The Shipping Man Paperback – June 8, 2011

As others have written, the "coincidences" strain credulity at times. But this is a really enjoyable book and I learned a lot.

This is an introductory text on shipping finance disguised as an adventure story. The finance stuff pulls few punches in presentation - we feel Robert's naivety and bewilderment keenly - and it's often necessary to go over those passages a few times to make sure its sunk in. It's rich in the detail it presents, but there is clearly a huge amount left unwritten. Rather helpfully, the book does offer up a list of trade rags to read, which, like all the information in the book, is sprinkled throughout the story rather than being dumped at the end in a clunky appendix.There is much comedy in the book's depiction of the clash of cultures between shipping's European pragmatism and the over-regulated, stiffly conformist world of anglo-saxon investment banking. A wonderful scene late in the book, where a group of American fund managers pose a series of increasingly inane questions to a bemused shipping magnate, reflects this hilariously.Robert's character is very well drawn, the rest a bit less so, but all are believable and enjoyable to be around. The author avoids obvious caricature for the most part. He clearly has great affection for the shipping men he's writing about, less so the financiers: he is especially cruel to one romantic hedge fund manager who we meet later in the book - not content with ruining him for pursuing much the same dream that Robert had, he then has his office mate crush his testicles, in the process denying him the chance to exit a bad trade.I said in the title it needed an edit: It's mostly told from Robert's perspective, but there are a few moments in the book where these flashes of omniscient narration come in, such as hearing Spirolakis's thoughts during a conversation with Robert. These jar a bit, taking the reader out of what is otherwise an engaging book. Occasional bits of dialogue feel clunky too: a grouse moor conversation between a shipowner and his banker is especially bad. These are fleeting moments though. For the most part, it's a fast-paced, enjoyable story about making the most of an opportunity and putting your trust in people, not rules.

For those with a little business background, this story is great fun. The shipping boys get the better of the Wall St heels, and one hedge fund fellow finds a new calling. Well-paced.

I just finished reading The Shipping Man by Matthew McCleery. If you are involved with the oil tankers stocks, this is a must read. It is a novel about a hedge fund manager who became a shipowner of a single ship and later became the CEO of a Norwegian shipping company.The novel is packed with information about the sector. Many of us who are new to the sector might not be mentally ready for it. This sector is extremely volatile. This is what this book will help you understand. I believe that it will prepare you mentally to deal with uncertainty and volatility. If you are not prepared, you will likely lose because you will be shaken out of your positions at the worst possible time.

The is a novel that tries to educated the reader on the shipping industry and the financial markets that shippers use. First, the novel part is pretty weak. What Harvard educated hedge fund manager would ever invest in shipbuilding without any prior knowledge? The main character invests sight unseen with a Greek cold caller? The set up is unbelievable as are the other encounters through the book. Second, the industry and finance stuff is better. However, there is so much to understand, that you have to read some passages many times just to try to understand what the concept is. Terms like Adcom and Bunker come up and sometimes the author will re tell what they mean and sometimes not. A glossary at the back of the book with definitions and examples would be helpful. And it would be nice to see a flow chart of revenues and costs for a ship. As for the finance part, this got pretty confusing. Who gets this fee and that fee and who gets charged for this and that was tough to follow. If you don't know how the debt markets work you will get lost. Again, I could really use a flow chart and explanations in the back. There is no way the author could enhance the descriptions in the novel or it would ruin the flow of the book. Overall an ok book.

I am interested in Shipping Industry. I was searching for shipping related books and stumbled upon "The Shipping Man". This book is very well written. It tells many things about the internal workings of the shipping industry wrapped around an interesting story. It tells a story of a fund manager, Robert Fairchild, who by twist and turns in his life lands up being ship owner. He is very excited to be a proud owner of a ship, but he is not a shipping man i.e. he does not have knowledge of the shipping business. After buying the ship, he faces several problems, including pirate attack on his ship, during running his shipping business. He quickly realizes that shipping is not as easy as it seemed to him. Later in the story, he meets a Tanker tycoon, Coco Jacobson, owner of Viking Tankers. Coco is in deep financial trouble, and he appoints Robert as his companies CEO. Robert and Coco works together to bring back the Viking Tankers from the verge of collapsing to profit at the end. The story is very interesting and informative. It tells many things about the inner workings of investment banker, junk bond market, and shipping industry in a humorous way.I give this book a four star and recommend this book.Happy reading !!!