International Shipping - Summer School

The International Shipping Summer School is one of the oldest shipping summer schools in the UK (This year from 22nd June –10thJuly).

The summer school includes amongst its speakers senior advisers to both the British government and the European Union. The summer school offers an intensive programme of study for those interested in international shipping at a very competitive price.

The course lasts three weeks in the City of London and covers many topics which including:

World trade and the demand for shipping, major commodity flows and seasonal variations; The effect of freight tariffs and agreements; The ship -conflicting requirements for cargo and safety; General features of ship design, ship types for different cargoes and trades; The need to load, discharge and measure cargo; Organisations involved in shipping, types of owner and company structure for the different trades; Cost structures and techniques to minimise costs; Shipping finance; Tramp markets, supply of tonnage, freight rates, the oil and bulk trades; Methods of employment for a vessel; The role of the shipbroker in obtaining the best match of employment for a vessel or carriage for a cargo; Liner trades, conferences and consortia, the ship as one part of a unified transport system; road, rail and air transport, the port as interface between multimodal transport systems; The principal types of marine insurance; The roles of the insurance broker and underwriter; Port operations management, administration and maritime fraud.

There are also hosted visits to a major port near London, The Baltic Exchange, Lloyd’s, the CMA at Dover and to the IMO.  

The talks are given by practitioners of their speciality, some of whom have retired and are now academics or are advisors to governments. For example, the marine insurance talk is given by a retired working member of Lloyd’s who has nearly 40 years’ experience of dealing with marine claims and who has recently published a book on marine insurance; Maritime fraud is dealt with by a speaker from the International Maritime Bureau, which is part of the International Chamber of Commerce; The lecture on Port Operations is given by the author of the standard book on "Sea Transport -Economics and Operations" and "Port Operation and Management".

The topics of vessel employment, chartering and the role of a shipbroker is given by a director of a ship broking company, who is also an arbitrator, maritime advisor to an African Government and a member of the Baltic Exchange and who will conduct the visit there; The lecture on Trading Qualifications and Operational Procedures for Ships will be given by a highly respected commodities expert; The engineering side of the course is given by a senior examiner for the Department of Trade; Ship management and liner trades talks are in the hands of a retired ship’s captain [ who now manages a steam tug as a hobby ] who will also conduct the Summer School’s visit to the Port of Tilbury. The lectures on world trade, on international shipping organisations and on possible future shipping trends will be given by a former ship’s captain who was then active in the shipping market representing shipowners and who now lectures at several academic centres, including London Metropolitan University.