What are the job opportunities in shipping?

If you want to work in shipping, a freight forwarder is probably one of the most obvious training options. In a nutshell, freight forwarders work in freight transport: they make sure goods get safely from A to B. The job involves a lot of oversight, as you have to keep track of a lot of paperwork and forms. And the quick decisions you make can have big financial consequences in the long run. The pace of work can be fast, but many people thrive on that. As a freight forwarder, you can work in freight forwarding companies, but you can also develop and specialise in a specific area. Where a freight forwarder ends up can vary greatly. In this article, for example, you can find Babak Shahbaz, who trained as a freight forwarder but now has his own company and works in bunker operations. Read more about Babak below.

How do you become a freight forwarder?
If you want to be a freight forwarder, you’ll need to study for a specialised clerical qualification. You can also get training in Administration, as a Legal Secretary, as a Medical Secretary, in Public Administration, in Auditing, in Freight Forwarding and in Shipping and Finance.

However, as mentioned, the freight forwarding path is not the only option if you want to work in shipping. For example, you can also study logistics economics, which is a vocational degree. It takes 2 years.

Many companies also offer the opportunity of becoming a shipping trainee. Here you will become familiar with many of the company’s areas and processes and receive thorough training. The training will enable you to work in a fast-paced international environment. You will learn to communicate with various stakeholders and will be suitable for a job in the industry afterwards.

Babak Shahbaz: an example of where you can end up
Babak Shahbaz is an independent businessman based in Toronto, Canada. He has lived in several places abroad, but spent his entire childhood and youth in Fredericia, Denmark.
Babak is a trained freight forwarder, but has worked in many different areas of shipping during his life. His great passion turned out to be bunker operations. Bunker operations covers the transport and trading of fuels in a maritime context. Together with his brother, he started the company Fuel Supply in 2015, which works specifically with bunkering. As Babak explains here, one of the reasons for success is a constant focus on customer satisfaction. That satisfaction is created, among other things, by solving tasks even better than expected and with a high level of expertise.

This article was originally published in Danish her: https://mamby.com/post/hvad-er-jobmulighederne-inden-for-shipping

You can read more about Babak Shabaz here: https://www.advertise.dk/listing/fuelsupply-aps-babak-shahbaz/