CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Conceptual Framework

2.1.1 Concept of Shipbroker

2.1.2 Basic Concepts

Just as the name implies, ‘shipbroker’ is a kind of broker and working on the

business with ‘ship’. As far as the ‘broker’, some scholars believe that a broker is

an individual or brokerage firm, which runs business of arranging transactions

between sellers and buyers and gains profits from the commission when the deal is

executed. In addition, a broker should act as his client, a seller or a buyer, to

participate a deal with the identity of ‘principal party’ and provides some

advantages: better knowledge about market and established relation with

prospective accounts. Through their resources and tools, their clients get

opportunity to access to potential sellers/ buyers, and the information would be

spread to largest ‘possible’ group of sellers/ buyers. To get those accesses above to

customers is a huge test and problem for individuals or companies new in the

market.
Ship brokerage is an activity that forms part of the international shipping industry.

Shipbroker plays an important role of specialist intermediaries between buyers and

sellers or between ship owners and the charterers who use ships to transport cargo,

buyers and sellers of ships. Some scholar states that shipbroker normally appears

as the ‘representative’ of the seller/ buyer or owner/ charterer (owner’s broker and

charter’s broker).

Therefore, the author believes that: the shipbroker is an individual or a firm that

respectively assists seller and buyer in the vessel sale and purchase business, and

assists ship owner and charterer in the vessel chartering business. The chartering

shipbroker is the latter kind of type, and he should be an intermediary working

within the vessel chartering business and help his principals (mainly ship owners

and charterers) to achieve the ship chartering contracts with the other party; also

sometimes, he also plays the role of ‘bridge’ between the ship owners and

charterers, who are looking for cargos to carry out the carriage business by sea or

suitable ships for transferring goods to buyers , and shipbroker usually contributes

to introduce business and build a connection between ship owners and charterers,

and to try to help them conclude contracts without representation of either of them.

Then he has the right to collect remuneration. This thesis will focus mainly on the

‘intermediary’ shipbroker, which represents his principal to conclude contracts.

2.1.3.1 History of Western Ship Brokerage

The formation of brokerage has three historical reasons. The first one is emergency

of professional attorney. In twelfth century, after the ‘Statue of Merton (1235-6)’,

appointing attorney was not the privilege that demanded royal grant any more, but

given to every common citizen. The 1292 ordinance was also used to regulate the

attorney’s behaviors. The second is development of agency’s concept in canon

law. In the word of Maitland, ‘an abbot was sued for the price of goods purchased

by a monk and come to use of the convent’, and he also concluded that ‘the legal

deadness of the monk favoured the growth of the law of agency. Thirdly, agency’s

instances became ‘unavoidable’ because of the custom of merchants. In 1398, a

case was tried at Guildhall in the City of London, and the mayor and aldermen of

the City of London decided that the master must pay for the price directly to the

seller ‘according to the law merchant and the custom of the city’ as the apprentice

had bought the wine ‘for the use and profit of his master’.

The apprentice was set free and so justice done. ‘The remarkable feature’ of the

case is that the ‘third party was admitted against principal’.

Under the influence of three factors above, agency’s liabilities were legalized, and

in seventeenth and eighteenth century, two kinds of independent commercial

process of brokerage’s starting and developing, and brokerage satisfies the

demands of fast growing of market and commercial society. As for the ship

brokerage, it has strong connection with the expansion of the shipping industry and

international trades.

In the late Nineteen Century, because of the increasing of shipping business and

demands from ship owners and cargo owners, ship brokerage developed rapidly.

Though the formation of London market was for better serving local cargo owners

and relative business, along with the business expansion and improvement of

legislation, London market attracted a lot of ship owners and cargo owners from

other states who would like to find new business and channels, and played a more

important role and enjoyed a prominent and dominant position. In 1920, ship

brokerage in London acquired official certification and gained ‘Royal Charter’.

Meanwhile, for better conformity with the trend of historical change and market’s

development, some organizations emerged in ship brokerage business. The most

representative and prototypical cases are Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers that

was set up in 1911 in UK and Association of Shipbrokers and Agents that is

established in 1934 in US . Both of them have a number of shipbrokers, ship

agencies, ship owners, operators and charterers as their members and have made

huge contribution in the aspects of coordinating member brokers.

According to Gorton, shipping intermediary should be a ‘root’ concept, and broker

and agent are ‘sub’ concepts. Hugo also explains ‘agent’ covers a vast field of

commercial and everyday relationships. Broker should also be a kind of agent. In

the worldwide shipping information network, shipper, line agent, forward, owner

and his broker, charterer and his broker are always connecting with others via the

channel of information, and also inter-influenced in this market . But in

Continental law system, in the scope of intermediary, broker and agency enjoy the

equal status. Meanwhile, shipbrokers, as well as port agent, liner agent and

forwarding, are all the various types of shipping intermediaries.

As stated above, in English law system states, broker is one type of agency, and

related issues are influenced by basic principles of Anglo-American Law of

Agency; in Continental states, brokers and agents, even trustee- traders, are all

various types of intermediaries, and enjoy different legal status and are governed

by specialized laws and regulations.

2.1.4.1 Agent

In Professor Hugo Tiberg’s article, he states that, in England, an ‘agent’ is anyone

who has the power to act on another’s behalf, and thus ‘agency’ covers a vast field

of commercial and everyday relationships; in Continental law states, like in

relationship to his principal and in his relation to a third person acts in the

principal’s name. Gorton supports this appointment, and believes agent in

Scandinavian law is a particular kind of intermediary for the relation to ‘authority’

or ‘power to bind’. However, English laws described ship’s agent: ‘a ship’s agent

is, in the normal case, the agent of ship owner at particular port and the ship’s

agent, therefore, at that port stands in the shoes of the ship owner, and it is

reasonable to suppose that he has the authority to do whatever the ship owner has

to do at that port’.

There are two main types of ship’s agent: the port agent and the liner agent. The

duty of ship’s agent usually ‘divided time-wise’, including pre-arrival service, port

call and after-sailing service, but in particular occasions, depends largely ‘on the

custom of the port’. The remuneration of the ship’s agent is based on a percentage

fee plus cost cover . The task of port agent is to present the owner and assist the

vessel for the owner’s account to that the ship will have the best possible dispatch.

In tramp shipping, loading and discharging are often for charterer’s account and

charterer may prefer to be entitled to nominate port agent for furthering own

interests. Another important group of intermediaries, the liner agents, often enters

in to written contracts, which the brokers and port agents seldom do so, and its role

is like a kind of general agent for the line within a ‘geographical area’. Liner
agents represent the owner to have contact with possible shipper and forwarding

agents within this area, to procure advertising about departures and arrivals, and to

cover all the work for the line ‘otherwise carried out by a port agent’ . Usually, the

remuneration of ship’s agent is based on ‘a percentage fee plus cost cover’, and

local government or a port association establishes the fee and expenses of agents .

2.1.4.2 Broker

The shipbroker will normally represent one party, and in the charter deals,

chartering shipbroker usually are the representative of shipowner or charter. In the

shipping business, an enormous amount of information about In the shipping

business, an enormous amount of information about ‘positions, time, period of

availability, and types of vessels and cargos’ would be collected and demanded by

shipowners and charterers, and of course, the shipbrokers usually assisted them to

involve to this. Sometimes, shipbrokers are more like ‘messenger’ than ‘agent’ .

Most of time, shipbrokers do not show up in the line operation, in which the liner

agent would represent carriers, but in tramp shipping, shipbrokers play significant

role in different stages (those roles will be talked in the following part). As for the

remuneration, according to Gorton, it is usually in the amount of 1.25% based on

the purchase price, hire or freight is normal situation.

Different brokers will specialize in different market, such as a tanker, dry cargo,

and reefer cargo. The chartering shipbroker may have a series of roles and wide

range of functions in different stage of business. Generally, shipbrokers can be

representative of principals or middleman of two parties in chartering contracts.

Nicholas concludes those functions is his article as: information provider.

Commercial adviser, negotiator, drafter, document reformer, provider of post

agreement services. As for the process of chartering ship brokerage business in

tramp shipping, Gorton divides it into several stages : the survey period, the

negotiation period, fixture- agreement, and performance. However, for better

satisfying the demands from market, author thinks the after-sale-serves is also

significant for chartering ship brokerage business. In the following part, through

combination of these scholars’ statements, various roles of chartering shipbroker in

different periods will be mentioned.

General Duties, Rights And Obligations Of Chartering Shipbroker

3.1 Duites

In general chartering ship brokerage business, shipbrokers have the duties of

representing principals in charter negotiations and working for and protecting

principals’ interests as following decrypted by some scholars52:

owner and the charterer, about the situation of market in the perspective of market

development and business trends, available cargo proposals and shipment

possibilities, and also shipbroker should try his best with skills and professional

knowledge to cover the market for given position and orders respectively and

provide services to principal in reasonable time. Chartering shipbroker does not

only have the duty to avoid the ‘negligent’ situation that he fails to provide the

principal with enough market information gained from all reasonable and relevant

channels, but also to make sure about the ‘promptness’, which demands

shipbroker’s efficient and fast work.

(2) The shipbroker should act strictly within given authorities by principal in

connection with the negotiations. Sometimes the broker will have a fairly wide

discretion, within which to work when carrying out the negotiations, with an

absolute limit, which must not be exceeded. Therefore, it is necessary to make sure

whether he has authority to conclude a fixture for chartering shipbroker.

(3) The shipbroker should in all respects work loyally for his principal and

should carry out scrupulously and skillfully the negotiations and other work. For

the loyalty to principals, shipbroker must protect the trust of principal and avoid

any conflict of interests. Thus, shipbroker must not reveal his principal’s business

‘secrets’ and not act to the advantage of the counter party in the negotiations in
order to reach an agreement. Furthermore, shipbroker must not make secret profits

overlaps with the personal interests, which means he should not act as a principal

himself when performing on behalf of the principal, nor take bribe or extra

commission from other party. Unless the shipbroker can show that the other

commission is from another separated transaction or he ‘contracts otherwise than

as an agent ’. In addition, though shipbroker needs to supply some information

about his principal to the other party or shipbroker, he must make sure the

confidential information, which is sensitive, would not leak out. It is essential for

shipbroker to keep away from ‘Disclose personal interest’, ‘secret profits’ and ‘no

confidentiality’ to be loyal to principal.

(4) The broker has a duty to take an active part in the negotiations and give

advice and recommendations with respect to appropriate offers, proposals and

compromises. As well, the shipbroker may not withhold any information from his

principal nor give him wrong information. For better the advice providing and

trades reminding, shipbroker should try his best to be careful in the areas that he is

‘ignorant’ and make sure about the information he provides is correct and true. The

case Arta indicates the extent of care that must be taken with prefixture enquires

and that the obtaining of a fixture at any cost with risks.

shipbroker has no reason and right to sub- delegate without the permission, or

implied authority, from his principal, because it may cause

a problem that the sub- broker actually has no authority from the principal and the

sub- broker is liable to a third party for breach of a warranty of authority.

(6) The shipbroker should remind himself to protect principal’s interests and not

provide shipment or vessel proposals to his principal if business is not seriously

founded or if there may be doubts about the other party’s honesty or solvency, and

the shipbroker should also protect his principal’s interests by preventing

wrongfully worded or incomplete orders from being sent until they have been

corrected or completed although the fast deal can lead shipbroker the same or more

profits from the deal in a shorter period. This is not only good to preserve his

principal’s reputation, but also his own in this industry. Furthermore, the

shipbroker should also try to find out as much as possible about activities of

competitors in order to secure as many advantages as possible for his principal. A

‘mailbox’ broker who can only delivery information, offers and counter offers

without judging and processing them can hardly receive a high degree of

appreciation form the principals and expand his business range and client circle.