Sometimes the sensible answer is a boat of your own for one trip. A harbour project, a house build on an island we do not serve weekly, a resort refit, a generator that cannot be stacked around.
We charter for a single job by the day, with the crew, the fuel and the loading included, and we quote the whole thing as one figure rather than a rate with extras underneath.
A charter is priced on the round trip and the time at the island, so the most useful thing you can do to bring it down is to arrange the unloading properly. A day waiting for a quay is a day you are paying for.
We will also tell you when a charter is the wrong answer. If your load is under about forty cubic metres it is almost always cheaper on the schedule, even if it takes two sailings.