For most businessmen, international shipping is a story about containers. Everything is simple and clear: there is a product, there is a standard box, you need to find a place for it on the ship. But sooner or later, the business grows, and the task changes. You don't need to bring 10 pallets, but 150,000 tons of iron ore from Brazil. And at that moment, all the usual logic breaks down.
It is here that it turns out that the familiar world of containers is only one, the "retail" side of shipping. And for real, industrial volumes, there is a completely different fleet — bulk carriers. Trying to work here the old—fashioned way without knowing the rules is a direct path to losses. It's a different world altogether, with its own laws, risks, and big players. Let's figure out how it works, so as not to waste time and money on the mistakes that all beginners make at the start.
A container? Forget it. They think in holds here
To understand the difference, imagine that you need to transport a dump truck of sand. You can pack it into thousands of bags and ship it one at a time. Or you can just bring a second dump truck and pour it all at once.
Bulk carrier (from English bulk — in bulk) — this is such a giant floating dump truck. Its only task is to transport huge shipments of homogeneous bulk cargoes, filling them directly into the holds. No cartons, no pallets, no containers.
Do not underestimate these nondescript vessels. The metal in your building, the coal for the power plant, the grain for bread — all of this was cargo on board the bulk carrier at some stage. In fact, this is the basic infrastructure that connects global suppliers of raw materials with their industrial consumers.
What's in the back? We sort the goods by type
To understand this, you need to understand what exactly bulk carriers are transporting. All bulk cargoes are divided into two large groups. The type of vessel, the route, and the price depend on which your product belongs to.
- Major Bulk Shipments
These are the three pillars on which all bulk shipments are based. The largest volumes, the longest routes.- Iron ore.
- Coal (energy and coking coal).
- Grain (wheat, corn, soybeans).
- Small bulk cargoes (Minor Volumes)
Here, the parties are smaller, and the nomenclature is broader. Logistics is often more complicated.- Bauxite, phosphates, fertilizers.
- Cement, scrap metal, sugar.
- Timber (they are transported in packages, but also on bulk carriers).
Once you understand where your cargo is in this system, you already cut off 90% of unsuitable options and begin to speak the same language with the market.
"Can I have half a wagon?" Why is the size of a ship everything?
Here we come to the most common mistake of a beginner. "Since you're carrying grain, take my 500 tons." No. They won't take it. It's economically pointless. Each type of bulk carrier is a highly specialized tool tailored to its task.
| Class | Title | Size (deadweight, DWT) | In simple language |
| Small | Handysize | 10 000 - 35 000 t | They are capable of operating in ports with limited draught and infrastructure. The main specialization is the cost—effective transportation of small shipments of "minor" cargoes. |
| Handymax / Supramax | 35 000 - 60 000 t | They are often equipped with their own cranes (geared), which allows them to independently carry out loading/unloading. This makes them versatile and independent of the port's equipment level. | |
| Medium | Panamax | 60 000 - 80 000 t | The size is historically limited by the dimensions of the old locks of the Panama Canal. They are the industry standard for transoceanic transportation of coal and grain along key routes. |
| Large ones | Capesize | 120 000 - 200 000+ t | Due to their size, they cannot pass through the Suez and Panama Canals, skirting the capes. They specialize in the transportation of ore and coal on intercontinental routes, ensuring the minimum cost of transporting tons of cargo due to economies of scale. |
Deadweight (DWT) — how much cargo, fuel and supplies a ship can take on board.
As you can see, this is a clear system. No one in their right mind would drive Capesize with ore to a small river port, and no one would carry 10,000 tons of fertilizers halfway around the world on Handysize — it would be a "golden" transportation.
Who are all these people: shipowners, brokers and charterers
So who rents (charters) Those giant ships? Definitely not a medium-sized business. The players are relevant here:
- Mining and metallurgical giants.
- Global agrotraders (like Cargill), who, by the way, often own a fleet themselves.
- Energy corporations.
But how do they find each other? Almost never directly. In 99% of cases, the deal is arranged by a ship broker. This is a key person in the market who knows current prices, available vessels and the needs of cargo owners.
And he leads the client to the most important link — to the ship-owning company. This is the one who actually owns the ships, hires the crews, insures the risks, and has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in these floating assets. This is the primary source of the service.
Fast Line Shipping Limited is just such a company — a classic shipowner with its own fleet, offices in key ports (Shanghai, Singapore) and a direct understanding of the market. Working with them is a direct contact with the performer. This allows you to receive information directly and avoid additional surcharges on the part of intermediaries.
The price of the question: why are freight rates an exchange—traded commodity
Why is this so important? Because the price in bulk transportation is never fixed. Freight rates (the cost of renting a ship) change every day. This is a real stock exchange, and everything affects the price.:
- Supply and demand: China has stopped construction — demand for ore trucks has dropped, and rates have collapsed.
- Fuel price: As oil increases, the cost of the flight increases.
- Geopolitics and traffic jams: The conflict in the Red Sea? Ships are bypassing, the voyage is getting longer, there are fewer available ships on the market, and the rates are rising.
- Seasonality: Harvest has begun in South America — all PanamaxThey go there, and their prices jump.
When you work through three intermediaries, everyone puts their own forecast and their own risk into the price. When you talk to the shipowner company directly, you are discussing the actual market price for today.
Conclusion: this is not a service, it is a partnership.
The international shipping market for bulk cargoes is an environment of large, capital—intensive business, not retail services. And the main rule here is to look not for the cheapest, but for the most reliable.
A shipowner with a fleet and a reputation is not just a "carrier" to whom you pay money. It is a strategic partner. He is responsible for an asset worth tens of millions of dollars and for your cargo, which may be worth the same. He understands all the risks, from the weather to pirates, and knows how to manage them.
When it comes to such volumes and such money, an attempt to save money by choosing an unknown intermediary almost always ends up with much greater losses.
If your business has grown to the extent that it is measured in holds rather than containers, it's time to change your approach.
The freight market is constantly changing. Today's freight rates may be radically different from yesterday's due to events that will not be reported in the news until a day later. To make decisions based on up-to-date information rather than outdated data, you need to keep your finger on the pulse. These are the latest news, real cases, and an analysis of what's happening with prices right now, and we're reviewing it in our Telegram channel.
