Ship Chartering Company

Bulkargo is a ship chartering company that sources vessels, negotiates freight, and manages the fixture from your first inquiry to final settlement. We work across the dry bulk vessel stack, from mini-bulker to Capesize, and we stay on the file after the charter party is signed.

What a ship chartering company does for you

A ship chartering company sits between the cargo owner and the vessel owner. Bulkargo sources vessel options, negotiates the freight or hire, drafts and reviews the charter party, and stays on the file through post-fixture demurrage settlement. One broker carries the fixture from inquiry to close. There is no handoff to a separate operations team partway through.

We are an independent broker. Bulkargo does not own vessels, so the vessel we put in front of you is selected to fit your cargo.

How the engagement works

The sequence below is the same shape for a single spot voyage and a long-term contract. What changes between them is the depth of work in the early steps: a familiar route on a repeat programme moves through market canvass and negotiation faster than a first-time cargo on an unfamiliar lane. The charter party we draft depends on the trade: see Charter Party for the standard forms we work from. The full sequence, with worked timing on each step, is also laid out on our Ship Chartering Process page.

What it costs

Voyage rates are quoted per tonne. Time charter rates are quoted per day. Both move with route, cargo, vessel size, and market direction. Indicative ranges in normal market conditions: Capesize voyage rates run from a few USD per tonne on short hauls up to USD 25 or more per tonne on the Brazil to China iron ore route. Panamax time charter rates typically sit in the USD 12,000 to USD 30,000 per day band. Handysize and Supramax rates fall below that band, and Capesize daily rates can move materially higher when the market is firm.

Brokerage commission is paid by the vessel owner out of freight. There is no direct cost to the cargo owner for using Bulkargo.

The Freight Rate page walks through how freight and hire get benchmarked against the market on a live inquiry.

What we need from you to start

Send what you have. Bulkargo can work with partial information, and each item below shapes the vessel shortlist, the rate, or both.

• Cargo type and approximate tonnage. Anchors the vessel class and any hold cleanliness or handling requirements.
• Load and discharge port or region. Sets draft and air draft restrictions, loading rate, and available berths.
• Preferred laycan. A 7 to 14 day window is normal. Wider windows let us include ballasters, which usually improves the rate.
• Special requirements. Hold cleanliness, loading or discharge gear, draft restrictions, vessel age limit.
• Charter type preference, or “advise” if you want our recommendation.
• Budget expectations. Optional, but useful as a reference point.

For recurring programmes, also send an annual or seasonal volume forecast, the port pairs involved, and any existing contract of affreightment terms. A broker responds the same business day.

Charter types we handle

Our vessel chartering services cover four charter structures, and the right one depends on cargo predictability, your appetite for freight volatility, and how much operational control you want over the vessel.

Vessel classes and cargo we place

Our ship chartering services reach the full dry bulk vessel stack, from mini-bulker to VLOC. Vessel selection is upstream of rate: matching DWT and cubic capacity to the cargo, age and class, last cargo, current position, geared vs gearless, and trading restrictions all get worked through before we present options.

The cargo basket spans major bulks (iron ore, coal, grain), minor bulks (cement, fertilizer, sugar, salt), industrial cargo (steel, scrap, aggregates), and specialty cargo (bauxite, alumina, pet coke, wood pellets, manganese, chromite, sulphur). Since 2022 the desk has fixed cement, quicklime, bitumen, and mining ores and earths, with project cargo and machinery handled on a separate desk.

Why work with an independent chartering company

We are an independent broker. We do not own vessels and are not the in-house brokerage arm of a fleet. Not every chartering company can say that: some chartering companies sit inside an owner’s commercial structure, and the tonnage they push first is the tonnage that keeps their own ships employed.

We are a full-service desk. From inquiry through post-fixture documentation and demurrage, the same broker stays with the fixture.

We work the desk seven days. Freight markets do not stop for weekends, and prompt opportunities, distressed cargoes, vessel windows, and weather-driven dislocations often surface outside business hours.

Frequently asked questions