Ship agents
Be the agent they recall for the next call
Port agents are usually appointed before the vessel arrives. VesselCall introduces your agency to the managers of vessels approaching your port, and VesselCall Data shows who calls there most.
The problems today
- 1
Appointments happen before arrival
The port agent is usually fixed while the voyage is planned. By the time you see the vessel on a tracking site, the appointment has most likely been made.
- 2
You don't know who's coming
You often learn about a manager calling your port for the first time only when the vessel berths. Until then, that manager doesn't know you either.
- 3
Business development keeps slipping
When operations are busy, nobody has time to write to foreign managers. What does go out is often English-only and lands in a generic info inbox.
With VesselCall
Introductions to managers heading your way
Set a range around İskenderun or Samsun. Managers of commercial vessels entering it receive your agency introduction in their own language, and replies come straight to you.
The operations address, picked for you
VesselCall picks the operations department address when the company publishes one. Your introduction goes to the team closest to the appointment decision.
Know your port's regular callers
VesselCall Data port reports list the ship managers, owners and vessel types that call at your port most often. Build your visit and call list from it.
Know the vessel when inquiries arrive
Search by IMO, MMSI or name to see the vessel's manager, flag, classification society and its Turkish port calls since monitoring began.
Who do we reach?
Port agency appointments are usually handled by the operations department of the ship manager or commercial manager, while owner's matters such as crew changes come from technical or crewing teams. VesselCall picks the operations address that fits your sector when the company publishes one.
For ship agents in Türkiye, VesselCall finds the managers of commercial vessels approaching your port and sends them your agency introduction, in their language and from your own domain. VesselCall Data records which vessels and managers call at your port. The goal: when the next appointment is decided, the manager has already heard from you.
How does an agency’s day change with VesselCall?
Without VesselCall
In the morning, the team checks a tracking site for vessels due at İskenderun. A bulk carrier is approaching, but its agent is already appointed. Someone looks up the manager on Equasis, finds an address on the company website and starts an English introduction. Operations take over the day, the e-mail slips to next week, and by then the vessel has sailed.
With VesselCall
İskenderun and its approaches were set up once, with a range. When the bulk carrier enters it, VesselCall finds the manager, picks the company’s operations address and sends your introduction. If the manager is in Japan, it goes out in Japanese, with an English copy if you like. This call’s agent is fixed, but the manager’s inbox now holds the name of an agency working in İskenderun. In the afternoon, the team exports this month’s most frequent managers at the port from VesselCall Data and builds a call list.
In your template, name the ports you cover and the owner’s matters you handle, such as crew changes, spare parts delivery, cash to master and protective agency.
Which ports and vessel types matter most?
Container lines usually work with fixed liner agents. Port agency changes hands mostly in tramp shipping: bulk carriers, general cargo ships and tankers, where agents are appointed call by call. That makes these ports a good place to start:
- İskenderun: bulk carriers bringing iron ore and coal to the steel works.
- Samsun, Bandırma and Tekirdağ: dry bulk traffic, including grain.
- Aliağa, İzmit Bay and Ceyhan: tankers calling at refineries and oil terminals.
Agencies with several branches can set a separate range for each branch port. Even when one manager has several vessels heading your way, that company gets at most one e-mail in 3 days.
Related pages
- VesselCall Outreach: automatic introductions to the managers of approaching vessels.
- VesselCall Data: port calls, vessel search and port reports.
- Ship manager vs ISM manager vs registered owner: which company your introduction reaches.
Frequently asked questions
How do ship agents find new clients?
Is it worth contacting vessels whose agent the charterer appoints?
Does VesselCall Data show past port calls at my port?
Will a manager with many vessels get flooded with e-mails?
Other industries
The next vessel is already on its way.
Pick your ports, set the range, write your introduction. VesselCall runs the rest.
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