The graduation thesis discusses the external environment of the ship owner, which is a specialized company for transporting of cargo or passengers by sea with its own or chartered ships. The ship owner’s fundamental means of transport is a ship. The ship owner or company for transporting of cargo or passengers by sea is being established based on needs identified in the environment. The environment provides the company with opportunities to operate and survive, but at the same time it also presents certain limitations, so the ship owner needs to know the environment well. The purpose of this graduation thesis is to present the complex relations between the ship owner and his external environment. For the purpose of understanding the mentioned factors, the thesis initially presents some basic definitions needed for understanding, e. g.: operations of the ship owner, world trade as the key-element of demand for maritime transport, maritime law, influence of the flag state, maritime transport market, sources of financing in the maritime sector, availability of seaman and price of marine fuel. In the thesis, I particularly focused on the stated challenges of the ship owner and confined myself to ship owners that operate globally and are engaged in cargo transport. The ship owner can make certain business decisions, which can lead him to greater earning and lower costs. The ship owner has no influence on certain circumstances, e. g.: demand for world trade, valid international maritime conventions, and current price of marine fuel. These are the elements he only has to follow in his operations. The ship owner has influence over factors, like the flag state, selection of the source of financing and origin of the workforce, and can make business decisions to optimize his work to maximize his profit. The thesis briefly presents the factors that are the basis for decisions of the ship owner, among which the ship owner chooses the most suitable based on knowing its effects (costs) for the compliance of his business operations with the law, which simultaneously allows him to maximize his profit. The message of the graduation thesis is: the main factors that influence the profit of the ship owner, are world trade, price of marine fuel, the law and influence of emergencies.
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