Shipbroking

Shipbroking is an activity which forms part of the international shipping industry. Shipbrokers are specialist intermediaries between shipowners and the charterers who use ships to transport cargo, or between buyers and sellers of ships.

Larger Broking firms have separate departments specialising in Dry Cargo Chartering, Tanker Chartering, Containers, Sale & Purchase and sometimes also Demolition sales and Research. Major shipbroking centres include London, Oslo, Piraeus, New York, Houston, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Although some brokers cover more than one discipline, most shipbroking activity can be divided as follows:

ale and Purchase

S&P brokers handle the buying and selling of existing or new ships (called newbuildings in industry parlance). S&P brokers discuss opportunities and market trends with shipowners, report on sales, value vessels, calculate freight earnings, advise on finance and try to find ships for specific employment opportunities. When a ship is sold, brokers usually negotiate on behalf of the buyer and seller on price and terms and also provide a route to resolving any disputes which might arise. Some S&P brokers specialise in the sale of ships for scrapping, which requires a different set of skills.

Dry Cargo Broking

Dry cargo brokers are typically specialists in the chartering of bulk carriers, and are appointed to act either for a ship owner looking for employment for a ship, or a charterer with a cargo to be shipped. Dry brokers typically maintain large databases of vessel positions, cargoes and rates and pay close attention to the direction of the markets so that they can advise their clients accurately on how to maximise profits or minimise expenses. This area of business is often sub-divided into size classes of bulkers - capesize, panamax and handysize are the main sectors. Each sector involves different cargoes, trade routes, owners and charterers and dry brokers tend to specialise in one of these sectors.

Tanker Broking

Tanker brokers specialise in the chartering of tankers, which requires an entirely different set of skills and knowledge to dry cargo broking. Tanker brokers may specialise in crude oil, gas, oil products or chemical tankers.

Tanker brokers negotiate maritime contracts which are known as Charter Parties. The main terms of negotiation are freight/hire and demurrage.

Freight or Hire rate (when a time charter) for crude oil tankers is based on universal calculations assessed once a year know as worldscale. For specialist ships, such as LNG tankers, where the charter market is smaller, prices are agreed at a fixed rate between the parties.

Container Broking

Container brokers specialise in the chartering of container ships and provide container ship owners and charterers with market-related information.

References

*cite book |first=Mark| last=Huber |title=Tanker operations: a handbook for the person-in-charge (PIC) |publisher=Cornell Maritime Press |location=Cambridge, MD |year=2001 | chapter =Ch. 9:Chartering and Operations |pages= |isbn=0-87033-528-6 |oclc= |doi=
*

External links

* [http://www.ics.org.uk www.ics.org.uk The Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers ]