Agent (Ship's)

A ship’s agent is the shore-based representative appointed to act for a shipowner or charterer at a port of call. The agent arranges berth booking, pilotage, towage, customs and immigration clearance, bunkers, stores, and crew changes, then settles port costs through a disbursement account. Authority flows from agency law: a port agent binds the principal within actual or ostensible authority, and a general agent nominated under a charter (the charterer’s agent) still owes duties to the owner on husbandry matters. The agent is not the carrier and does not assume the carrier’s bill-of-lading liability unless it signs in its own name without disclosing the principal.