 Nowadays, owning the ship shall not be considered as limited with purchasing a ship, getting the proper cargoes and their transportation from one place to another. Traditionally, the ship owners undertake the functions that are commonly implied when owning, maintaining and operating the vessel. The contents of the present publication was prepared by the recognized industry experts and released by the ICS, one of the most authoritative organizations in the international maritime shipping industry.
First, the readers will get the general information about the owners of the ships as well as the ship managers and operators. The basic info about the ship is contained in the second chapter covering the technical characteristics and design features of the different types of vessels. Then, the author proceeds to the ship registration and classification aspects including the rules and regulations that normally apply and shall be complied with.
The next chapter deals with the marine insurance, while the others address the costs and accounting issues, ship operations, crewing and bunkering matters, cargoes, geographical factors to consider, and voyage planning. The closing chapter is devoted to the legal relationship of the ship owner.
 This is one of the most useful publications on tanker chartering of those available today. The volume was developed and released by one of the most recognized organization of today’s maritime world. The readers will start with some brief information about the historical background and development of the tanker shipping; here, the structure and arrangements on the tankers will also be addressed.
After that, the chapter devoted to the tanker chartering geography will go, followed by the one dealing with the structure of the market from new construction of the tankers and up to their scraping. The voyage estimating has been covered in the next chapter with the attention paid to the route, bunkers, port time, expenses and other aspects. The remaining chapters of this publication are dealing with the chartering market practice, lay time and time-charters, financial elements and charter parties, etc.
The closing part of the book provides information about the major organizations in the industry, such as the AAA, BIMCO, ACOPS, FONASBA, ICS, ECASBA, ICS, ITF, INTERTANKO, OSRL and many others. Several appendices provide supplementary information such as the firm offer form, voyage tanker checklist, examples of bill of lading, letters of indemnity etc.
 The contemporary maritime shipping industry is rich of stories of fortunes that have been made and lost, and in some cases this can take place several times – this does fascinate and make the whole subject of maritime economics important and interesting. Of course, sound knowledge of the essentials of the economics of shipping industry is of great importance for any person intending to make a successful career in this field.
This is a very capital intensive making the financial decisions be truly crucial as the proper choice of finance would eventually affect the result of any investment made through impacting the risk-and-reward balance between those who own the finance and those providing finance. The present volume is covering the basic sources of the finance and the authors pay due attention to the differences existing between the possible options.
Every shipowner, meaning the company, is free to choose the appropriate finance level sought together with the security level and other aspects; and these choices made by the owners do affect the returns. The vessels are deservedly considered very useful assets but they could also threaten even the existence of the owner, it all depends on the actions and choices, and this is why it is so important to go through this book very carefully…
 The shipping business of today is a truly dynamic and very exciting sort of activity that normally involves so many different sectors, technical skills and tasks. The essential functions underpinning all above mentioned activities are usual to all companies engaged in the modern business of shipping.
That is why it is so important that all people who are involved in the industry in one way or another possess a good understanding of the functions affecting their business. We know that the shipping is mainly concerned with the operations of the vessels and meeting the needs for the marine transportation of goods and people.
The present publication opens with the chapter addressing the business entities as well as the communications and is followed with the chapters on business ethics and anti-bribery compliance. Then there are three chapters on the vessels, trade geography and ship chartering.
The remaining chapters of the volume are dealing with the ship sale and purchase, ship management, port and liner agency, finance, trade and insurance as applied to shipping industry, major shipping organizations etc. Several appendixes provide additional and useful information.
 The maritime industry of today is special and very fascinating. We consider it special because of the global nature of the industry, as well as huge investments required and highly cyclical markets - moreover, because of the unique competitive structure of the industry with so many determined players participating. From the other side, it is very fascinating because the fortunes and made - and sometimes lost - at a very fast pace.
The present publication is the outcome of the several forces that shaped the interest of the author in shipping companies and their business strategies. The rationale for this volume would be the proper understanding of the success of global shipping companies. That is why t is directly relevant to the people active in the shipping industry. The book also provides the information on how to manage in today's face of global turbulence. Such understanding will be the key not only for the industry executives but also to the professionals from the other corporations and industries.
The book is arranged in six chapters - first one sets out key strategic challenges of a shipping company, while in the second chapter we discuss the commodity-based strategies. The next chapters are discussing the moves toward niche strategies and the overall portfolio strategies, several organizational issues and, finally, the last chapter is dealing with the ownership side, making emphasis on the benefits that shipping company can make from being public...
 An excellent introduction to the activities relating to the ship management. Take some time going through the material presented in this publication and you will for sure have much better understanding of the shipping industry and its impact on the other areas. The author of the book mainly addressed the major demands of the contemporary ship management with the main focus made on the people managing the ships as well as theory and practice of the management.
It was very important for the author to change the content and arrangement of the subject matter; the intention was not to make the book same as all other publication but rather to engage the users and ask them some questions - to make them able to evaluate how the shipping companies operate and compare with what is stated in the book. Of course, none of the books available at the market today can provide a perfect answers to all the questions; however, this one aims to encourage all ship managers to question how the SMS, i.e. safety management system, of their shipping company operates and see whether there is any room for improvement.
It goes without saying that the main aspect of the ship management process is the involved personnel - they all must very clearly understand ship management model employed by the company and apply it properly.
 This publication has been initially acclaimed as the reference source addressing the law related to the time charters - the present latest edition of the book provides all readers with a remarkably comprehensive treatment of the subject presented in a very accessible way that made the book so useful and popular among maritime lawyers and ship owners as well as charterers, insurers and other involved parties.
The book covers both US and English law and has been significantly updated with all major decisions since the previous releases. Here are some of the English law decisions that have been covered - The Kos, The Kyla, The Captain Stefanos, The Athena, The Kildare, The Wren, The Silver Constellation, The Lehmann Timber and others; while the US law decisions addressed are The Athos I, The M/V Samho Dream and some others. Definitely valuable must-have source for every maritime lawyer.
Errata file is also included in the pack. In this release of the publication the material has been reordered and rewritten to bring it in line with the intention of the authors to make it easily accessible and understandable not only to the professional maritime lawyers. The authors were trying to present the maritime law in the subject area in a manner which would help people engaged in chartering and operating vessels...
 The authors of this publication have made an excellent attempt to describe the major commercial trends, together with all associated security implications with the aim to assist all policy makers plus the people from outside of the shipping industry in understanding all vulnerabilities of the industry central to the global economy and security.
The maritime commerce of today in the geographical areas addressed in this volume, i.e. in the Indian Ocean, is considered vital to the global trade - both in volume and in the critically important resources and goods it moves. The significance of the East-Asian and Indian, Australian and South African economies that are steadily growing, shall also be considered, as necessary. It should also be taken into account that, the economic shocks that occurred in the past several years and resulted in the downturn in the trade volumes, have added even more uncertainty about the future destiny of the investments being made.
Nowadays, the relationship between two main factors, i.e. security and commerce - may be presented in numerous forms. The present report is actually a treasury of the research and logical analysis, that have been compiled in a very user-friendly and readable volume.
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