Ship Broker: Meaning and What a Shipbroker Does

A ship broker, or shipbroker, is an intermediary who brings together the two sides of a ship deal and helps them to agree the terms. A chartering broker is the shipbroker who arranges charters.

What a ship broker does

A shipbroker finds a ship for a cargo or a cargo for a ship, passes offers and counteroffers between the sides, and helps to agree a charter. A good broker knows the market, the ships and the cargoes, and gives advice on the freight and the terms. At the end the broker issues a written summary of the agreed terms, the fixture recap; see ship fixing and fixture.

Chartering broker

The chartering broker is the best-known kind of shipbroker: the person or firm that arranges a charter between a charterer and a ship operator. Dry bulk, tanker and gas chartering are often separate desks, because each market has its own ships, cargoes and customs. If you search for a chartering broker, you want someone who knows your cargo and your trade lane and who works for the side you are on.

Kinds of ship broker

A chartering broker arranges charters and can act for the charterer or for the ship operator. A sale and purchase broker arranges the sale of ships. Brokers also specialise by ship type: dry bulk, tankers, gas carriers, and so on. A broker who works for the charterer is sometimes called a charterer's broker, and one who works for the ship side an owner's or operator's broker.

How a broker is paid

Brokerage is usually paid by the ship side, as a share of the freight or hire, and it is written in the charter party. The share and the rules differ by market and ship type, so ask before you agree.

Broker or platform

A broker is a person or a firm that works for you in a negotiation and is paid for it. Shipfixing is a digital platform: charterers post ship requests, ship operators answer with offers, and the parties talk directly. Shipfixing is not a ship broker, ship agent or carrier and is not a party to any charter.

Read how to charter a ship and the charter party explained.

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Shipfixing is a digital platform. We are not a ship broker, ship agent or carrier, and we are not a party to any charter.