Throughout the history of the shipping industry, vessel owners, operators, charterers, and captains have relied on agents to assist with vessel port call operational matters and provide local expertise and knowledge about the port, terminals, suppliers/receivers, and cargo being loaded/discharged to help increase port call efficiency and avoid unnecessary delays and issues. Over the past several years however, it appears that, due to rapid expansion and availability of new technology, knowledge, and expertise in several sectors of the maritime industry have dwindled. Recognizing this, Norton Lilly decided to gather experienced and seasoned veterans within the industry and form vessel type and commodity type groups in order to assist and strengthen NLI local port offices. One of these groups is the NLI Tanker Group.

The NLI Tanker Group is comprised of 5 individuals with 100+ years of combined experience within various sectors of the maritime industry including Agent, Vessel Operator, Port Captain, Seafarer, and Ship Broker. The purpose of the group is to act as a knowledge base for the NLI local port offices, provide in depth training to NLI staff, and implement NLI procedural policy regarding the handling of tankers.

Norton Lilly knows that our customers rely on us to be their eyes and ears during their vessel’s port call and help them be as efficient as possible and avoid unnecessary delays in order to increase production and profitability. Because of this, our goal is to make sure that our staff is the best trained staff in the business and that they have all the tools they need to make sure that our customers’ needs are met and exceeded.

Norton Lilly’s Bulk Commodity Group has put together the most experienced and professional team members in the bulk industry. Within the Bulk Group there is a team that is dedicated to monitoring an assigned area, ensuring our clients that they will receive the highest level of service available. The Bulk Group at Norton Lilly is unique within the industry because we are able to give customers the personalized service that smaller agencies provide, while also having resources in place that allow us to provide customers with the robust service that a larger agency brings.

With 42 owned offices across the Americas and extensive global partnerships, our customers are assured they will receive the highest level of worldwide representation. Our agents provide vessel status updates as well as making sure all port documents released and disbursement accounts are handled in a timely manner.

Agents are put through a demanding training regimen before they are assigned to vessels, and all agents attend training as necessary in order to stay abreast of changes in the industry.

We put together this team of experienced and trained agents in order to make us the eyes and ears for our customers while in port. Our agents are experienced across all aspects of the bulk industry, and we specialize in handling bulk cargoes, terminal handling, inland logistics, cargo sourcing and ocean freight. Our experience allows us to provide these services for a variety of commodities, including coal, steel, rolled coil steel, agriculture, and other dry and loose cargo.

We know that effective communication with our customers is key, and they receive around the clock service along with a dedicated point of contact to resolve any issues. In addition to our personalized service, we also have systems in place that are unique to the industry, which allow our customers to constantly monitor their cargo. Our cargo monitoring systems give our customers the ultimate peace of mind, and allow them to monitor any delays and demurrage in a timely manner, saving them time and money.

Norton Lilly’s Bulk Division assures our customers they will received first-class service from experienced and highly-trained agents, giving them the support they need in order to continue their success within the dry bulk industry.