Many ships are chartered (hired) from their owners for specific periods. This is especially important in moving dry and liquid bulk cargoes and most bulk carrier and tankers are chartered from their owners by cargo owners to move specific cargoes. Reasons for Chartering a Ship rather than buying a Ship Large amounts of capital are…
A ship broker is a company (or person) who performs important roles in any of the following : Assists a shipowner to buy or sell a ship; Assists a cargo owner to find a suitable ship to move his cargo. (This is especially important in dry bulk trades or the bulk liquid trades where a…
Some shipowners prefer to place their ships under the management of specialist companies who manage the vessels. This might be because the owner does not have the resources or experience to manage the ship properly, or the company has only a few ships and it is difficult to operate a few ships economically while retaining…
Below is the basic structure of a typical shipping company.
Anyone can become a ship owner – an individual, a company, a bank, a consortium of companies, or other group. Whoever owns a ship wants the ship to be an investment in terms of its ability to earn money by moving cargo, or by carrying passengers, or by providing a service (e.g. tugs or survey…
A ship will come to a harbour to do one or more of the following load and/or discharge cargo take on fuel (“to bunker”) take on stores (food, deck stores or engineroom stores) undergo repairs or maintenance (which may include drydocking) in the case of passenger ships, to land and embark passengers and to enable…
A number of different organisations and agencies play a role in operating a ship efficiently. The diagram below shows some of the role players in operating a ship.
The rank structure among engineering officers on a merchant ship (containerships, bulker, tankers, etc) is as follows : Engineer Cadet Fourth Engineering Officer Third Engineering Officer Second Engineering Officer Chief Engineering Officer The career path from a Grade 12 student to the Chief Engineering Officer of a large ship is as follows : Grade 12…
The rank structure among navigating officers on a merchant ship (containership, bulker, tanker, etc.) is as follows : Navigating Cadet Third Mate Second Mate Chief Mate Master (Captain) The career path from a Grade 12 student to the Master of a large ship is as follows : Grade 12 (with English, mathematics and physical science…
Navigating Cadet aboard a LNG tanker. Photograph : Captain Steve Tucker Entry requirements for a navigating cadet and an engineering cadet are : National Senior Certificate (“Matric”) with more than 50 percent in mathematics, physical sciences and English. Following this is a period of study at the Maritime Studies Department at either the Cape Peninsula…