5 Ship Management and Finance

Subject(s):

Inconvertibility of payments — Seafarers — Nationality of ships — Contract claims

This chapter analyses ship management and the finances of shipping activities. Ship management involves the care of one or more ships and their operations, usually in a commercial context. Accordingly, this means taking responsibility for these operations and various related matters including maintenance, equipment, manning, provisioning and supplies, insurance, the actual employment of the ships, and, where applicable, fulfilment of flag State and port State requirements. Traditionally, ship management functions were exercised by the owner (or operator) of a ship but nowadays almost every operator outsources specialist third parties. The chapter then examines ship finance, which is requested for the purchase of tonnage, for assistance towards capital projects relating to a ship, towards major repair work, and for any other specific purposes. Ship finance is usually provided by institutional lenders and other sources such as joint venture capital and initial public offerings (IPOs).