ship-owner

{{Short description|Owner of a ship}}

{{Admiralty law}}

A shipowner, ship owner or ship-owner is the owner of a ship. They can be merchant vessels involved in the shipping industry or non commercially owned. In the commercial sense of the term, a shipowner is someone who equips and exploits a ship, usually for delivering cargo at a certain freight rate, either as a per freight rate (given price for the transport of a certain cargo between two given ports) or based on hire (a rate per day). Shipowners typically hire a licensed crew and captain rather than take charge of the vessel in person. Usually the shipowner is organized through a company, but also people and investment funds can be shipowners. If owned by a ship company, the shipowner usually performs technical management of the vessel through the company, though this can also be outsourced or relayed onto the shipper through bareboat charter.{{cite book |first=Mark| last=Huber |title=Tanker operations: a handbook for the person-in-charge (PIC) |publisher=Cornell Maritime Press |location=Cambridge, MD |year=2001 | chapter =Ch. 9:Chartering and Operations |isbn=0-87033-528-6 }}{{cite book | last = Turpin | first = Edward A. |author2=McEwen, William A. | title = Merchant Marine Officers' Handbook | year = 1980 | publisher =Cornell Maritime Press | location = Centreville, MD | isbn = 0-87033-056-X | chapter =Ch. 18:United States Navigation Laws and Ship's Business }}

Shipowners are usually members of a national Chamber of Shipping such as the UK Chamber of Shipping. The International Chamber of Shipping is the global organisation for ship-owners and their respective national chambers, representing approximately 80% of the entire world shipping tonnage.{{cite web |url=http://www.ics-shipping.org/about-ics/about-ics|title=International Chamber of Shipping - About|access-date=3 July 2016}}