MSc in Shipping Management

Sea transportation has been an important catalyst of world trade and economic growth. Globalization of the world economy, increased competition and rapid technological change has resulted in lowered transport costs. High volatility in prices, uncertainty, capital concentration and global competition of the shipping markets, have made effective economic skills a requirement for shipping organizations. The aim of this course is to provide the maritime economic principles and theory required for the effective management of a shipping company, which operates in the global competitive shipping environment, under the appropriate policy perspectives. The students will be able to understand the economic organization of the shipping market, to analyse the shipping market cycle and the shipping markets, as well as the supply and demand conditions and the trade patterns in seaborne transportation.

This is an introductory course on the company’s financial decision-making processes. Corporate financial management describes how corporations create value through their capital allocation decisions. Such decisions include capital budgeting, valuation analysis and financing. The course aims to introduce the quantitative tools and analyses, that managers apply in order to achieve the company’s financial goals.

This course is preparatory; designed to help students familiarize themselves with aspects of mathematics necessary for the comprehension of modern MBA courses. It covers three main areas: Firstly, the basics of derivatives and optimization of differentiable functions, mainly with a view to assist the student with applications to follow in the economics courses. Secondly, the basics of probability, random variables, and their distributions in order to provide a working background for statistical and financial applications. Finally, the basics of descriptive statistics, that will assist the students in comprehending statistical reports. Inferential statistics will be mentioned, albeit briefly, in order for the student to connect the basic notions discussed in probability and descriptive statistics with quantitative research methods that will be covered later on in the programme.

Ship management is a complex function calling for a variety of skills that will enable the individual to communicate with, understand and supervise a number of very different fields within the company.
The structure of this module follows the structure of a typical shipping company which retains most of its operations in-house. A ground up approach is followed starting with making sure that everything taught stands on a solid theoretical fundament, which in turn calls for a certain degree of familiarity with areas as diverse as ship chartering, post fixture, ship maintenance, classification and upkeep, management of human resources, elements of maritime law and dispute resolution.
While most of the subjects touched upon will be dealt with in greater detail within the MSc program, it is essential that the attending student obtains a clear idea of the greater picture from the outset. A ship manager should be in position not only to understand and evaluate the problems, but also to make decisions, delegate responsibility and ensure the issue is finally resolved in a manner consistent with the company’s rules and within the law.
To this end students will be encouraged to work in teams among themselves, as well as with the instructor, and discuss issues and cases - brought in for analysis.

The course will give an overview of major issues in respect to contemporary State action, supervision and support towards the maritime industry and its cluster. The course instructor(s) will primarily elaborate on the triangular interactions between the Shipping community (ship-owners and mariners), the State and Society. Students will analyze complex policy issues, study governmental as well as interagency processes and explore the conflicts that often arise due to competing interests of various national, regional and international stakeholders in the maritime industry. A detailed examination of relevant instruments and documents will support the comprehension of domestic regulatory frameworks and policies on an international, European and national level. Regulatory examples from several countries will be used in order to compare and contrast national aspirations and strategic visions towards the shipping industry and its activities. All seminars will encourage students to think critically about the theory and practice of maritime politics and how they affect the everyday life of a shipping company and the maritime world at large.

The course enables students to understand the basic concepts of the law relating to shipping, so as to bolster their prospects of professional, commercial or business employment. Notions such as the ship, admiralty jurisdiction, arrest, ship mortgage, maritime lien, marine insurance shall be examined and analysed. Furthermore, it is opted to enhance students’ interpretational skills when examining legal instruments. Finally, students are expected to develop other skills, such as problem solving, legal research, independent study and critical evaluation. Successful students shall demonstrate a satisfactory knowledge of various concepts of shipping law. They should be in a position to apply the relevant law to hypothetical problems, to evaluate critically legal situations and reach reasoned conclusions.

The maritime labor industry is a highly competitive and regulated sector, while the management of multinational crew and the transferability of seafarers from ship to office positions require for advanced human resource management practices. The aim of this course is to provide the principles of managing maritime human resources, both the seagoing and shore-based personnel, considering the today’s market conditions. The course will provide an overview of key concepts related to Crew and Human Resource Management, including Human resource planning in shipping; Recruitment and selection of ship’s and shore- based personnel; Performance evaluation of maritime human resources; Compensation and rewards of seagoing labor and Management of multicultural crews. Further, the course will discuss the profile of the world maritime labor market, selection criteria of the seafarer’s profession that affect retention, outsourcing of manning and the new Maritime Labor Convention (MLC2006).

The purpose of this course is to familiarize the students to the theoretical aspects of maritime accounting and cover in detail the most important maritime accounting issues. The overall aim of this course is to give students an appreciation of the problems, issues and alternative methods involved in the accounting management of shipping companies. The course focuses on the critical evaluation of the various accounting methods used in modern shipping practice. The goal is to provide students with the tools necessary to conduct accurate accounting analysis in a maritime organization. At the end of the course, students will be able to develop, appraise, and choose among alternative accounting methods in shipping.

The first part of the course is to introduce students to the issues involved in insuring the various interests that may arise in vessels and their cargoes. The course examines the types of policy available, the legal issues that arise in the placement and claims processes and the risks covered by the standard form of marine insurance wordings available. The second part of the course is to provide the principles of law governing the carriage of goods by sea and admiralty jurisdiction. It further focuses on liability in terms of the cargo transported and claim implications. The aim of the course is to enable students to understand, analyse and critically evaluate the processes which affect a shipping company in relation to marine insurance issues and to the law of carriage of goods by sea.

Due to the fact that the shipping industry is a capital intensive and volatile industry, the course focuses on the critical evaluation of the various financial methods under risky and uncertain situations. The course focuses on the general principles of financial management by ship owning and ship operating companies and the impact economic variables on the financial operations of shipping business organizations. The aim of this course is to give students an appreciation of the problems, issues and alternative methods involved in shipping finance. The end goal is to provide students with the tools necessary to conduct accurate financial analysis for investment purposes in the shipping industry. At the end of the course, the students will be able to develop, appraise, negotiate and choose among alternative investment proposals in shipping.

The aim of this course is to provide in-depth and holistic understanding of charter markets, chartering practice and charter party analysis in dry cargo and tanker shipping. Content includes the procedures and practices in chartering merchant ships in the dry cargo and tanker markets, their commercial employment under various forms of chartering and the detailed calculation of financial (freight) performance, voyage planning and lay time estimations. The module provides an in-depth analysis of charter party forms and adopts a legal and commercial perspective to analyze significant clauses and to explain various specialized terms in dry cargo and chartering contracts. The market structure of dry cargo and tanker industries are also analyzed and an overview of the practitioners involved (brokers, owners, charterers) is provided as are the sources of data and information required to initiate, negotiate, agree, execute and assess a successful charter party contract in the dry bulk and tanker markets.

The Dissertation is a research project of a student’s special interest in a faculty member’s area of expertise. The students will have the opportunity to construct a detailed plan of a research project; to review specific literature on the selected topic; to identify relevant research questions from the literature; to be able to turn general research questions into empirical ones; to select and justify an appropriate research design; to select and employ suitable methods or techniques to investigate the empirical questions; to analyze financial or social data and to write a report covering a review of the relevant literature, the research questions, an explanation and justification of the design, a description of the conduct and analysis of the research, and a discussion of the findings in relation to the literature and methodological issues.

An Internship brings together the academic with the business world, providing benefits both to students and to companies.  It has the status of a course, hence it is an obligatory requirement for the fulfilment of the M.Sc. Degree, it carries credits and it is graded.  The expected duration is three (3) months, from beginning May to end July.  The benefits for students include the opportunity for the blending of academic and on-the-job learning; the use of the explicit knowledge gained during the program, the attainment of tacit knowledge, the development and diversification of skills, the acquisition of work experience, the identification and/or refinement of career goals, the creation and/or development of a professional network.  The benefits for companies include the opportunity to meet some company needs with highly qualified and motivated students, the identification of talent for potential future employment, the enrichment of current perspectives and practices with the intern’s novel ideas, the enhancement of social responsibility activities.

Approximately 90% of non-bulk cargo worldwide is moved by containers stacked on transport ships.  Containerization has brought a big change in the way trade is done. It has greatly reduced the expense of international trade and has increased its speed, especially of consumer goods and commodities. Liner shipping is the service of transporting goods by means of high-capacity, ocean-going ships that transit regular routes on fixed schedules. Meanwhile, seaports play a tremendous role in the transportation chain. This course intends to give an insight of the liner shipping industry and the way that seaports operate.

The effective and daily strategic management of companies operating in the shipping service sector is of the most paramount importance. Managers, thus, are in need of strategic making skills as ever. Strategy is the set of objectives and policies that set to define how a shipping service provider positions itself to gain competitive advantage and increase returns for its owner and stakeholders. Two questions are of importance, then: “What business should we participate in” and “How should we compete?” In answering these questions, the external environment and the internal company resources and capabilities take a central role. Through case studies and assignments, participants learn to use tools for analyzing, creating and, communicating strategies in the shipping industry.