 This is one of the most popular books on commercial shipping. The author of this volume tried to achieve the three main objectives, namely the competent handling of shipping contracts, accurate calculation of the transportation costs and effective commercial communication. It has been recognized and proven useful as a very handy reference tool and a sort of guide bridging the gap that is there in the knowledge between the office personnel and the ship's crew.
It will be equally useful when used for education or as a reference book for everyday work. Should you face a problem, just check the index and the chapters of the book and we are sure that you will find some explanation. The volume opens with a review of the basic shipping terms and ship characteristics, and then the author proceeds to the optimization of cargo capacity. The following chapters address the costs of voyage, liquid cargo measurement, draft survey of the dry cargo, bunker management, finance planning applied to shipping, computerization and other important aspects of commercial shipping.
Two separate chapters have been specifically dedicated to the bills of lading and charter parties. And, finally, the last one addresses the disputes. Apart from the theoretical part, the publication is full of real practical advice adding to its value as a reference source. In addition, there is some supplementary information included in the appendices, e.g. terminology used in charter parties, abbreviations, sample calculations, guidelines for invoicing and other useful information.
 The Masters of the ships carry the huge responsibility. While in the distant past their vessels were relatively small-sized and could only carry some limited amounts of cargo, nowadays the Masters are in command of the passenger vessels, VLCCs, large container ships, Panamax-size bulk carriers controlling huge capital assists with the cargoes worth dozens of millions.
Such responsibility assumes great importance as the today's community demands much higher standards and, consequently, the P&I Clubs make the larger provision for the liability insurance. The Masters have a crucial role in managing the risks associated with the marine transportation. In order to be effective as commercial managers, the Masters shall have a thorough knowledge of the trading terminology and detailed appreciation of all provisions that are expressed and also implied in the shipping contracts; in addition, they shall be confident during the communications with the contracting parties in order for the best results to be achiever for their companies.
For sure, today the job of the Master is much more complicated that it used to be say a decade back. While the modern communication equipment allows much quicker information exchange, this enables the shipping companies to control their subcontractors in new ways. This often results in the Master having to handle quite a complex relationships and making decisions relating to the conflicts of interest to support the owners...
 Here is one of the most invaluable reference tools aimed at anyone involved in shipping industry and international trade. The book provides all information necessary to make a first step towards proper understanding the whole process of transportation of the goods by sea and of the associated framework.
It provides quite concise yet comprehensive explanations of numerous types of activities comprising the shipping, and explains the terms together with their interrelation. Among the topics covered within this publication there are documentation used in the shipping industry, such as the charter party and the bill of lading - you will know what these documents contain and see their different types, supplemented with the examples; the book also covers generic types of vessels, goods, containers and sea ports, as well as required details of the most important maritime associations considered prominent in policy making and drafting of contracts - some brief explanation of their main objectives is also there; in addition, it covers the additional costs and surcharges that are usually found in shipping - and liner shipping, in particular.
The chartering terms are also dealt with, including explanation of their context, plus the clauses that appears in BOL, time charters and voyage charters. More than a thousand of commercial shipping terms are discusses in the pages of the handbook.
 This is a truly useful and remarkable publication for every person involved in shipping. The author, Kevin Stephens from PPG, standing for the Project Professionals Group, did a huge work - he managed to collect hundreds of the important and necessary chartering terms and provide proper and understandable explanations for all of them.
We would strongly recommend this book to everyone dealing with such specific terminology in their day-to-day work, operations or correspondence; it is really a must-have reference publication for such sort of professionals. All shipping and chartering terms are arranged in alphabetical order for easier reference.
Subject book will be equally useful for the industry professionals in the field of marine business and economics, ship operation and management, marine insurance and law, and to the people studying the subject disciplines in universities to use in their future career. It is indeed one of the best collections of general shipping and chartering terms and abbreviations available today. Since the file containing the Glossary is small file, it should not be a problem to get it transferred to you mobile device and have it readily available whenever necessary.
 This is a truly excellent reference book that covers all important aspects of the maritime business and law, including registration and classification issues, crewing matters, transportation of passengers and cargo, marine insurance, and so much more. And, what is the most important, it has been specifically designed and released for the shipmasters.
The authors note that the readers of this publication shall clearly understand that it has not been prepared by the professional maritime lawyer and that is why it should not actually be intended for students studying law and possessing a full range of good textbooks.
The chapters of the book provide necessary information about the maritime law, the ships, master and crew members, liens, contracts, log books, protests and other relevant records, safety and seaworthiness of the vessel, public welfare, accommodation and provisions/water, carriage and delivery of cargo, passenger transportation, arrival and departure procedures, pilotage and towage, lichterage issues, marine insurance, average, lighthouses, limitation of liability and others, In addition, there is a Glossary of Terms, List of Abbreviations and some relevant calculations. The main body of the textbook is supplemented with the major Acts and Clauses.
 Here is the fourth edition of the world popular publication providing a straightforward guidance to the complexities and most important nuances of deals that are done under the documentary credit system and describing the law that applies to this subject. So many new forms of trade and associated documents have been forces since the very first edition of this book was released in 1990.
There has been so much development in the maritime law since that time. In fact, today the problems are not the same as they were at the time of the initial release of this publication. We can say that nowadays the documentary system itself is in the sort of crisis and is actually losing the popularity when compared to the other payment forms. For the present release of the book the author has tried to take a lesson from UCP 600 and remove the material not necessary.
This has resulted in the removal of most of the long quotations from judgments and inclusion of the full UCP test together with some statutory information into appendices. The entire book has also been restructured and is not a bit longer that the previous release. The book now is primarily dedicated to the documentary credits and associated documentation so the author did his best not to stray far from the main topic.
 The latest eleventh edition of the world famous Glossary. The huge success of this publication within the international shipping industry has finally resulted in several releases; note, however, that the book will be equally interesting and useful even to the people not directly involved in shipping.
Several generations of seamen has got their first understanding of the industry through this volume - the book is covering all shipping-related activities and has been prepared using a very understandable language, and such approach has resulted in the book being so user-friendly and thus popular. It is aimed to both professionals of the shipping industry an newcomers since it illuminates the obscure and clarifies all the technicalities, helping to properly describe the legal background to numerous important aspects of the maritime business.
That is why we all now possess a great educational tool that shall be definitely treated as the indispensable guidance and useful source of reference for all people dealing with the activities connected with the shipping. We really do believe that thie present release of the Glossary will for sure have the same acclaim as the initial edition of the publication, and will provide a significant contribution to a much better understanding of the shipping industry, assist in establishing and maintaining of the good marine practices.
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