Shipping practice
As a future Master of a Ship, to understand Shipping Business, a clear understanding of International Trade is essential.Master may not be directly involved in fixing the cargo for the ship, but you are in a better position to understand the Commercial aspect of Shipping for better co-ordination with Owners, Charterers, Agents & Port Officials.
In this Unit, we will discuss about the Chartering of your ship with regard to Laycan, laydays, Demurrage, Despatch, Calculations etc.
Shipping Business Understand clearly the concept of a Shipping Company functioning ashore to manage their ships and co-ordinate with Master when vessel at Sea and in Port with regard to Safety & Commercial operations.
Organisation
Company Secretary:
Company secretary is vital to any company & responsible for legal regulations imposed on the Company.
Permanent employee of the Company as he/she is the point of contact for Registrar of Companies & Tax Authorities.
Human Resources:
Responsible for recruiting, training & monitoring of staff performance and appraisal. Appraisal reports from their seniors staff for elevation or removal from service.
HR takes care of wages, allowances, bonus & increment in wages, Medical Insurance, Provident fund, Staff welfare, grievances etc with the management
Accounts DeptResponsible for proper management of Finances & accounting. Good cash flow control and avoid Debt chasing. Fix budget for every financial year, fixed expenses for a year & anticipated profits/loss. Statutory Accounts required & audited by a Government & made available as Balance Sheets with company Profit/loss accounts. Shares/stocks & total capital of a company divided into shares & offered for sale to public to raise capital
Administration DeptTotal Quality Management (TQM) designed to prevent errors from happening & ensuring better service to customers/clientsTQM is quality assurance by recognized body which will testify & achieved certain International Standard ( ISO 9001)
Ship management
The current trend in shipping is ie Ship Management companies which manage ships for the Ship Owners because the Owners can concentrate more on commercial aspects of booking cargo in Liner Trade or Chartering in Bulk Trade.
The Owners can opt for Manning and or Technical management of their ships.
The Ship Management companies in India are governed by Recruitment and Placement Rules as per Merchant Shipping Act of India and MLC convention .
Personnel management
Basically dealing with Officers & Ratings recruitment and placement on board their vessels as per local and Flag State requirements.
This department is managed by a Personnel Manager with sea going experience as a Master/Chief Engineer or as a Chief Officer/Second Enginner/and assisted by various junior level staff
This department is responsible for drafting Crew agreements with regard to wages, period of contract, allowances and other requirements as per Flag State regulations and MLC convention.
They are also responsible for Crew briefing , Training, renewal of all STCW Certificates and other relevant documents
Commercial dept
This department headed by a Commercial Manager and or Chartering Manager responsible for cargo booking and Chartering.
They liaise negotiate with regard to Freight rate and Chartering rate with Cargo interests world wide.
Operations dept
This department is headed by a Operations Manager assisted by junior level manager and staff for operations of vessel in Port and all other formalities required prior arrival and departure of a vessel from Port.
Moreover they give required instructions to Master, Agents, Stevedores ,Surveyors etc with regard to voyage instructions and port operation instructions.
They also co-ordinate with Commercial dept with regard to Voyage estimates, Statement of facts, Bunkers, FW, Stores etc