Like no other learning tool (amazing insights)

"The best dry bulk chartering learning tool in the market"!

As you guys know the estimation pack contains an 82 page tutorial. Quite a few of you have asked to know a little more about how the tutorial works. The feedback sofar (from buyers) has been overwhelmingly great.

On average it is taking students atleast 4 weeks to work trhough all the examples. It is not easy and the workload is the same as a 6 month chartering course. It is definately not something you can complete over a weekend.

Anyway - In order to help those of you who are undecided I have given below a few 'snippets' of what you can expect. The snippets are in no particular order but they should give you the idea of what you can expect in each and every example.

This workbook will have YOU moonlighting as a chartering expert (of the highest order) in a very short period of time.

Think like a shipowner, think like a charterer, think like a freight trader, think like a fixing machine!

Thats the promise
VS

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The shipowner (from example 3 in the workbook)

"Despite the MV Watsons uncompetitive position, Joe is actually very keen to see if he can fix this cargo. The reason being is that Odessa is an excellent destination for him. His company has 2 major contracts from the Black Sea back to South Korea so if he can send his ship into the Black Sea this sets them up nicely (economically speaking) for this ships next employment.

This is an important point. Being a successful shipowner is not just about getting the best price for the voyage at hand. It is also about positioning ships in order to reap the benefits from subsequent voyages.

First task – Joe runs his voyage calculation with the available information".
(Full Voyage calculation follows)


The charterer (From example 1 in the workbook)

Ms Chan is the shipping coordinator for INDINED COAL LTD. She is based in Jakarta. She is not quite sure how she became involved in shipping because her background is a business degree from the University of Java. Having started at the company in logistics support she soon found herself involved in the crazy world of chartering ships. She has been on a huge learning curve.

When she first started out chartering ships for the coal, she had no idea what she was doing. To make matters worse the freight rates that shipowners and shipbrokers were quoting seemed to be very random. Some were high, some were low. One day they were x amount and the next day the prices had changed dramatically. On a number of occasions she was caught out very badly and the company lost in excess of USD 200,000 on a shipping deal gone wrong.

She felt helpless and completely powerless at the hands of the fast talking shipbrokers and the hugely experiences shipowners. She could not help feeling like a lamb being brought to the slaughter.

Then things changed. One day when surfing the internet she stumbled across the Virtual Shipbroker Blog and decided that the ‘VS Voyage Estimation Pack’ was the exact thing she needed. She followed all the real life examples and within weeks she was an expert.

No more would she feel so helpless. She could run the voyage numbers herself and not just take the brokers word. She could access market reports and insert the relevant TC IN market rates without having annoyed the seemingly grumpy, perpetually busy shipowners. She could give her marketing and sales department’s instant advice re CNF vs FOB market rates. She would also learn a new transferable skill and maybe one day become a shipbroker or even a shipowner (She likes golf and they always seem to play golf!)

The Shipbroker (from example 4 in the workbook)

After he sent the order to Joe Shipowner, Orlando then rang the charterers to tell them about the ship. It’s important to register the ships interest just incase another broker is trying to do the same. Orlando also managed to gleam from the charterers that their ‘ideas’ are USD 9.50 pmt. This IDEA is based on charterers feeling for the current market.


Armed with this information, Orlando decides to run a voyage calculation just to see if the charterer’s ideas are realistic. Luckily for him he has run this same calculation 50 times before so it is already set up on his “VS Voyage estimation software’. All he has to do is enter the ships details and the current TC IN market rate for a ship like the Jingo Jingo.


As a broker Orlando has access to lots of market information. He reads market report and speaks to shipowners and charterers everyday. In his considered opinion Joe Ship Owners vessel – the MV Jingo Jingo is worth around USD 14,500 per day on a time charter basis.

The freight trader (from example 3)

Enter Fred the freight trader. Orlando explains the situation to Fred. Fred knows the Indian market very well and he has experience discharging ships during the monsoon. He knows it can get ugly but if Fred can fix the right terms with Mumbai Steel then he can limit his risk. He also needs to be able to fix one of the 5 ships on a time charter basis at a reasonable hire rate.



With some work, some organisation and some luck, he could make a few hundred thousand dollars in profit.


Orlando agrees to send Fred the descriptions and the time charter ideas for three of the most likely ships.


Here are the ships


etc etc

Happy Fixing
The Virtual Shipbroker
(any questions just drop me a line)