Legal Opinion – Broker’s Commission

A brokerage is entitled to commission when its intervention leads to conclusion of a charter party. In a
case brought before Piraeus courts, a shipowner had entered into a charter party through a broker, who
received the agreed commissions.

By the end of the charterparty, the owner negotiated again with the same charterer through two competing
brokers, the one that had already intervened and another one. A new charterparty was entered
into, with the shipowner having finally opted to proceed through the new broker. The initial broker
sued requesting commissions for the new charter party as well.

The Court, however, found mere circulation of information without leading to a concluded agreement
does not generate a right to commission. So the initial broker’s claim for the new charter party was
rejected.

One membered Court of Appeal Judgment no 242/2015, Judge: F. Tserketzoglou, Attorneys at law: N.
Pitsinos, V. Vernikos, Maritime Law Review vol. 43, p. 260.
NOTE: Often a number of brokers compete to provide work for a vessel. In this specific case, the peculiarity
lay in the fact that two brokers competed for the conclusion of a charter party for the same deal
and between the same parties, which already had a charter party relationship immediately prior with
one of the brokers.