You operate as a licensed Ocean Transportation Intermediary — NVOCC, ocean forwarder, or both — under FMC regulation, providing ocean shipping services to shippers, working with steamship lines and overseas agents through the international ocean trade cycle.
A typical day mixes shipper-facing work, carrier coordination, regulatory compliance, and operational coordination — booking ocean shipments for shippers, issuing house bills of lading (as NVOCC) or master bills (as forwarder), filing FMC-required documentation, coordinating with carriers and overseas agents on shipment execution. Cargo moved cleanly, FMC-compliance posture, and customer retention shape the visible measures.
What gets demanding is the FMC-regulatory dimension — OTIs operate under specific FMC licensing, bonding, and recordkeeping requirements, and the regulatory posture has to be maintained consistently. Variance across employers is real: NVOCC operations carry more direct carrier-of-cargo responsibility; ocean forwarder operations focus more on logistics coordination; combined OTI businesses run with both regulatory frameworks.
This role tends to fit folks who carry deep ocean-trade fluency, FMC-regulatory awareness, and the entrepreneurial-or-operational disposition that running an OTI requires. FMC licensing, CCS, FIATA diploma anchor the role. The trade-off is the regulatory accountability of operating under FMC licensing and the always-on character of ocean-trade operations.
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Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
Roles with similar work and overlapping career paths
View all Admin & Office roles →You operate as a licensed Ocean Transportation Intermediary — NVOCC, ocean forwarder, or both — under FMC regulation, providing ocean shipping services to shippers, working with steamship lines and overseas agents through the international ocean trade cycle.
Median pay for an Ocean Transportation Intermediary is about $50K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $37K to $76K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Reading Comprehension, Coordination, Monitoring, Critical Thinking, and Active Listening.
Most people in this role hold a bachelor's degree.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 8.5% through 2034, with roughly 97,800 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Ocean Import Agent, Ocean Export Agent, and Ocean Import Representative.
Still figuring out what you want to become
when you grow up?