Shipbroker

A shipbroker is the intermediary of the shipping markets: a professional who brings shipowners together with charterers (chartering brokers) or with buyers and sellers of ships (sale & purchase, or S&P, brokers), negotiates the deal, and follows it through execution. Newbuilding brokers arrange contracts with shipyards; demolition brokers handle sales for recycling.

Chartering brokers may act for owners or charterers and are paid a commission (typically 1.25% of freight or hire per broker involved) provided for in the charterparty as “address commission” or brokerage. Beyond matchmaking, good brokers supply market intelligence — who has fixed what, at what rate — and draft the recap and charterparty terms that become the binding contract.

The profession is concentrated in hubs such as London, Athens/Piraeus, Singapore, Geneva, Copenhagen, and Shanghai. Major houses include Clarksons, Braemar, SSY, Fearnleys, and BRS, alongside many specialist boutiques. The Baltic Exchange grew out of this community, and the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers remains the profession’s traditional qualification body.