Chartering business and ship management

This chapter aims to track the location of chartering within the ship management field. It first introduces some general aspects of shipowning, describing various structures of shipping group organisation and how those may be related with chartering and shipbroking matters. Then, the ship management function is defined and the difference with shipowning is discussed. Ship management services and types of managerial models are presented. Not only the importance of commercial management of vessels, but also the relation with chartering and shipbroking practice, is highlighted. Emphasis is placed on showing some of the owners’ and managers’ most critical commercial decisions, most of all seen from a chartering perspective. Finally, it is worth reading an example illustrating how an owner may evaluate the routing plan and the chartering alternatives for one of his vessels.