in order to get around insurance and liability exposures, 20 year ago some companies went with their captains as independent contractors and each vessel in the fleet owned by a different paper company. It didnt work, too much admin staff was necessary to run each vessel and the union was up in arms over each captain being an Independant contractor
It’s still common for each vessel in the fleet to be owned by a different legal entity. That’s smart business and cheap insurance, in spite of the extra paperwork.
Often each vessel has different investors that provided the cash to buy it outright, make the down payment, or that co-signed the note for the preferred ship’s mortgage.
It not uncommon to be working for Brand X boat company, but when you look at the documents you’ll see the vessel actually belongs to somebody else.
One boat might be owned by ABC Capital Partners, LP of Stamford, CT. The next might be owned by Big Sky LLC of Sheridan, Wyoming. The next might be owned by Brand X investors III LP of Dover, Delaware.
Maybe. But there are definite rules to follow to maintain the “corporate veil,” and many screw them up and negate the benefits.
Circa 2003? Which unionized companies were doing the independent contractor bit?
That’s certainly true
I often prefer to work as a 1099 contractor, but 90% of companies, even if the job is only for two weeks want me to be a W-2 employee.
several mom and pops in san Francisco bay along with american navigation which later merged with FOSS. there were a couple of small dredging companies with there own tugs and scows christain brother / Oil barge co. marin tug and barge, tweed towing it didnt last long.
The Mon & Pops were union?
It was pretty common for SF Bay and LA Mom & Pop tugboat companies to be union. Westar comes to mind. I’m not sure about nowadays.
In Seattle, DeForge Maritime is a small two boat company that’s MMP.
MMP in the central Bay some SIU up river, Dutra for upriver was one
it was mostly a liability thing. fines were very popular in those days especially on pollution
so the tug was one shell company. the barge was another and the captains were independent contractors
How is owning shares in a company not being a “true owner”?
Appreciate everybody’s contribution to this thread. I noticed a lot of people talking about fractional ownership within the actual company. What I am talking about is using Blockchain technology to develop a community of fractional ownership of vessels using the information that is inherent on the vessel as a driver for this creating value.
This may sound a completely out of left field but this is essentially what social media platforms have done for decades (you can read more about how data surpassed oil in terms of value worldwide in 2017, here. The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data).
The difference with Blockchain technology is the community truly owns the asset(s) via the information of that asset is producing through coding called a ‘Smart contract’.
Before anybody makes a snap judgment in a reply, please keep an open mind and research what the value of Blockchain and fractionalization ownership of real world assets is going to do for the future for our industry. Our Industry is going to mass adopt this at some point probably in the next 10 years, the question is who is going to be onboard with it and who is going to see the value first? Many other industries embrace the adoption of technology are already benefiting from this and are thriving including, financial, real estate, tech and certain logistic companies.Tier 1 shipping companies are already doing this.
Now the elephant in the room here is a 2023 failed platform called “Tradelens” that was a partnership between IBM and Maersk. Where this went wrong, was they tried to take a web2 approach to a web3 technology, which is supposed to be community based and the only community that backed this was the the Petro dollar, the basis of the current centralized system. Everyone is supposed to benefit from this blockchain technology, not just the top 1%.
You can read more about the future of this technology here. The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data
This is a big reason why there is so much chaos in the world because things are becoming decentralized and those who depend on the centralized system are doing the best they can to fight it, but that is another conversation entirely.
Again, before you reply, please read a bit about this and approach this with an open mind, bc for many, this could be a a completely new concept. And for those who understand what I am talking about, please help those out who may not understand it yet.
If anybody would like to read more on this, there is an excellent book called “The Starfish and the Spider.” The Starfish and the Spider - Wikipedia
Mariners rarely own shares in the shipping companies they work for. Most large shipowners are private, family-run, or owned by big holding groups, not listed on stock markets. A few own their own ships directly, working as independent master-owners, common in parts of Europe and Southeast Asia. Employee ownership schemes exist in some countries but are uncommon in shipping compared to other industries. Crew pay is usually wages plus bonuses, not equity. Fractional ownership platforms are changing this. They let mariners buy a small stake in a specific vessel instead of company stock, giving direct exposure to the ships they actually understand and sail on.
the downside is if there is a causality such as the ship sinks or death aboard the vessel you are part of the suite and lose everything
What’s the difference between that and a contract involving a business partnership? ‘Smart contract technology’ sounds like reading the fine print or have a machine read it if one is incapable. 
.
Being a mariner is a far riskier business than a job in commerce. The exposure to the elements and their risk is higher. There is not a lot of vessel ownership these days that is not corporate. the days of the mom-and-pop maritime ownership of a commercial vessel are pretty much over. But suit yourself if you think you can make a go of it
In Denmark, Germany and Norway it is quite common for ships to be owned by:
Kommanditgesellschaft (KG): A limited partnership in Germany. Often used for shipping investments.
Kommanditselskap (KS): A limited partnership in Norway. Often used for shipping investments.
The nearest US eqv.: What Is a Limited Partnership? | CO- by US Chamber of Commerce
E.R.Shiffahrt since 2018 Die Bremer Zeaborn-Gruppe und NSB .
NSB is Reederei NSB Niederelbe Schiffahrtsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG otherwise known as :
No
Spares on
Board
Alles ist in Ordnung - managers propaganda
alles glänzt - technical dept bullshit
und
Alles ist Scheiße - crews opinion
and all is Jawohl , mein Führer
a true owner has a hand in the day-to-day operation and decision making
a shareholder has to rely on the owner and the board of director for making the decisions that affects your investment in the company.
This blockchain ownership model sounds like some type of scam. How is it any better than fractional ownership through shares, whether public or private. That’s generally how ship ownership has worked the past 500 years. Except now, the record keeping and financial controls are better than they were in 1462.