Chartering is a shipping activity. Charterer, in its literal definition, means engaging for service under a contract. A charterer can own a cargo and hire a shipbroker for delivery of the cargo at freight rate. The freight rate can be per-ton basis for a specific route or can be per day basis for the duration agreed upon in the contract.

Shipping charterers might, for a specific period, hire the ships from the owners of shipping companies and trade them to be used as a cargo carrier at a rate more than the rate of charter. They might re-let the chartered ships to other Shipping charterers in the market to make profit. A contract called charter party is formed to register the type of ships used, types of charterers, the rate of charter, the agreed terms and conditions between the charterer and the owner of the ships.

There are many types of shipping charterers. These include voyage charter, time charter, bareboat charter and demise charter. The voyage charter involves the chartering of ship and crew to carry the cargo between the load and the discharge ports. The charterer is responsible for paying the ship owner on per-ton basis while the ship owner is obliged to pay for the fuel costs, cost for crew and port costs.

The time charter involves hiring of the ship for a fixed time. The ship companies manage and operate the vessel and the charterer is responsible for selection of the ports and direction of the ship. In this case, the charterer is obliged to pay for the costs on fuel, crew and ports. In the case of demise charter, the charterer takes full control of the management and operation of the vessel along with control over the financial and legal responsibilities domains.

Bareboat charter necessitates the shipping companies to finance for the charter of the ship. In this kind of charter arrangement, the contract does not involve any agreement on administration or operational management. The Shipping charterers are responsible for paying for the costs of crew, fuel and the port expenses. The charterers are required to pay for the hull insurance and the period for the bareboat charter arrangement between the shipping companies and the charterers ends after the charterer takes full ownership of the ship.

Bareboat charter has become popular in the last decade and has become growingly common. These charters are often referred to as ‘disponent owners’ as they involve giving up of the ownership of the vessel by the vessel owner to the Shipping charterers. This is characteristic of the charter makes it resemble with demise charters. The major difference between demise or bareboat charters and voyage or time charters is that the later do not involve transfer of possession from the owner of the ship to the charterers. Time charter equivalent is the criterion measure used in the shipping industry to measure the changes that occur in the performance of a shipping company from time to time, in spite of the changes in the types of charter.

ABOUT Ocean Ship Liners

Sometimes, cargo vessels that run on a given schedule are also known as Liners. But Liner as a category has its exceptions. Ferries or other short-sea trading vessels, cruise ships whose main purpose is the voyage and not transportation and tramp steamers do not fall in the Ocean Liner category. There are companies who refer to selves as ‘Lines’ Such companies set their routes according to schedules, like Liners.

Ocean Liners have a very strong built with higher freeboard (distance from the water level to upper deck level). This is done to brave rough seas and bad weather conditions that could occur in open oceans. Liners usually have large fuel carrying capacities and lots of different storages for use on long journeys.

HISTORY:

In 1818, the Black Ball Line, begun its voyage with a fleet of ships. They offered the first passenger service with more stress on comfort and travelled from England to United States.

Further in the year 1840, another liner Britannia started its first passenger and cargo service from a steamship. It travelled from Liverpool to Boston. Later in the same decade, ocean liners started using propellers instead of paddle wheels. In 1870, White Star Line’s Oceanic Liner set new standards for ocean travel. It had first-class cabins, added advantage of large potholes, running water and electricity.

The actual number of ocean liners rose after 1880. This was due to rise in number of immigrants from United States and Australia. Ocean Liners were of great use during wars. Ophir, 6.8 ton steamship was used to ferry warriors across countries from 1890s till the World War I.

There also have been many liners that have been lost through the decades. The most famous ship in the Liner history has been Titanic that sank on its maiden voyage in 1912. The Empress of Ireland sank in the Saint Lawrence River with 1012 lives lost. There has been many such similar incidents through the years.

CRUISE SHIP VS. OCEAN LINER:

Ocean Liner Memorabilia:

Ocean Liners are no longer used but they still attract a lot of people who love collecting memorabilia of these ships. There are many things available as memorabilia of these ships. Governments of many countries have issued postal stamps and postcards with the impressions of these liners on them.

In many houses bottles containing replicas of these ships can be found. Many sellers also sell antiques at auctions. Such antiques have been collected from oceans at the spots where ships sank. People pay huge amounts of money to purchase such antiques. The antiques can be in form of tea sets, letters, parts of the ship, etc. Some people pay huge amounts to preserve them. Many governments don’t intend to sell such memorabilia and prefer to keep them in museums.

Shipping company’s reputation – Every shipping company enjoys either a good reputation or a bad one and certainly you don’t want to hire a company having a bad reputation. Always check out shipping company’s reputation before making the final decision. This can be done by doing some more research online, talking to them, check with the BBB, and even their regular clients.

Cost incurred on shipping – When you want to ship your personal belongings or vehicle to a new home, the cost incurred varies from companies to companies. Each shipping company has certain criteria that determine the cost you have to incur and there’s no harm in knowing the way they come up with this cost. Also do some comparing with other companies and get a good price for their shipping services.

Consistency – Can you hire a shipping company which is unreliable? Obviously no! This is a very important question to answer because you don’t want to hire any company that makes false promises. You have to be sure that the hired shipping company will ship your things safely and without damage. By doing a little research you can determine how reliable a shipping company is.

Following are some services provided by the shipping company:

Packing goods safely so that they are not damaged.
Safely shipping your delicate items such as electronic goods and musical instruments.
Shipping your cars, trucks, and motorcycles.
Shipping all the elements of your business.

It may sound easy when it comes to hiring a shipping company but knowing how and who to hire could be a game in research. You have to use your intelligence and diligence to identify the right shipping company. Avoid making a rush decision because shipping is a big step and definitely you don’t want to end up with big problems. Using the above mentioned facts can help you curtail any possible mistakes in hiring the wrong shipping companies.

Shipping industry has undergone a massive change in last few years. Now shipping companies not just carry goods and passengers but they also ship cars across the seas. But have you ever thought about the varied shapes and sizes of containers used to ship. There are multitudes of sizes available catering to your shipping needs. The size of the container depends on the capacity and the type of goods within. While purchasing or even renting shipping containers don’t forget to shop for the best one fitting your shipping needs.

Seeing the contemporary trend, steel containers are found to be the most commonly used option for retail goods and they are shipped overseas from 8 feet to 45 feet. The most common sizes remain 20 feet and 40 feet. Don’t get confused with the measurements as they point to the outside length. The standard outside width as well as height is 8 feet and the inside dimensions are based on the thickness of the inside walls and roof. That’s why; it becomes mandatory to check before you buy a container. Well land based shipping tend containers are small and not necessarily made from metal.

Since plastic drum containers can carry liquids, therefore, they are utilised for both land-based and overseas shipping. While shipping by boat or airplane, these drums are filled inside a large shipping box. When shipping items by railroad, the large metal containers are successful. The best thing about contacting a shipping company is that an entire car can be shipped to any location without much hassle. There are many regulations that all shipping venues must follow, when they are shipping by truck.

Air shipping is possibly the most appealing because it is not like the other forms of shipping. Air shipping companies have their own set of rules and container sizes tagged in a much diverse way. The most familiar are the LD series, as the sizes for this series are chosen by LD and a number from 1 to 29 is given to it. Even though there are several types of containers but the four main type pallets ideal are conveyor belts, contoured containers allowing secure protection of goods, lower deck containers fitted into the lower deck of an air plane, and box shaped containers holding other containers.

Whatever shipping mode you use, weather plays a very important role. Thus, ensure the shipping container sizes as well as its longevity. You will find that few containers are used for various venues, but before that, you need to confirm where the norm is not applicable.

Marine coating patrons face rising cost pressures and are looking for ways to reduce costs. While some Ship Operators are looking for lower-cost materials for short-term savings, other operators are seeking higher performing products that may incur greater initial costs but save more in the long term. Ship operating companies are also changing their tactic to dry docking and on board maintenance. With the recession, many operators are postponing coating work as long as possible. In addition, with smaller crews operating larger ships, on board safeguarding has been reduced to emergency repairs and often only takes place during dry docking.

At the same time, coating manufacturers face rising materials costs. This because Coating formulators have had to enhance efficiencies, from production processes to logistics and product portfolios. Most ship operators now offer a leaner product collection and also are equipping its stocking points with tinting machines, so custom-tailored products can still be afforded with low-price capital costs.
Investing in technology has become increasingly essential as well. Ship operators are now demanding development of products that will make it easier for shipyards and operators to work under the challenging market conditions. Most recent innovation was the range of universal primers for shipyards that reduces the intricacy of coating operations.

Returns for ship operators will be capricious over the next year or so, particularly depending on their fleet mix, so there is a need to introduce technologies that add value. Often coatings for applications such as ballast tanks and decking are applied thickly, leading to solvent entrapment and eventually cracking. The strength of the added fibres prevents such fissures, even at very high applied thicknesses. Ship Operators claim that repairs of ballast tanks in specific are high-priced, so this improvement in implementation of the coating has an economic influence.

It is safe to predict that the environmental silhouette of the shipping industry will receive more scrutiny in coming years. Those issues include reduction of carbon dioxide, VOC (volatile organic compound) and other emissions from both shipyards and operating vessels. Ship operators reveal that, use of water borne and high-solids coatings are two solutions. Also available are fully water borne shop primer for shielding cut steel while it is being integrated into a ship. The use of more environmentally friendly, less contaminated substances is prevalent in the marine coatings industry.

Generally ship operators, to prevent build-up of organic matter on ship hulls, use specifically designed foul-release and antifoulant coatings. While this is true for only a small portion of the sector, interest is growing. By keeping hulls free of fouling organisms, ship operators have ensured that marine coatings advance fuel competency and thus reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

While most companies kept an eye for the economy, some have been focusing on core businesses, divesting non-core activities, integrating aspects of the company in order to reduce costs and generate revenues, and keeping a tight watch on costs. However, there seems to be a beginning to enhanced production forecasts that suggest a stronger business climate. All shipping, logistics and trading companies experienced nearly five-fold increase in quotation activity over the last quarter. During the financial predicament, industries that focused on quality and on-time delivery performance exceeded others by ninety nine percent, and this continues to earn them new opportunities to quote additional programs from existing customers not previously open in the market.

The previous year’s loss was driven by a decrease in net sales compared to a year ago and under-utilization of manufacturing capacity, which was partially offset by improvements in manufacturing and procurement processes. Trading and Logistics companies designed improvements resulting in reduced warranty expenses and reduced obsolescence expenses. The first sign that the economic recovery is making progress is the percentage hike in the net income of shipping industries. Outstanding execution of business strategies and an improving global economy drove solid financial performance, helping shipping and trading companies maximise their earnings. These industries mostly followed an overall strategy to compete collectively, operate independently, and manage collaboratively. This powerful approach to the marketplace, provided the edge to shipping, logistics and trading companies. Most companies discovered that recovery is broadening, with trade and international shipping turning more positive-as evidenced by higher volumes across all its transportation segments during the quarter.

Proper management and execution of most effective global supply chain strategies, along with the technology and value-added solutions will allow shipping, trading and logistics organisations to have world-class visibility, information and controls without disrupting existing plans, processes, partnerships and information systems. In addition, to the synergies, this approach ensures the quality of internal operations.

It’s not all smooth sailing, however, for the industry. Many in the shipping chartering industry, reported a decline in fourth-quarter time charter equivalent, a key industry measure. Initially some firm’s were able to hold its dividend shares, over the past 12 months, though momentum has stalled of late as it’s dropped over three months. Global shipping chartering boomed from 2003 until 2008, driven by demand from countries like China. In the second half of 2008, however, world trade declined dramatically, causing sharp drops in freight rates and vessel values.

In the dry bulk sub sector, a capsize vessel needed more financial backing to be fixed 2008 and very little by November that year, according to the report. Besides the sharp decline in hire rates, ship chartering firms also confront a shortage of trade finance and potential breaches of loan covenants. At a recent shipping forum, it was projected that there will be growth in dry bulk commodities this year, with the fastest growth seen in iron ore trade. China, of course, is the dominant consumer when it comes to iron ore and numerous other commodities.

Speculation in the real estate sector and the stock market is a major risk facing China. The developing countries have economy that is solid enough to resist these economic shocks, and thus the outlook for the dry bulk market is positive for the next two years. While shipping chartering isn’t directly affected by the debt crisis, its chief operations certainly has to live with the realities of it. Most countries have planned to reduce the size of the unusually large public sector and reforming the tax system. In the meantime, stocks and bonds are being sold off, not helping any country’s credit rating.

Ship chartering has been successful mainly because the most governments don’t interfere with the industry.

Conferences are organisations of shipping lines operating on a particular route. There are roughly 200 conferences in operation worldwide, ranging in membership from two to forty lines. It is not clear whether conference route constitutes an economic market. Shipping liners may have to incur sunk costs to enter a trade. These could include setting up docking facilities as well as advertising and creating goodwill on a route. It is liner shipping that conferences have thrived. Conferences are mostly associated with international shipping. Conferences were formed in response to excess in capacity. There have been attempts to set up conferences in tramp shipping, very similar to the shipping liners.

It is often asserted that the demand for shipping liner services are highly inelastic, although there is very little systematic evidence for this. Foreign shipping lines have hijacked the shipping business by dictating who should or should not lift. With the global financial crisis easing up on cargo shipping liners, it is likely that successful liners will be pushing rates back to break even levels, it will take longer to return to normalised profitability as some idle capacity will likely be added once rates provide a profit margin. There is a considerable weakening in the strength of conferences as a result of regulatory reform and the entry of lower cost shipping liners, particularly from China.

Conferences usually demand a ten days notice prior to changes in the rates of shipping liners. But with the inconsistency in the market, this proves to be highly demanding.

List your shipping liners, Cruise Liners, Ocean Liners, Cargo Liners, Bulk Container Liners company in our liners services directory. Ocean liners, cargo liners, cruise liners, bulk container liners, Indian and International shipping Companies listing in ShippingeWorld.com

Freight shipping has always had to adjust to the changes in economy and trade trends. The ongoing recession is taking its toll on shipping
companies and also on shipyards. Research and consulting firms confirm that cargo containers are responsible for millions of jobs. Developing
countries are also in need of freight for products like cement and other bulky building materials, thus showing a ray of hope to freight
shipping.

Analysts however maintain that container shipping would probably not go back to its previous boom until after 2012. Before recession shipyards were building larger ships, helping the opening of new services by low-cost finance. This overcapacity underscored the
slowdown in the industry. Freight shipping has responded by slowing their ship building. Even so there is still a huge number about to be
delivered this year and next. Which just puts more ships with little cargo to compete for.

To outlive the competition the rates had to be lowered drastically which further affected the shipping industry. With the slight upward
trend in the economy the freight rates were increased but were still way below the cost and thus unsustainable. More freight ships are
found idle now in comparison to before and are expected to remain there harboured for another year.

The demand for all kinds of shipping solutions by freight customers shows its importance in world trade. All major export and import
businessess rely on freight shipping to lower costs on transportation. With the freshly healing economy any major changes in freight rates
would not only affect the profit and loss margins of the related companies but would also affect the global economy in a big way.

There are many large freight transport destinations in the world that enable parallel growth in international freight shipping companies.
Given time freight shipping would become the strong back support of world economy.

Lord Tennyson

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Joey Adams

May all your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions!

Martin Luther
Glory to God in highest heaven,
Who unto man His Son hath given;
While angels sing with tender mirth,
A glad new year to all the earth

Like birds, let us, leave behind what we don’t need to carry…
GRUDGES, SADNESS, PAIN, FEAR and REGRETS
Life is beautiful, Enjoy it.
Happy New Year

Oh my Dear, Forget ur Fear,
Let all ur Dreams be Clear,
Never put Tear, Please Hear,
I want to tell one thing in ur Ear

Wishing u a very “Happy NEW YEAR“!

All the team members of Shippingeworld.com wishes you a Very “Happy & Prosperous New year.”