INTERCARGO : What we do

INTERCARGO : What we do

Intercargo is the short name for the International Association of Dry Cargo Shipowners.

Since 1980, it has represented the interests of owners, operators and managers of dry cargo shipping and works closely with the other international associations to promote a safe, high quality, efficient and profitable industry.

Membership benefits include the provision of information on technical, commercial and operational issues relating to the dry cargo industry, an active Committee structure, and participation in the work of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) where we enjoy observer status.

Intercargo believes that a new approach is needed to maintain a safe, efficient, environmentally friendly and profitable dry cargo shipping industry.

View our Mission statement

View our Direction Paper

View our Work Programme

The Intercargo Chairman is Mr. Nicky Pappadakis of AG Pappadakis & Co Ltd, Greece. He was elected at the 2005 Annual General Meeting in Athens.

Intercargo membership

For a full list of our Members, please click here.

Intercargo appreciates the role played by its growing number of Associate Members - companies or organisations providing goods and services to the dry cargo industry. Details of these companies are contained in the list of members.

Intercargo and industry policies

Intercargo's policies are encapsulated in our Vision and Mission and Direction Paper statements. Please give us feedback on these issues. To avoid duplication of effort and to target resources more effectively, Intercargo strongly supports the work of the Shipping Association Round Table. The thrtee other organisations represented in this body are:

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) whose membership comprises the shipowners' associations from over 40 countries;
ISF - the International Shipping Federation, whose secretariat is provided by ICS, is the international employers association for shipping companies;
BIMCO: whose membership comprises owners, brokers, ships agents and other operators; and
Intertanko the association for independent tanker owners. Intercargo and Intertanko have formed a single secretariat structure within the same office which will result in improved representation for members in both the wet and dry bulk sectors

Dry bulk trades comprise iron ore, coal, grain, timber, steel and other similar cargoes which are shipped in bulk as opposed to carried in containers or other unit loads. Delivering approximately 5 million tons of these commodities every day requires an efficient dry cargo shipping industry - without which, world trade as we know it would cease.

Click here for numbers of dry cargo vessels and how shipowners fit into the chain of responsibility.

What do Bulk Carriers do? As a small contribution to the 2006 World Maritime Day celebrations, Intercargo has put together a short leaflet entitled "Twenty Ships you didn't realise you used today" suggesting a link between every-day life and the products transported in bulk carriers. Schools and other interested parties are invited to download this leaflet and to check similar resources on the Shipping Facts website

Industry facts
and figures

Intercargo has now produced useful statistics covering most aspects of the sector current to 2006. These include numbers of vessels, numbers of companies, tonnages, newbuild prospects etc.click here for further info.

Safety trends in the sector continue to improve. In 2004, there were five total losses of which only one was attributed to structural reasons. Sadly, 13 seafarers lost their lives.

The average age of bulk carriers trading internationally is estimated at just over 15 years. Intercargo's entered fleet of around 850 vessels is somewhat younger than the industry average.

445 Bulk Carriers were detained in the Paris MoU, Tokyo MoU and US CG areas in 2004 (excluding ISPS "security" detentions) - a small increase on the previous year. Intercargo entered vessels - denoted as such on the Equasis website consistently outperform their industry average.

IMO Stowaway Focal Point

Despite the best efforts to prevent access in the first place, the discovery of a stowaway can create many problems for Masters and Owners of ships. To assist in the humanitarian and rapid repatriation of stowaways, IMO has agreed to provide on a trial basis, an IMO Stowaway Focal Point (SFP), to assist in cases when P&I and Flag states cannot make progress with the authorities concerned in the landing of the stowaway at the first port of call. Subject to the standing instructions of the company concerned, please ensure that the SFP is made aware of cases as a statistical return, or is asked to provide assistance when the P&I / Flag / Other parties cannot resolve the issue.

Contact details (business hours only) are +44 207 587 3110 or email: falsec@imo.org

Click here for the structured information which will assist in advising the SFP or other parties about the stowaway

News is carried in three places:

Industry issues : some of the key issues

Recent news : contains recent news items and

Member's area : Information and analysis on technical, commercial and operational matters available to Intercargo members only.

Press, meetings
and events

Intercargo are honorary organisers for the World Shipping (China) Summit. For more information, please click on the logo above

If you would like to be placed on the e-mail circulation list for Intercargo press releases, please email info@intercargo.org

Intercargo members are automatically advised of Committee meetings

Unique publications on Benchmarking, Statistics and Technical data

Benchmarking Bulk Carriers 2007

Using updated information to 1 July 2007, Intercargo has brought together statistical information relating to the 6,000 + Bulk Carriers and other Dry Bulk Vessels over 10,000 dwt engaged in international trade. Industry performance is benchmarked against port State control (PSC) detention and Deficiencies Per Inspection (DPI) data for the Paris MoU, Tokyo MoU and US Coast Guard area of jurisdictions.

In this 90 page book, fifteen separate sections are used to build a time-series picture of how the industry is performing, providing a ready reference guide for owners, PSC authorities, flag state interests, financiers, terminal operators, charterers and others.

Technical And Operational Update For Bulk Carriers 2007

Of benefit to all departments of any Bulk Carrier company, anxious to understand a little more about “where are we now” in terms of operational and technical issues.

For more information, or to order any of these publications, please see our publications page

The Adobe PDF viewer is required to read some documents and is available here