SEMESTER_2_ UG/NS/MS/T/205_SHIP OPERATIONS_BLOCK 4_UNIT 8

MARITIME COMMERCE_8.2 & 8.3

SHIP OWNER : A person who is owning a ship or has shares in a ship.

SHIPPER : Shipper is the person or company who is usually the supplier or owner of
commodities shipped. It is shipper’s obligation to provide relevant information to ship about
the cargo such as MSDS, Weight of cargo, TML, Quality / Quantity certificate etc.

CHARTERER: A charterer may also be a party without a cargo who takes a vessel on
charter for a specified period from the owner and then trades the ship to carry cargoes at a
profit above the hire rate, or even makes a profit in a rising market by re-letting the ship out
to other charterers.

CHARTER PARTY : A charter party is the contract between the owner of a vessel and the
charterer for the use of a vessel.
The vessel is chartered by Charterer in various ways. For eg.
a) Voyage Charter : i.e. for a particular voyage between Point to Point.
b) Time Charterer : i.e. for particular period of time.
c) Bare Boat/Demise Charter : i.e. is a subtype of time charter in which the charterer
takes responsibility for the crewing and maintenance of the ship during the time of
the charter.

Hence different charter party are made as per different chartering needs.

BROKER : Shipbroking is a financial service, which forms part of the global shipping industry.
Shipbrokers are specialist intermediaries/negotiators (i.e.brokers) between shipowners and
charterers who use ships to transport cargo, or between buyers and sellers of ships.

AGENT: A shipping agency or shipping agent is the designated person or agency held
responsible for handling shipments and cargo, and the general interests of its customers, at
ports and harbours worldwide, on behalf of ship owners, managers, and charterers.

STEVEDORE: A stevedore is a person who loads and unloads ships, usually as part of a team.
Generally there is always a stevedoring agency who provides stevedores for loading
unloading operations of ships.

LINER TRADE: is a service that operates within a schedule and has a fixed port rotation with
published dates of calls at the advertised ports.. A liner service generally fulfills the schedule
unless in cases where a call at one of the ports has been unduly delayed due to natural or
man-mad causes..

TRAMP TRADE : A Tramp Service or tramper is a ship that has no fixed routing or itinerary
or schedule and is available at short notice (or fixture) to load any cargo from any port to
any port.

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MARITIME COMMERCE_8.2 & 8.3

APPRENTICE : A person who is learning a trade from a skilled employer, having agreed to
work for a fixed period at low wages. DECK CADET on a ship is an apprentice.

CADETS INDENTURE : An indenture is a legal contract between Apprentice & Shipping

Company signed in presence of shipping Master. Every cadet joining the Indian company must
sign the Indenture before joining ship.

SECTION 100 ( MS ACT ) :

• Master of every Indian Ship (except home trade ship of less than 200 GT)
 shall enter into an agreement with the crew
 with whom he engages, and
 carries to sea as one of his crew
 from any port in India.
in accordance with this act

SECTION -101 –MS ACT - FORM AND CONTENT OF THE AGREEMENTS

ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT (AOA) :
• Agreement should be in prescribed form (DGS ORDER 7 OF 2002)
• Agreement should contain
– Name of ship
– Period of Engagement
– Total No. of crew of different categories in each department.
– Capacity in which seamen is to serve
– The amount of wages
– The scale of provisions.
– The scale of warm clothing and additional provisions.
– Regulations as to conduct on board.
– Compensation in case of personal injury or death.
– Any other matters as prescribed.
IMPORTANCE OF AOA FOR SEAFARERS
• AOA is a legal document which states employment of seaman legally.
• Payment of wages is as per AOA and it cannot be less than mentioned in it.
• In case of dispute between SEAMAN and SHIP OWNER, AOA becomes the legal
document to resolve the issue.

DUTIES OF SHIPPING MASTER :

1) Shipping Master is incharge of Shipping Office.
2) To superintend and facilitate the engagement and discharge of seamen in manner of this
Act.
3) To provide means of securing the presence on board at the proper times of the seamen
who are so engaged.
4) To hear and decide the disputes under section 132 between a master, owner or agent of
a ship and any of the crew of the ship.