Frequently asked questions

Who can join Global Ship Broker?

The platform is designed first for brokers, ship owners, operators and cargo teams that need a private workflow desk. Public browsing may exist for discovery, but posting, access requests, deal rooms and sensitive disclosure require authentication and workspace controls.

Is this an open board or a protected broker network?

The production posture is protected discovery. Circulars parsed into a broker workspace remain private by default. A record only leaves the workspace when the broker approves a blind or semi-private listing, and sensitive details are disclosed through access-gated workflows.

What roles are available?

During registration you select your primary role: ship owner, cargo owner, or broker. Your role determines which types of listings you can post and which matching results are most relevant. You can update your role from your profile settings.

Are all users on the platform identity-verified?

No. KYC and company verification are trust signals and may be required before high-risk actions such as protected access requests, document disclosure, or Deal Room participation. Lower-risk browsing can remain available depending on workspace policy.

How does the KYC process work?

From your dashboard profile page, you can submit identity documents for review. The platform team reviews submissions and, once approved, marks your account as KYC-verified. This badge is displayed on your listings and public profile.

What benefit does KYC verification provide?

Verified participants tend to receive more engagement — counterparties can see at a glance that your identity has been confirmed. For high-value vessel sales or large cargo contracts, this trust signal often matters to the other side before they invest time negotiating.

What types of listings can I post?

Core records include Tonnage Desk, Cargo Desk and Capacity Offers. S&P / Protected Board can remain enabled for private asset-management workflows, but the main broker wedge is spot chartering: circular inbox, private position list, protected matching and deal-room handoff.

How long does listing review take?

Workspace records are available immediately inside your private desk. If you publish a protected blind listing, review and disclosure status depend on your workspace approval flow and admin moderation settings.

Can I edit or remove a listing after it is published?

Yes. You can update or withdraw any of your active listings from your dashboard. Edits to key fields may trigger a brief re-review.

How does the platform match vessels with cargo?

The matching engine scores available vessels against open cargo requests across several dimensions: vessel type compatibility, DWT vs cargo volume, route overlap (load and discharge ports), laycan window overlap, and operator capabilities. Matches are ranked by score, highest first.

Where do I see my matches?

Your dashboard's Matching Desk shows your top-ranked matches with score breakdowns. You can click through to the matched listing and initiate messaging or make an offer directly.

Is matching automatic?

The platform re-scores matches from stored listing and cargo data. Refresh the Matching Desk to see the latest available results.

How do offers work?

You can submit a structured offer on any vessel sale, available vessel, or cargo request. Set a price, add an optional message, and optionally set an expiry date. The recipient can accept, reject, or send a counter-offer. Counter-offers follow the same cycle until both parties reach agreement or one side rejects.

Can I withdraw an offer I sent?

Yes. If your offer is still in "pending" status (the recipient has not yet responded), you can withdraw it from your offers dashboard. Once a counter-offer has been sent, the offer is in "countered" status and the action passes to you — you can then accept or reject the counter.

Do offers expire?

Only if you set an expiry when creating the offer. Offers without an expiry remain open until acted upon or withdrawn. Expired offers are shown with an "Expired" status in your dashboard.

How do transaction payments work?

Once an offer is accepted, the parties can create a Deal Room record. Global Ship Broker tracks software subscription, credit-ledger, SWIFT reference, L/C and partner-escrow metadata. Freight settlement itself remains via bank wire, L/C, partner escrow, or another party-approved payment rail.

Are platform payments available for all transactions?

Payment preparation is limited to configured software subscription or credit-ledger flows. Freight settlement is not automatic and remains controlled by the parties through bank wire, L/C, partner escrow, or their own agreement.

What is the pricing model?

The preferred commercial model is SaaS subscription pricing per broker seat or enterprise workspace. Deal-room ledgers may calculate broker pools, address commissions and platform credits for internal visibility, but the product is not positioned as taking a percentage of freight funds.

What happens if a deal falls through after a transaction is created?

The transaction can be cancelled or disputed in the platform record. Any refund, reversal, or off-platform settlement depends on the external payment rail, the parties' agreement, and applicable law.

Does Global Ship Broker replace maritime escrow banks or law firms?

No. For high-value vessel sales and large freight deals, external escrow banks, maritime law firms or payment providers remain the controlling payment rail. Global Ship Broker prepares the settlement file: gross deal value, broker commission pool, GSB share, seller net, wire or escrow instructions, approval status and audit trail.

Can the platform support BIMCO recap or charter-party generation?

The workflow is structured for it. Offer, cargo, vessel, capacity, laycan, commission and settlement fields are stored in a way that can feed recap, BIMCO-style charter-party and e-signature provider integrations. Signed external contracts always control the legal relationship.

Can I upload Q88 or Baltic Questionnaire files instead of typing every vessel field manually?

Yes. Vessel sale and available-vessel document panels now include Q88 / vessel questionnaire and Baltic Questionnaire document types. The document-intelligence layer can read vessel particulars, cargo gear, capacities, survey dates, certificates and operational restrictions from these files where extraction is available.

Does the platform handle sanctions, UBO or dark-fleet screening?

The platform already keeps KYC, sanctions review, vessel identity, cargo, port and counterparty records in the same workflow. It does not claim guaranteed legal clearance unless a configured screening provider is active. The architecture is ready for OFAC, EU, UN, UBO, cargo and port-risk providers such as maritime compliance data vendors.

Can brokers keep opportunities private or off-market?

Yes. That is the default trust model. Broker circulars remain inside the workspace review queue unless explicitly published. Blind listings can mask vessel names, IMO numbers, counterparties and exact positions until an authenticated requester is approved.

Is there a voyage estimator or TCE calculator?

Yes. The dashboard includes a commercial shipping calculator for route economics, TCE, freight curve, bunker assumptions, port/canal costs, emissions and vessel sale value assumptions. It is designed as decision support before quoting, not as a binding freight quote.

Is there a laytime or demurrage calculator?

Cargo records already capture load/discharge rates, laytime-related notes, demurrage, despatch, turn time and NOR terms, and the calculator layer includes demurrage guidance. The next enterprise step is a full laytime statement generator that turns port-event timestamps and contract terms into an auditable demurrage/despatch file.

Do you provide live bunker prices, Baltic indices or vessel valuations?

The market-intelligence layer is provider-ready, and the platform can display licensed or configured feeds for bunker prices, Baltic-style freight indices, demolition prices and valuation assumptions. Where no licensed feed is configured, the product uses clearly labelled assumptions or editorial notes rather than pretending to have live market data.

How does inspection or survey workflow fit into vessel sales?

Vessel sale records support technical documents, class status, inspection readiness and survey-report document types. This allows a buyer, seller or broker to keep the pre-purchase inspection file trail attached to the same sale workflow before external survey providers are appointed.

Can cargo or capacity records include port restrictions?

Cargo and vessel forms already capture route, load/discharge ports, DWT, draft, cargo type, handling and restriction fields. The matching layer can use those structured fields for port-fit and route-risk checks as the port database and provider data are expanded.

Is AIS tracking live or simulated?

When a valid AIS provider key is configured, tracking data is sourced from that provider. If no key is configured (for example, in a demonstration environment), the platform uses simulated vessel data and will display a "Demo data" notice. Check the banner at the top of the tracking page.

Which vessel types are shown in the tracking view?

By default, the tracking view is filtered to commercial vessel types — cargo vessels, tankers, bulk carriers, container ships, and similar. Non-commercial vessels (fishing, tugs, SAR, patrol, pleasure craft, sailing vessels) are excluded from the default view. You can turn off the commercial-only filter to see all vessel types.

What data coverage should I expect?

AIS coverage depends on the AISStream data feed and varies by geographic region. Deep ocean areas with no coastal or satellite AIS coverage will have gaps. The platform shows the last known position and timestamp for each vessel — vessels that have not reported recently may be stale.

Can I search for a specific vessel?

Yes. The tracking list view supports text search by vessel name or MMSI. You can also filter by flag, vessel type, navigation status, destination, DWT, GT, draft, and build year — all applied server-side so results reflect the full dataset, not just the current page.

Are there any subscription or listing fees?

The recommended model is a predictable SaaS subscription per broker seat or enterprise workspace. Pilot terms can be tailored, but the product should be evaluated as workflow automation rather than a commission collector.

How is payment processed?

Where configured, Stripe is used for software subscription and approved credit-ledger tracking only. Freight funds remain subject to configured bank wire, L/C, partner escrow, and the parties' commercial agreement.