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Commercial & Operational Shipping

Commercial & Operational Shipping

Commercial shipping is the business layer that fixes, prices and runs voyages: chartering, freight trading, ship operations and port logistics. Cargoes move on BIMCO-standard contracts, the GENCON voyage charter and the NYPE 2015 time charter, with laytime and demurrage governing who pays for time at the berth. Tanker freight is quoted against the annual Worldscale schedule; dry bulk tracks the Baltic Exchange indices such as the BDI and Baltic Capesize 5TC. Operations cover bunkering to ISO 8217 fuel quality, SIRE 2.0 tanker vetting and the port dues, terminal handling charges and canal tolls that load every voyage estimate.

This portal covers the trade and operations of moving cargo for profit: chartering, freight economics, ship management and ports. The vessel engineering sits in /ship-science/; the conventions that bills of lading and charters rest on (Hague-Visby, general average) sit in /regulation/.

Topic clusters

Chartering & shipping finance

Ship operations & crewing

Logistics, forwarding & trade

Ports, terminals & coastal engineering

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Calculators by subject

Chartering & shipping finance

Ship operations & crewing

Logistics, forwarding & trade

Ports, terminals & coastal engineering

Common questions

What is the difference between laytime and demurrage?
Laytime is the agreed period the charterer has to load or discharge cargo without extra charge; once it runs out the ship is on demurrage, a daily rate (liquidated damages) the charterer pays the owner for detaining the vessel beyond the allowed time.
How is tanker freight priced under Worldscale?
Worldscale publishes a flat rate in USD per tonne for each route each January (WS100); a fixture is then agreed as a percentage of that flat, so WS150 means 150% of the published rate, which lets owners and charterers trade a single number across many routes.
What is the difference between a voyage charter and a time charter?
Under a voyage charter the owner carries a stated cargo between named ports for a freight rate and bears the voyage costs; under a time charter the charterer hires the ship for a period at a daily hire rate and pays for bunkers and port charges while the owner crews and maintains her.