking, a contract of affreightment, and is mentioned here only because it is necessary to remember the distinction between a charter-party of this kind, which is sometimes called a demise of the ship, and a charter-party which is a form of contract of affreightment.
Read more about Affreightment: Rules of Law, In Default of Express Contract, Bills of Lading, Express Stipulations, Charter-parties, Customary Rights