About Carl Alexander Expertise I can answer questions concerning the operations, cargo, maintenance, construction and design theory of vessels used for supply and service in the offshore petroleum industry. Supply, crew, survey, diving, tow boats and barges but no questions about tanker and freighter operations. Family members own commercial shrimp boats and I have a working knowledge of their operations in the Gulf of Mexico. Although not commercial, I have been part of the crew on a full rigged sailing ship and am a devoted history buff of the ships and crews of that period.
Experience I have worked in the offshore drilling industry over 30 years and since I am the representative of the oil companies that charter the service vessels and the project superintendent on the scene, I am closely involved in the boats operations.
Organizations Society of Petroleum Engineers.
Offshore Operations Technical Interest Group of SPE
Expert: Carl Alexander Date: 3/26/2007 Subject: How Do You Put A Ship To Work?
Question If you own a container, bulk or cargo vessel, how do you get freight or put it to work without starting your own shipping company? Is it similar to the trucking industry where you can lease your truck to a shipping company, or pick up loads from point to point? If so, could you suggest who you would contact to arrange such a thing? Thank you, James Smith
Answer James,
Marine shipping is outside my field so I can't give you complete information about this but may be able to move it out of the question pool.
With work and supply boats, sometimes investors will pool their money to build a boat(s)and then lease it to a company that operates these boats. This is a very speculative investment because these are the first vessels the boat operator will beach during a slack period. I do not know of dry cargo, ocean vessels being built or bought in order to offer them to operators on speculation. Usually when such high dollar operations are planned for a vessel that the operator is acquiring for themselves (as opposed to leasing from the investors), a work contract is signed before building/purchase starts. This is the case with marine supply boats and drilling rigs. The owners take a work contract to the bank as collateral!
An independent trucker uses freight brokers to find loads for them. If you are familiar with this you will know that they do not run regular routes but have to carry loads to wherever they get them. The maritime equivalent is Tramp Shipping and this is also done via cargo brokers. I have business partners that contract with companies to build bicycles in Taiwan and then a full container is shipped to the U.S. This container is put on the first available container ship by a broker we have an agreement with.
Here is a link to such a broker. There are many of them. I know how to find the ship but very little about finding the cargo if one has the ship. I would suspect that a risk of this would be to have a full load at the destination port. Having to transit empty to another port or to lay up waiting for a cargo could bankrupt a company. I do not know the lay up costs for an ocean going freighter but for the 10,000 ton oilfield workboat it averages some $3,000 per day. http://www.searates.com/tramp/
