Admiralty law |
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History |
Features |
Contract of carriage/Charterparty |
Parties |
Judiciaries |
International conventions |
International organizations |
A shipowner, ship owner or ship-owner is the owner of a ship. They can be merchant vessels involved in the shipping industry or non commercially owned. In the commercial sense of the term, a shipowner is someone who equips and exploits a ship, usually for delivering cargo at a certain freight rate, either as a per freight rate (given price for the transport of a certain cargo between two given ports) or based on hire (a rate per day). Shipowners typically hire a licensed crew and captain rather than take charge of the vessel in person. Usually the shipowner is organized through a company, but also people and investment funds can be shipowners. If owned by a ship company, the shipowner usually performs technical management of the vessel through the company, though this can also be outsourced or relayed onto the shipper through bareboat charter.[1][2]
Shipowners are usually members of a national Chamber of Shipping such as the UK Chamber of Shipping. The International Chamber of Shipping is the global organisation for ship-owners and their respective national chambers, representing approximately 80% of the entire world shipping tonnage.[3]