Matthew Wright
Ship Broking
London

"I work on ICAP's Shipping Atlantic Dry Cargo Desk which means I broker shipping contracts between ships and cargo owners within the Atlantic basin. Daily routine is generally arrive at 7am, survey a constant stream of emails delivering shipping information, call various clients and then negotiate contracts based on the information that I receive.

Ship broking is similar to the other areas of interdealer broking in the sense that you cannot be afraid of a telephone and you must have a positive personality. But it differs in the sense that it is obviously a tangible asset. When you see the news that a typhoon is hitting the South China Sea and you have a ship out there with a sea sick crew, then your hectic day in London never seems that serious."