Luck, candour and teamwork define ship broking

Richard Fulford-Smith has spent 50 years in ship broking, a career that has spanned booms, busts and thousands of deals. In a Marine Money Week fireside chat, he set out in typically direct fashion what he believes makes a successful broker, and what he has learnt in the business.

For Mr Fulford-Smith, success begins with luck and circumstance. Entering the trade at 18 years old, he acknowledged: “You need a lot of luck” and, in his case, the guidance of a mentor and the support of family. That foundation allowed him to travel widely, meet owners early in their careers, and build relationships that would last decades.

Central to his style has been candour. He explained that he acquired a reputation for being “horribly, brutally open and dividing opinion”. In his view, provoking debate is a constructive act: “If you divide opinion, you get a dialogue.” That willingness to ask uncomfortable questions set him apart from more cautious peers.

Another theme was teamwork. Reflecting on his time at Clarksons, he said that success came from surrounding himself with people “better than me at all the bits that they were doing”. He cast himself as a generalist who recognised that broking at scale requires building teams where complementary skills thrive.

When asked what makes a great shipowner, he pointed again to decision-making, timing and the ability to gather capable people. The same qualities, he implied, underpin broking. The best brokers are those who can navigate competing views, bring parties together and help create a market. Deals may begin on napkins in bars, he admitted, but the work of building trust, assembling information and steering parties towards resolution is what endures.

“If you divide opinion, you get a dialogue”

Mr Fulford-Smith also spoke about integrity. He argued that investors need “trust management” and transparency, particularly when entering the capital markets. He was frank about the industry’s historic failings on valuations and stressed the importance of clarity in dividend policy and investment strategy.

Luck, he emphasised, has been a constant companion. He has enjoyed moments of fortune, such as buying vessels at the bottom of the 1980s cycle for urgent Soviet grain transport, but he also recalled the difficulties of dealing with adversaries in Russia two decades later. Adversity, he suggested, teaches resilience and reminds brokers that the industry “gives a good kicking every now and then”.

Asked what advice he would give young people, his message was disarmingly simple: “Listen, ask questions”. He does not believe that success can be planned; brokers hope for success and when combined with curiosity, candour and the occasional stroke of luck, it can be achieved.

Looking back, he concluded that his greatest source of pride lies not in any single transaction but in “being hopefully able to add value to people who you actually believe in and trust”. A career built on blunt honesty, teamwork and the enjoyment of an industry that, in his words, has been “so much fun” over half a century.