Job Title

Company Brief“House of Shipping provides business consultancy and advisory services for Shipping & Logistics companies. House of Shipping's commitment to their customers begins with developing an understanding of their business fundamentals.Currently House of Shipping is looking to identify a high caliber Vessel Planning Manager from Shipping Industry.This position is an on-site position in Chennai.Job purposeThe Vessel Planning Manager is responsible for overseeing and coordinating the efficient planning and execution of container vessel stowage to ensure optimal utilization of space, safety, and compliance with operational guidelines. This role plays a critical part in improving turnaround times, maximizing productivity, and facilitating smooth terminal operations.Qualification:- Graduate/ Masters level education, Good computer skills, Shipping line Operations bookings , MS Office - Excel)Experience:- Minimum 8 – 10 years of experience in vessel planning or terminal operations, with at least 2 years in a supervisory or managerial role. - Proficiency in vessel planning systems such as Navis N4 or similar platforms. - Ability to work under pressure and adapt to changing schedules and priorities.Main tasks and responsibilities:- Lead and manage a team of vessel planners to ensure accurate and timely preparation of vessel stowage plans. - Collaborate with shipping lines, terminal operations, and port authorities to ensure coordinated vessel planning and execution. - Monitor and analyze vessel operations, making adjustments to plans as needed to optimize performance. - Ensure compliance with safety regulations, weight distribution, and vessel-specific constraints during planning. - Support continuous improvement initiatives to streamline planning processes and increase operational efficiency. - Train, mentor, and evaluate the performance of vessel planning team members. - Coordinate with yard planning, gate operations, and crane operators to align vessel and terminal plans. - Responsible for vessel stowage planning, vessel operations in ports, communication with ship's masters in all concerning vessel stowage, constraints, stability criteria - Incharge of vessel stowage and cargo loading/discharging process, as well as the full process of data communication between ports and agencies. - Ensure that all the information needed to perform the job is available accurately, which is vessels/terminals specifications and contacts of all parties he needs to communicate with, i.e. Line Managers, vessels, terminals, agencies - Consult with line managers to mutually develop the best vessel schedules. - Ensures that the team is fully aware of containers specifications to be loaded, i.e. type, weight, etc. - Must look ahead in order to prevent stowage problems and constraints in the next ports, will not only optimize the stowage of current ports, but will look at the optimization with a view to the voyage in general - Good understanding of costs that may be incurred in, should extra handling (restowes) be required for stowage optimization and cargo maximization - Prepare the stowage plan keeping well in mind the vessels’ allocation, ships’ characteristics as well as terminal ability to improve the productivity – maximization of number of gangs working simultaneously - Upon vessel departure from the terminal, the Vessel Planner to ensure that the final list of containers loaded is duly shared with Line Manager Team for immediate invoicing process. - Keeping track of relevant changes in various rules, regulations & policy matters of calling ports/terminals - Approving special units OOG & BB - Providing Vessel planning & IMDG CODE training to New Joiners - Responding to Container terminals for their queries related to vessel and its specifications - Utilize terminal operating systems (e.g., Navis N4) for stowage planning and ensure data accuracy. - Updates and generate monthly reports on vessel performance and utilization-Fleet Idle time in port. - Ability to work under pressure and adapt to changing schedules and priorities.