A ship-owner is the owner of a merchant vessel (commercial ship) and is involved in the shipping industry. In the commercial sense of the term, a ship-owner is someone who equips and exploits a ship, usually for delivering cargo at a certain freight rate, either as a per freight rate (given price for the transport of a certain cargo between two given ports) or based on hire (a rate per day). Ship-owners typically hire a licensed crew and captain rather than take charge of the vessel in person. Usually the ship-owner is organized through a company, but also people and investment funds can be ship-owners. If owned by a ship company, the ship-owner usually performs technical management of the vessel through the company, though this can also be outsourced or relayed onto the shipper through bareboat charter.
Ship-owners are usually members of a national Chamber of Shipping such as the UK Chamber of Shipping. The International Chamber of Shipping is the global organisation for ship-owners and their respective national chambers, representing approximately 80% of the entire world shipping tonnage.