Until today in a shipping context, I've never heard the verb 'lift' to signify satisfying contractual conditions. This diction feels kooky. What semantic notions underlie 'lift' with its meaning in shipping? Google Books never exhibited page numbers, so please edit this post if you know them. Peter Brodie. Commercial Shipping Handbook (3 edn).

Other Google Books results by Peter Brodie.

Commercial Shipping Handbook (2 edn).

Dictionary of Shipping Terms (6 edn).

Examples

Miquel Roca LLM in Shipping Law (Cardiff UK), LLB LLM PhD (Barcelona). “SUBJECT TO BOD”, can the Charterer just walk away of a Charter Party negotiation?

We are lately receiving a large number of queries regarding the implication of a “SUBJECT TO BOD” clause, when in the midst of a Charter Party negotiation or right after Owners lift details, the Charterer simply walks away of the negotiation.

Hariesh Manaadiar. A day in the life of a Shipbroker

Well now that I have identified the right ship/rate,

1. I send the ship owners initial rate offer to the charterer
2. If the rate offer is to the liking of the charterer, then I get the complete terms and conditions of the charter from the shipowner and send to charterer for review
3. Charterer may agree to the terms or may wish to make some changes which I then communicate with the ship owner for their confirmation
4. Once an agreement has been reached, I advise the ship’s details including ships certificates (where required) to the charterer
5. The final fixture recap is prepared and confirmed with both parties
6. Get timely confirmation that all subs lifted
7. Charter party is signed by both parties

HandyBulk

There is no agreement until all subjects have been lifted.

Scroll down 3rd- and 2nd-last bullets.

-Subject owners' BOD approval to be lifted.

Solution 1:

Subjects are conditions, lifted means satisfied or fulfilled, as in purchasing a house subject to pest inspection. How the term lifted got to be used—rather than the term met or fulfilled or satisfied—would involve historical research on a specialized and arcane subject (no pun intended) but I suspect that standardization of short-hand terms occurred because communication among parties was initially difficult and expensive. BOD means Bunkers on Delivery, incidentally, and refers to payments for fuel—who pays for what’s there at the beginning and the end of the voyage, and how purchases en route are dealt with—sort of like whether you fill the tank before you return a rental car and what happens if you don’t.

A search for “shipping lift subjects” will take you to a blog on the topic.