What does a commercial ship manager do, and how is it different from technical?

13 min read12 November 2026

A commercial ship manager runs the side of the ship that earns money. They find employment for her, compare offers by what each one leaves per day, negotiate and check the fixture, follow the voyage, collect hire, freight and demurrage, and report to the owner. A technical manager does the other half: crew, maintenance, class, surveys and repairs. The technical manager keeps the ship able to work. The commercial manager keeps her at work, on terms that pay.

The owner stays the owner. You set the limits the commercial manager works within (minimum rates, trades, charterers, the longest period you would fix), you approve anything outside them, and every decision about the ship itself stays with you. This guide is for owners of one to five ships, dry bulk, container or tanker. It explains the full commercial cycle, who decides what, how the work is paid, the signs that you need a commercial manager, and how a handover works.

Owners usually look this up at a specific moment: the operator who ran the ship has left, a second ship is coming, or the ship sat idle longer than expected and nobody could say why. Behind the question is a bigger one: how to make the ship earn steadily and pay back her price without spending your evenings on calls and chats with brokers.

What is commercial ship management, in one paragraph

Commercial management is everything between “the ship is ready to work” and “the money is in the owner’s account”. It covers chartering (finding a cargo or a charterer and agreeing the terms), operations after the fixture (instructions, port calls, documents), and the money (hire, freight, laytime and demurrage, disputes). It is measured by days employed, earnings per day and money actually collected, not by the rate in the recap.

A few terms used below, each in one sentence:

• Voyage charter: the ship carries one cargo from port A to port B for freight, usually a rate per tonne, and the owner pays the port costs and bunkers.
• Time charter: the charterer hires the ship for a period or a trip and pays hire per day, and pays the bunkers and port costs.
• Recap: the written summary of the agreed terms, sent when a fixture is concluded; the charter party is then drawn up from it.
• Laytime: the time the charterer is allowed for loading or discharging without paying extra.
• Demurrage: what the charterer pays the owner, per day, when laytime runs out and the ship is still in port.
• Off-hire: time on a time charter when the charterer stops paying hire, for example during a breakdown.

How is commercial management different from technical management

The two jobs ask different questions, talk to different people and are measured differently. Most small owners already have a technical manager. Fewer have anyone whose only job is the commercial side.

The two must work together every week. Before a voyage is fixed, the commercial manager checks with the technical manager that the ship can do it: her certificates, her holds or tanks, her speed and consumption, the ports and cargoes involved. When the ship has a problem, the technical side fixes it and the commercial side deals with the charterer. If they do not talk, the owner pays twice: once for the problem, once for the dispute.

Some companies do both jobs. Many owners use two separate companies. Either can work, as long as each side knows exactly where its job ends.

What does a commercial manager do, step by step

The work runs in a cycle. It starts before the ship comes open and ends only when the last payment of the voyage has arrived. Then it starts again.

Before the fixture: reading the market for your ship

The commercial manager starts with the ship’s open position: the port and date where she will be free for new employment. Weeks before that date, they look at what moves from that area, which charterers have cargoes for a ship of her size, and what similar ships have been fixed for recently.

The ship is then circulated: her position and description are sent to charterers and brokers, and the manager answers the cargo orders that fit. For a small ship this is daily work. Cargoes come and go within hours, and a ship that is not on the right lists simply is not offered.

Comparing offers by earnings per day

The most useful thing a commercial manager does before a fixture is the voyage estimate. It turns every offer into one comparable number: what the ship earns per day after voyage costs. For a voyage charter this number is called the time charter equivalent (TCE): what is left after voyage costs, divided by the days the voyage takes, ballast included.

With this number, a time charter offer at a daily hire can be compared with a voyage offer at a rate per tonne. A higher freight rate that needs a long ballast can leave less per day than a lower one close to where the ship opens. We show such a comparison in Where a small ship owner loses money after the fixture.

Negotiating and checking the fixture

The manager negotiates more than the rate. Laycan (the window of dates in which the ship must arrive to load), laytime terms, the demurrage rate, when notice of readiness (NOR) may be tendered, payment terms, the charter party form and its riders. Many of these clauses decide money that is only paid months later.

When the fixture is agreed, the recap is checked line by line against what was negotiated. A wrong laycan date, a missing demurrage clause or a changed payment term in the recap can cost more than a dollar on the rate.

After the fixture: where small owners lose most

This is the part most small owners underestimate. The commercial manager:

• Sends voyage instructions to the master and appoints or checks port agents.
• Follows each port call: when NOR was tendered, when laytime started, what the statement of facts (SOF), the port agent’s record of times and events, says.
• Calculates laytime against the charter party and prepares the demurrage claim with its documents.
• Watches the time bar: the deadline in the charter party for presenting a claim. A late or incomplete claim can be lost.
• Collects hire and freight, checks deductions, and chases late payers.
• Handles disputes with the charterer from the charter party, the recap and the facts, before lawyers are needed.

Bunkers are part of this work too: planning how much the ship needs, where she buys it, and on what payment terms.

Reporting to the owner

Finally, the owner gets a report: what the ship earned, where days were lost, which payments came in, which claims are still open, and what is planned next. A report is the owner’s main tool for keeping control, which we cover in Will I lose control of my ship with a commercial manager?

Who decides what: the owner, the commercial manager and the technical manager

The most common worry about a commercial manager is control. The answer is a clear split of decisions, written into the agreement before the first fixture.

The owner’s limits are called parameters. A typical set covers the minimum rate level, the trades and cargoes the ship may take, the charterers you prefer or exclude, and the longest period you would fix. Inside them, the manager can answer a good cargo the same day. Outside them, the deal comes to you before it is fixed. The parameters are reviewed regularly, because the market moves and so do the owner’s plans.

How is commercial management paid

There are two common ways, and many agreements combine them:

1. A share of what the ship earns: freight or hire, demurrage and other income. This ties the manager to the result. If the ship earns more, so does the manager.
2. A fixed daily fee per ship: it covers the routine work whether the market is good or bad, so the post-fixture work is done in a weak market as well.

The rates differ from ship to ship and agreement to agreement. Whatever the scheme, ask three questions:

• Does the manager take any commission from charterers on my ship? If yes, they are paid by both sides of the deal.
• Which income is the share calculated on? Freight and hire only, or demurrage too? Gross or net?
• What are the minimum term and the notice period? Both sides need time to plan, but you also need a clear way out.

When does an owner of 1–5 ships need a commercial manager

You may not need one if your ship is on a long time charter with a reliable charterer, the payments come on time, and you have a routine for the paperwork. Many owners with one ship on period do well this way.

You probably do need one if several of these are true.

A quick test with your own numbers: take the last 12 months, count the days the ship was not earning and not off-hire for repairs, and multiply by what she earns per day. For example, with illustrative figures, 6 idle days at USD 9,000 a day is USD 54,000 in a year. That is roughly what slow commercial work costs before you count late laytime, lost demurrage or late hire.

The other option is to hire your own operator. We compare the two in Outsource commercial management or hire an operator?

What should a commercial management agreement cover

Before you sign with any commercial manager, check that the agreement answers these points in writing:

• Scope: chartering, post-fixture operations, laytime and demurrage, collection of hire and freight, reporting.
• Parameters and authority: what the manager may fix without asking you, and how deals outside the limits reach you.
• Money flow: whether hire and freight are paid to you or through the manager, and how you see every payment.
• Fees: the share and the daily fee, what income the share applies to, and a clear statement on commissions from charterers.
• Reporting: how often, and what each report shows.
• Term and exit: the minimum term, the notice period, and what happens to running fixtures and open claims when the agreement ends.

How does the handover to a commercial manager work

A handover does not stop the ship. A running charter usually continues on its existing terms. The manager takes over the follow-up and starts working on the next position.

What the manager needs at the takeover: the running charter party and recap, recent statements of facts, the list of open demurrage claims and their time bars, outstanding hire or freight, and contacts at the technical manager. Open claims come first, because their time bars keep running during the handover.

How AVS works as a commercial manager

AVS Shipbrokers LLC is a chartering and commercial management desk in Dubai (Churchill Tower, Business Bay), on the market since 2020. We manage the commercial side of ships for owners of one to five ships, dry bulk, container and tanker, trading anywhere from China to Europe, including Africa, the Persian Gulf and everything in between. The same desk charters dry bulk, tanker and container ships for charterers.

The owner sets the parameters: minimum rates, trades, charterers and the longest period. Anything outside them comes to the owner before it is fixed. Hire and freight are paid through AVS. The owner gets one report a month, and we review the parameters together every month. Bunkers are part of the management, with credit of up to 60 days where AVS stands as counterparty together with the owner. We are paid by the owner only, a share of earnings plus a fixed daily fee per ship, and take no commission from charterers on the ships we manage. The minimum term is 12 months, with 60 days’ notice.

One example, without names. A Handysize owner came to us unsure what to do with the ship. We took over the commercial side and, at the owner’s request, put her on time charter at market rates for steady cash flow, and followed every demurrage claim to payment.

The owner now wants to buy more ships. The full story is in Case study: 100% of demurrage collected and 9 months of steady time charter, and the service is described on the commercial management page.

The first step

The quickest way to find out whether your ship needs a commercial manager is to look at her together. You do not need to send documents or sign anything. Send us the ship’s name or IMO. We look at what public data shows about her last 12 months, such as her trading pattern and idle periods, and a broker calls you to talk it through. It is free, with no obligation. If you later want a deeper look, the charter party and statements of facts let us go into laytime, demurrage, hire and freight.