Ship brokers are specialist intermediaries/negotiators between ship owners and charterers who use ships to transport cargo, or between buyers and sellers of vessels.
Primarily, a ship broker’s job is to fix ships (match a cargo to a ship or vice versa, match a buyer/seller with a ship, so on and so forth depending on the nature of broking an individual specializes in).
WHO ARE SHIP BROKERS?
This is a very competitive profession. It provides the best environment for learning about business.
The pressure in the shipbroker industry is also very high, so it is not healthy if you do not know how to relieve stress, and because brokerage is a very personal job, sometimes applying for leave is difficult to find a replacement, even when you are sick, you still have to take medicine when writing emails to answer customers.
In particular, the shipbroker profession is between the ship owner and the charterer, so they known about the tricks of both partners. Therefore, a characteristic to be noted in the shipbroker profession is the honesty and responsibility of the shipowner and charterer towards the broker.
Qualities A Ship Broker Must Have:
Hard-working
PR skills
Time management
Communication skills
Proactive and initiative taker
Keen interest and knowledge about the industry
Shipbrokers work on a commission structure wherein a percentage of the total worth of the deal (e.g. 1.25% on freight, dead-freight and demurrage in case of tankers, 1% in case of S&P) is what they take to the bank.
