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Hi. I am a shipping company director, transport academic, author, family man and all round nice guy. I have worked as shipbroker, shipowner, freight trader and bulk charterer, in senior positions, with some of the largest and most disrespected (joke) companies in the world. Ask my advice on all things shipping and you will receive my blunt and always honest answer. Hang around to learn more about chartering and ship broker salaries, chartering and ship broker jobs, chartering and shipbroker recruitment agencies, cheap freight, maritime education, chartering and ship broker qualifications, become a ship broker, tips on how to be a successful bulk shipping executive, philosophy, Zen and the art of shipbroking, and much more. Yours The Virtual Shipbroker (NvdH) (recently proclaimed the guru of shipbroking) Copyright © 2020 by Virtualshipbroker Contact virtualshipbroker@yahoo.com

Thursday, September 17, 2015

A good question from a seafaring reader

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From Seastoshore

HI VS I am a newly qualified officer of the watch with a British issued COC In the next year or so I plan to do a trip as a junior officer and in my leave learn the commercial side of the business and hopefully do some post fixture work, after this I want to brake into brokage. How employable would I be seen to be .. yes I don't have a economic/business degree from a top university but I do have solid industry experience. Alot of guys who go for trainee broker jobs probably haven't even seen a commercial ship yet alone know that a 38000 dwt Handymax bulker can't actually carry 38000 tonnes of cargo. Regards

Unquote

I hear ya Seatoshore...

Im always on about the need for commercial shipping people to know what a ship actually looks like. Early on in my career I was lucky enough to have a management traineeship with a large multinational shipping company that apart from ship brokerage, they owned vessels, had an agency and offshore set up and even owned stevedores and ports. 


I will never forget the day that I was asked to jump on a helicopter and land on the hatch of a panamax ship just outside the port limits. Because of congestion the ship could not berth but they needed to evacuate a sick crew member. The weather was hairy but the incident was one of the best things I have done in the 25 years I have been in this caper. 



on a calm day


Cutting to the chase Seatoshore - your experience is fine and if you carry that combative yet polite 'winning' attitude then I reckon you would be a great asset and very hireable. Check out 'Inside Shipbroking' though for some of the other way 'seaman' can transition into brokerage...

Wishing you luck


VS

1 comment:

  1. HI VS

    Thank you for your feedback its much appreciated and intresting to hear about your story, thankfully I haven't experienced a medivac on any of the ships I have been on yet.

    I don't mean to come across as quite so brash but it's more my way of removing the 'not for the likes of us' thought from my head.

    Regards

    ReplyDelete