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Brokering Services

Ship Brokering Services

Independent ship brokers for dry cargo, tankers, project cargo and specialised products. Bulkargo's chartering desks negotiate voyage, time, COA and spot fixtures from first inquiry to final settlement.

What we do

Independent ship brokerage

As an independent ship broker, we sit between you, the cargo owner, and the ship owner. We arrange the contract that moves your shipment. That contract is the charter party. It sets the freight rate, the laycan, the laytime, the demurrage, the bunker terms, and dozens of working clauses. Those clauses decide whether a voyage runs cleanly or ends in a dispute. A broker who treats them as boilerplate costs you money on every fixture. A broker who reads them against your cargo, route and counterparty protects your margin and keeps your supply chain moving.

Our job is to negotiate those terms for you and find the right ship for your cargo. We stay with the fixture from the first inquiry through discharge and demurrage settlement. We own no ships and have no tie to any owner. That independence shapes every recommendation we make. Our ship chartering company page walks through the whole process from inquiry to settlement.

Bulkargo was founded in 2022. A trading team with more than 30 years in dry-bulk commodities leads the firm. Bulkargo LLC works from Panama City and Bogotá and has four cargo desks: dry cargo, tankers, project cargo and break bulk, and specialised liquid products. We arrange voyage, time, COA, spot, consecutive and bareboat charters. Choosing the right charter type for you is part of the brief.

Two port workers in hi-vis vests and hard hats with a clipboard before containers
Critical · Largest desk

Dry Cargo

Coal, iron ore, grain, cement, fertilizer, bauxite, steel, scrap, wood pellets and every other dry bulk cargo. Ships from Capesize down to mini-bulker.

Read more Active main desk

Tankers

Crude oil, clean and dirty petroleum products, and vegetable oils. VLCC, Suezmax, Aframax, LR1/LR2, MR and coated Handysize tankers.

Read more Routine capability

Project Cargo & Break Bulk

Heavy-lift, oversized and general cargo on multi-purpose, heavy-lift and tweendecker ships. Wind energy cargo, plant, transformers and mining equipment.

Read more Specialist desk

Specialised Products

Chemicals, parcel cargoes, base oils, biofuels and edible products that need ships with coated or stainless steel tanks.

Read more
Advisory

Market advice comes with the service

We base every fixture on a close, current read of the freight market. Every day we track the Baltic Dry Index and its sub-indices. For tankers we track the Baltic Clean and Dirty Tanker indices (BCTI and BDTI). We also follow ship sales and purchases, the orderbook and scrapping, bunker price spreads and port congestion. And we watch the wider inputs that move freight prices week to week: steel output, crude balances, grain stocks and OPEC quotas. This market view comes with our brokerage. You do not pay extra for it, and you do not have to ask for it. It sits behind every recommendation we make.

This knowledge matters most in charter strategy. That can mean timing a voyage fixture while Capesize prices are softening. It can mean locking in a period charter before a tightening you can see coming. Or it can mean moving a programme between voyage, COA and time charter as conditions change. For larger or repeating programmes we also work on fleet and lane optimisation. We pick the ship size, loading window and charter mix that lower your delivered freight cost over the whole year.

Some clients are new to bulk shipping. They include industrial firms starting to book their own freight, traders building a chartering desk, and finance teams testing their freight exposure. For them we offer market entry guidance. We explain the economics of each ship size, charter party basics, demurrage exposure, and who does what between the broker, operator, agent and master. Existing charterers use us for charter party and demurrage reviews. We tighten the clause wording before you commit to a fixture. We also assess laytime and demurrage after the fixture when a claim is in dispute. Clients who want advice alone can hire us on a formal retainer or a project basis for the same work.

How we work

Here is the standard path from inquiry to fixture. Most cargoes take three to seven business days. Project and heavy-lift cargoes take longer. Fewer ships can carry them, and the stowage plan takes more work. See the full step-by-step chartering process.

  1. 01

    Inquiry

    You tell us the cargo, volume, load and discharge ports, and timing. We ask about any cargo details that affect the choice of ship.

  2. 02

    Market canvass

    24 to 72 hrs

    We ask our owner and operator network for open ships that fit what you need.

  3. 03

    Offer evaluation

    We bring you three to six suitable options with rough freight prices and our recommendation.

  4. 04

    Negotiation

    We negotiate freight or hire, laytime, demurrage, laycan, and the working clauses that matter for your cargo.

  5. 05

    Fixture

    We confirm the terms in a recap, draw up the charter party, and fix the ship.

  6. 06

    Post-fixture

    We follow the voyage, help with documents, settle demurrage, and support you in any dispute.

A broker tied to a ship owner has a built-in conflict. An independent broker has none. We recommend the Capesize that fits your cargo. We have no ship of our own to keep busy.

On why cargo owners use independent brokers
Who we serve

Mining, energy, agri, industrial

Our clients work in commodities and industry. The job looks much the same in every sector. A logistics or chartering manager has a cargo to move. They need a broker who knows that ship market well enough to fix at the right price and on the right terms.

  • Mining and metals companies shipping iron ore, bauxite, alumina, coal, manganese and other minerals on ships from Capesize to Supramax.
  • Agricultural traders and producers shipping grain, soybean, sugar, fertilizer and vegetable oils on Panamax, Supramax and Handysize ships.
  • Construction and building materials shippers moving cement, clinker, aggregates, steel and scrap on Supramax, Handysize and mini-bulker ships.
  • Energy companies and utilities shipping thermal and coking coal, pet coke, wood pellets, biomass, crude, fuel oil and clean petroleum products.
  • Oil traders and refiners who need crude and product tankers from VLCC down to MR, including ships that can do ship-to-ship (STS) transfers.
  • Chemical producers and traders who need parcel tankers or coated or stainless steel tanks for chemicals, base oils, biofuels and edible products.
  • Industrial shippers and EPC contractors moving heavy-lift, oversized and break-bulk cargo: wind energy cargo, transformers, plant modules, mining and port equipment, rail and rolling stock.

We cover the main bulk and tanker trade routes: the Caribbean, the Atlantic and Pacific basins, the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia, the Mediterranean and Black Sea, the Baltic, and the West African ports. We work with ship owners and operators from Europe, Greece, the Far East and the Middle East.

A bulk carrier docked at a busy port being loaded by multiple cranes

Why Bulkargo

Bulkargo was founded in 2022 and is led by a trading team with more than 30 years in dry-bulk commodities. We are independent, and the heads of each desk handle fixtures themselves. The broker on your call has the experience to read the market and the authority to agree terms on the spot. Nothing gets passed up a corporate chain.

Independent

We own no ships, have no fleet to fill and have no tie to any owner. Nobody pushes us to sell a particular ship at a particular price. We offer you the ship from the open market that fits your cargo, route and laycan.

Global network

We run dry cargo, tankers, project cargo and specialised products under one roof. We deal directly with the main owner and operator groups in Europe, Greece, the Far East and the Middle East. We get firm offers on ships from Capesize and VLCC down to mini-bulker and coated Handysize.

One broker, start to finish

The broker who takes your inquiry stays on the fixture from the first offer to the demurrage settlement. No separate operations desk takes over after the recap. You have one contact and one party responsible for the result.

Common questions

Do you have a minimum cargo size?
The practical minimum is around 3,000 MT on a mini-bulker. Most of our fixtures fall between 25,000 and 180,000 MT. We can advise you on options for parcels under 3,000 MT.
Do you charge the cargo owner or the vessel owner?
The ship owner pays the brokerage commission out of the freight. That is standard market practice. We charge the cargo owner no fee on a fixture. We bill advisory retainers separately.
How quickly can you fix?
A standard dry cargo voyage charter on a routine route usually takes three to seven business days. Tanker fixtures can be quicker in a market with plenty of ships and cargoes. Project and heavy-lift cargoes take longer, because fewer ships can carry them.
Do you handle the documentation?
We coordinate the documents and review the charter party and bills of lading. The master, the agents and the banks issue the original documents. We make sure they match what was agreed in the fixture.

Related references

Cargoes we have fixed since 2022

  • Cement
  • Quicklime
  • Bitumen
  • Project cargo
  • Machinery
  • Mining ores and earths