Course 01 of 20 · Freight and Shipping Desk Academy

Shipping Business & Freight Markets

Stage A, Shipping and voyage foundations. Level 1 of 10.

How the shipping industry is organised and which commercial role each party holds in a freight transaction: owner, operator, disponent owner, charterer, broker and agent.

120 chapters · 11 modules · every chapter one 8 to 10 minute explainer · builds on: nothing: this is the entry point

Enrol or enquire See the 120 chapters
How a chapter is delivered

One chapter is one idea taken to the point of use

Each chapter covers one idea to the point where you can use it, and comes two ways: a narrated explainer, and a deep dive audio discussion of around thirty minutes that works the same material at depth.

Self-paced throughout, and the same chapters can be taught as a cohort. Chapters run in order: each one assumes only what the chapters before it taught, and capability belonging to a later course is named and deferred rather than half-covered.

Curriculum

11 modules · 120 chapters

Open any module for its full chapter list, in teaching order.

M0 What the Shipping Business Actually Is Ch 1-10
  1. Shipping as a Business That Sells Days, Not Distance
  2. Why Somebody Else's Cargo Pays for Your Ship
  3. Freight Is a Price Set by Two Scarcities
  4. Owning, Operating and Chartering Are Three Different Trades
  5. A Fragmented Industry and the Price of Fragmentation
  6. The Contract, Not the Company, Decides Who You Are
  7. Three Lenses on the Same Ship: Asset, Voyage, Contract
  8. Cycles: Why This Industry Is Always Early or Late
  9. Who Earns in Shipping, and at Which Point in the Cycle
  10. What a Freight Desk Is For
M1 The Shipowner Ch 11-21
  1. What a Shipowner Actually Sells
  2. One Ship, One Company: Why Fleets Are Held in Pieces
  3. Registered Owner, Beneficial Owner, Group
  4. The Owner Who Only Provides Tonnage
  5. The Asset Player and the Cash Flow Owner
  6. Which Costs Belong to the Owner
  7. Flag, Register and Who the Owner Answers To
  8. The Owner's Employment Decision
  9. What an Owner Fears
  10. Reading an Owner's Position Before You Talk to Him
  11. Owners Who Also Trade
M2 Ship Management and the Divided Owner Ch 22-31
  1. Why Owning and Running a Ship Came Apart
  2. The Technical Manager's Mandate
  3. Crewing and the Manning Chain
  4. Commercial Management as a Separate Mandate
  5. Commercial Pools and Shared Employment
  6. The Management Agreement as a Role Definition
  7. Fee Structures and Whose Interest Is Served
  8. When the Technical and Commercial Sides Disagree
  9. Who Do You Actually Telephone?
  10. Identifying the Decision Maker Behind an Offer
M3 The Charterer Ch 32-42
  1. What a Charterer Is Buying
  2. The Industrial Charterer
  3. The Trading House as Charterer
  4. The Charterer With No Cargo at All
  5. Credit Standing as the Charterer's Currency
  6. Inside a Chartering Department
  7. Why a Charterer Would Hold Tonnage
  8. The Charterer's Side of the Bargain
  9. Preferred Owners and the Charterer's Own List
  10. Reputation and Repeat Access to Ships
  11. Turning a Cargo Requirement Into an Order
M4 The Operator and the Disponent Owner Ch 43-53
  1. The Operator: Buying Tonnage to Sell Carriage
  2. Where an Operator's Margin Comes From
  3. The Disponent Owner Explained
  4. The Charter Chain, Link by Link
  5. Who Is Owner to Whom
  6. Back to Back, and the Gap That Is Never Quite Closed
  7. Two Counterparties, Two Exposures
  8. Why the Market Keeps Operators in It
  9. Owner-Operators and the Blurred Middle
  10. Selling On Spare Capacity, in Outline
  11. Which Role Are You Playing Today?
M5 Brokers and the Market's Information Trade Ch 54-64
  1. What a Shipbroker Is For
  2. Owner's Broker and Charterer's Broker
  3. Exclusive and Competitive Broking
  4. The Broker Chain and Split Commission
  5. Address Commission and the Charterer's Own Cut
  6. When and How a Broker Gets Paid
  7. What a Broker Owes You, and What He Does Not
  8. Market Intelligence as the Broker's Product
  9. The Other Broking Desks: Sale and Purchase, Newbuilding
  10. Building and Managing a Broker Panel
  11. One Enquiry Through the Market, Traced
M6 Agents and the Port Interface Ch 65-74
  1. The Port Agent's Mandate
  2. Who Appoints the Agent, and Why It Matters
  3. The Protecting Agent
  4. Husbandry and Commercial Agency
  5. The Disbursement Account and Agency Funds
  6. The Documents an Agent Produces
  7. Port Authority, Pilot and Tug as Counterparties
  8. Stevedores and Who Engages Them
  9. Terminals, Berths and the Party That Controls Access
  10. Appointing an Agent in a Port You Do Not Know
M7 The Freight Market as a Marketplace Ch 75-86
  1. A Market With No Exchange
  2. The Shape of a Market Day
  3. The Position List
  4. How an Order Reaches the Market
  5. The Fixture Report and What It Gives Away
  6. Market Reporting, Press and Rumour
  7. Open Market and Relationship Business
  8. Tonnage Supply, Cargo Demand and the Balance Between
  9. Spot and Period Running Side by Side
  10. Regions, Basins and Why Freight Is Local
  11. The Market Institutions That Report a Level
  12. Reading the Market Before You Act
M8 The Employment Families and the Roles They Create Ch 87-97
  1. Four Ways a Ship Earns Her Keep
  2. The Voyage Charter as a Division of Labour
  3. The Time Charter as a Division of Labour
  4. Bareboat Chartering and the Owner Who Becomes a Financier
  5. The Repeat-Shipment Commitment, in Orientation
  6. The Liner Business and the Common Carrier
  7. Carrier, Charterer and the Question of Who Carries
  8. The Bill of Lading as a Document That Names Roles
  9. Standard Forms and the Committees Behind Them
  10. Choosing the Family a Requirement Calls For
  11. One Cargo, Four Employment Routes, Compared on Roles
M9 The Institutions Standing Around the Deal Ch 98-107
  1. Classification Societies and the Certificate Chain
  2. How a New Rule Reaches a Ship
  3. Port State Control and the Inspection That Stops a Ship
  4. Protection and Indemnity Clubs as Mutuals
  5. Hull and War Risk Underwriters as Counterparties
  6. Industry Associations and Who Speaks for Whom
  7. Vetting and Approval Bodies, in Outline
  8. Arbitration Institutions and Where a Freight Dispute Goes
  9. Governing Law and the Forum a Charter Chooses
  10. Public Registers, Databases and What You Can Find Out
M10 The Transaction End to End, Role by Role Ch 108-120
  1. The Life of a Freight Transaction
  2. Before the Fixture: Who Does What
  3. Between Fixture and Loading: Who Does What
  4. During the Voyage: Who Instructs and Who Reports
  5. After Discharge: Who Closes the File
  6. The Paper Each Party Produces
  7. The Money Flow Through the Chain
  8. Where Responsibility Changes Hands
  9. A Worked Transaction, Part One: The Requirement and the Enquiry
  10. A Worked Transaction, Part Two: Assembling the Chain
  11. A Worked Transaction, Part Three: Performance and Settlement
  12. What Knowing the Roles Cannot Do for You
  13. Where This Work Is Picked Up Next

The brochure gives each of these 120 chapters a paragraph on what it covers and what you can do once you have worked through it.

This is course 1 of twenty

It stands alone, and it is also the entry point to the Freight and Shipping Desk Academy pathway.

Enrol or enquire See the whole pathway