The Management of Tramp Shipping

Abstract

To provide timely and efficient transportation from a producing area separated from a consuming region by thousands of miles of ocean is both a highly complex business and a very severe test of the business judgment and skill of those responsible for the effective employment of tramp ships. Not every vessel is adapted to carry every cargo, and not every port has a constant stream of ships entering and leaving. Some commodities are seasonal in their movements, while others provide a steady flow month after month and year after year. Some items are easy to load and discharge, and cause no structural damage, whereas others are troublesome and dangerous. On some routes, competition between tramps is intense, which means that the margins of profit are narrow, if they exist at all. Other routes, for a variety of reasons, offer more acceptable rates of compensation, but fewer opportunities. Certain ports are renowned for prompt dispatch, while others seem to be afflicted with insoluble problems of delays and the resulting congestion.