Shipbroker
What a shipbroker does in chartering, sale and purchase and port agency, the ICS qualification, and how commission is earned.
A shipbroker is the intermediary who matches ships with cargoes and buyers with sellers. The work divides into chartering, where a broker negotiates fixtures, sale and purchase, where a broker handles the transfer of a ship, and port agency, where an agent attends to a ship’s port call.
A chartering broker may act for the owner or the charterer, and both sides are commonly represented, with the fixture negotiated between them. Remuneration is by commission on the freight or hire earned, with address commission deducted for the charterer’s own account alongside the brokerage. The Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers examination is the recognised professional qualification.
The full article will cover the broker’s role and duties in each discipline, whether and when a broker owes duties to the counterparty, brokerage and address commission and how they are earned and enforced, the competitive and exclusive broking models, and the market information the broking houses produce.