Dry Cargo Chartering

Cargoes we routinely fix

Major bulks, minor bulks, industrial, and specialty cargoes. The categories below link to the informational page for each commodity if you want background.

The four cargo categories above behave very differently in commercial terms, and the desk treats each one with its own playbook.

How Bulkargo fixes a dry cargo charter

A dry cargo fixture is the product of five or six interlocking decisions: which cargo profile we are working with, which vessel segment fits it, where the market sits today and where it is heading, what the right number is on freight and on the surrounding commercial terms, which charter party form best protects both parties, and how the post-fixture operational chain hangs together. None of these decisions are taken in isolation. A cargo with a high stowage factor changes the vessel cubic equation, which changes the segment, which changes the index we benchmark against, which changes the charter party form we recommend. The desk’s value is in working all of these dimensions together rather than treating freight as a single number.

Market timing sits underneath the whole flow. We track the Baltic Dry Index daily, along with the segment-specific sub-indices: the BCI for Capesize, the BPI for Panamax and Kamsarmax, the BSI for Supramax and Ultramax, and the BHSI for Handysize. We watch the FFA forward curves where they exist, position lists in each segment, ballaster counts on the major load ranges, and the cargo book coming up over the next two to four weeks. None of this guarantees a call, but it lets us advise on whether to fix now, hold for a session, or build out a wider canvass. The work the desk does on every fixture, in plain terms:

The choice of charter party form is part of the rate-negotiation conversation and rarely a back-office detail. Gencon is the general-purpose bulk fixture form published by BIMCO and remains the most common base for voyage charters across minor bulks, fertilizers, aggregates, and the broader specialty book. NIPPONCOAL is the dedicated form for the coal trade into Japan and the wider Pacific, with clauses calibrated to coal-terminal practice, sampling, and demurrage convention. AMWELSH is the standard for US coal exports out of Hampton Roads and the US Gulf, again with trade-specific laytime and weighing clauses. We will also work from CoaLBA, SYNACOMEX for grain, FERTIVOY for fertilizers, and bespoke shipper or charterer pro-formas where the trade calls for it. Picking the wrong form, or accepting a counterparty’s pro-forma without working through the rider clauses, is one of the more expensive errors a desk can make.

Cargo-handling cost allocation is the other half of the CP picture. Liner terms put loading and discharge handling on the owner. FIO, FIOS, and FIOST put it on the charterer. The intermediate variants show up on trade-specific forms. The right combination of form and terms is part of the rate conversation, not a back-office detail.

Post-fixture is where the desk earns its keep on difficult trades. Once the charter party is signed, the broker stays on the file: vessel nomination and substitution, notice of readiness tendering, port agent appointment, hold cleanliness inspection and survey coordination at load, lashing-survey sign-off where required, statement-of-facts review at both ends, laytime and demurrage calculation, and bill-of-lading and documentation handling. If a dispute develops over off-spec cargo, draft survey discrepancy, or weather-induced delay, we work with both principals and, where needed, with their P&I clubs and legal counsel to keep the fixture on rails through to final settlement. The same broker who negotiated the recap is the one who runs the demurrage calculation at the end, which keeps context intact and avoids the handoff cost that comes with desks that split commercial work from operations.

Why clients use Bulkargo for dry cargo

We are an independent broker. We do not own vessels and we are not the in-house brokerage of a fleet. The Capesize we recommend is the one that fits your cargo, not the one we need to keep employed.

We are a full-service desk. From inquiry through post-fixture documentation and demurrage, the same broker stays with the fixture. We do not hand off to a separate operations team.

We work the desk seven days. Bulk freight does not stop for weekends, and prompt market opportunities, distressed cargoes, vessel windows, weather-driven dislocations, frequently emerge outside business hours. For active programmes we are available accordingly.

For a sense of the kind of fixtures the desk handles, see our case studies. Most are constructed and anonymised but they reflect representative work. The end-to-end fixture sequence is laid out in how it works.