Shipping Business
There are hundreds of roles in the shipping industry and they all fit into the whole like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. This book will help bring the picture into focus.
Shipping Business describes how business entities are structured, how they work, how they communicate and how they handle the legal and ethical constraints imposed upon them. The book examines the ships themselves and the disciplines of chartering, sale and purchase, ship management, port agency and liner trades. Seaborne trade is analysed as well as the ship types that are deployed in the various trades. International trade practice and finance in international trade are discussed. Moreover, an overview of the main shipping organisations is provided.
THE SHIPPING BUSINESS ENTITY
Sole traders, partnerships, private and public limited companies, conglomerates and multinationals; company organisation and management; vertical and horizontal integration; quality assurance systems.
SHIPPING BUSINESS SECTORS
Dry Cargo Chartering: Role of the broker; relationship with shipowners and charterers, the market and how it operates.
Tanker Chartering: Distinctive features of the market; brokers, owners and charterers (including oil majors, producers, traders); use of Worldscale.
Ship sale & purchase: Buyers, sellers, brokers and valuers; the stages in the sale of a ship; the market in ships.
Ship operation & management: The need for ship managers, in-house or independent; services offered, including total, commercial, technical management; crewing agencies.
Port Agency: Tramp & tanker agents; scope of work; relationship with shipowner and charterer; supervisory/protecting agents.
Liner agency: In-house or independent; types of appointment; range of
responsibilities; relationship with line operators, exporters, shippers, forwarders, NVOCs.
Freight forwarders and non vessel operating carriers. Agency role and carrier role.
Multi-modal transport, logistics and supply chain management.
BUSINESS ETHICS
Business ethics in shipping; maritime fraud; minor fraud and default; Areas of major fraud and its avoidance.
GEOGRAPHY OF TRADE
Trading patterns of main raw materials; Major ports, their principal trades and characteristics; The choice of transport modes; Effects of weather and other natural phenomena upon shipping and trade.
INTERNATIONAL TRADE & FINANCE
Terms of sale in international trade; INCOTERMS; obligations of buyer and seller.
Importance of documentation; the insurable risk.
Methods of payment, including documentary letters of credit; ICC Uniform Custom & Practice; bills of exchange.
Regulatory control of imports and exports including customs procedures & licensing.
Foreign currency transactions; currency hedging.
Calculating, collecting and remitting freight, hire and other funds; accounting with principals; clients’ funds; freight hedging.
BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS
All forms of business communications, including letters, memos, formal reports, market reports, articles for publication in different media, e-mail. The use of computers and computer networks in communication and other business applications.
SHIPPING ORGANISATIONS – THEIR ROLE AND CONTRIBUTION
Shipowner organisations – INTERCARGO; INTERTANKO; Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO);
International Chamber of Shipping; National Shipowners’ Associations.
Brokers and agents organisations – Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers; The Baltic Exchange; Federation of National Associations of Shipbrokers and Agents (FONASBA); International Federation of Forwarding Agents Associations (FIATA).
United Nations agencies – International Maritime Organisation (IMO), United Nations Council for Trade & Development (UNCTAD).
Chambers of Commerce; International Chamber of Commerce; International Maritime Bureau.
The Corporation of Lloyds and other insurance markets.
Classification Societies, including Lloyds Register of Shipping; International
Association of Classification Societies.
International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF)