What Specific Figures Are Involved in Maritime Transport?

In the shipping industry there are a large number of parties involved. Therefore, the planning of a maritime shipment usually involves different figures, which are not always well known.

Entrusting your load into the hands of others can be stressful but it is always better to have experienced professionals on your side. Very often the roles and responsibilities of the professionals involved in the international transport chain are confused. But when we have a problem, the first thing we need to know is who is the right professional to solve it.

That is why it is so important to know who is who in shipping. Knowing the differences between the different roles can help prevent possible obstacles and resolve incidents more quickly.

In the maritime transport several agents intervene, each of them with very different functions and responsibilities. Maritime consignees or consignees of ships: agents (representatives) of the shipping companies or shipowners in the different ports of the world.

Their functions are:

• They capture loads for the shipping companies or owners they represent.
• Charge freight
• Issue international maritime transport contracts.
• Coordinate ship loading and unloading.
• They carry out the appropriate administrative procedures before the port and customs authorities.
• They act as intermediaries between shipping companies or shippers and shippers (exporters) and bill their services to exporters or importers (according to the INCOTERM agreed in the sale).
• They receive commissions from the shipping companies or shipowners depending on the loads they obtain for them.

Shipowner: Maritime entrepreneur, owner of ships or that arms (makes them able to navigate). You can operate with your vessels or transfer them to shipping companies for them to do so. If you operate with your vessels, you act as a chartering agent in chartering policies and/or as a carrier in international maritime transport contracts.
Shipping company: Maritime businessman, usufructuary of ships. A company that operates with vessels ceded by shipowners. Acts as a chartering agent in chartering and/or as a carrier in international maritime transport contracts.

Shipbroker: Intermediary between shipping companies or shipowners (charterers) and porters (charterers) in some chartering policies. It is responsible for looking for shipping companies or ship owners and shippers. For its brokerage services, it usually charges a charter fee of 5% of the charter price from the charters. Harmony Marine Shipbroker is known for their shipbroker services. Either you want vessel for charter or Vessels for sale or want to move your vessels from one end to another, they are always available to provide all vessel you need for your marine project. Harmony Marine Shipbrokers are known for marine construction, offshore windfarms & ocean towage.

Consolidator: Intermediary between shipowners and shippers. Reserve space/weight inside a ship at a certain price to market it among different shippers. It groups in containers (in the port / s of origin) all the goods that it captures and consigns them to its representative (desconsolidador) in the port (s) of destination. Thus, like a freight forwarder, the consolidator sometimes acts as a loader in front of the carrier and carrier against the different loaders. Normally the shipping companies themselves provide the consolidation service, filling some of their groupage containers (a container is filled between several loaders).

Deconsolidator: Consignee of consolidated merchandise. It is responsible for ungrouping the goods (empty containers) in the destination port (s) and notifying the different receivers of the ungrouped merchandise, the arrival of the merchandise at the destination port. Normally, the shipping companies themselves provide the deconsolidation service, undoing groupage containers once they have reached the port of destination.

Stevedore Company: is responsible for carrying out the port operations of handling the goods. Necessarily he must be the holder of an administrative concession granted by the corresponding port authority, which empowers him to carry out his work. As the operator of a certain terminal, the term "port terminal" is sometimes used to refer to it. The functions they perform are:

• Reception.
• Horizontal movements in origin.
• Storage at source.
• Load.
• Stowage, unloading.
• Discharge.
• Horizontal movements in destination.
• Storage at destination and delivery.
• They bill their services to vessel consignees.