Logistics

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Trading is a craft of logistics as much as of prices. A cargo of oil must be loaded at a terminal, carried by a chartered vessel, possibly stored in a depot, and then discharged at the buyer’s premises. A cargo of cereals passes from the silo to the port, from the port to the vessel, from the vessel to the port of destination and on to the buyer’s warehouse. Each stage requires contracts, documents, inspections, insurance and payments.

Ship chartering is a core competence. The trader charters vessels — tankers, bulk carriers, container ships — for a period or for a voyage, from shipowners, through brokers. The freight market, which is highly volatile, affects the profitability of geographical arbitrage. Geneva is home to a substantial community of charterers and shipbrokers, whom the Fondation Genève Place Financière counts among the components of the cluster.¹ Some of the large trading houses have their own fleets or holdings in shipping companies.

Storage is another competence. Oil terminals, metal warehouses approved by the exchanges, silos and cold stores allow the trader to carry out temporal arbitrage and to manage the uncertainties of deliveries. The large traders own or control storage capacity in the world’s principal ports.

Documents play an essential role. The bill of lading, issued by the carrier, attests that the goods have been taken into its charge and confers the right to claim them on arrival. It thus constitutes a document of title to the goods, which can be transferred and pledged. The inspection certificate attests quality and quantity. The certificate of origin, customs documents and insurance documents complete the file. The conformity of these documents is the condition for payment under documentary credits. Documentary fraud, which Part H will describe, exploits precisely this dependence.

Notes

Fondation Genève Place Financière, presentation, geneve-finance.ch (accessed September 2026). ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of September 2025.

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Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

Rechtsanwalt/Attorney-at-Law

I am a Swiss attorney-at-law and also admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong and in England & Wales, with almost 25 years of experience.

Together with my multilingual team, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Ukrainian and French native speakers, I advise companies and their owners from around the world on the full range of banking, corporate, commercial and tax law matters in Switzerland, including international tax planning, fiduciary services, and legal family office services including immigration & relocation or real estate investments. My practice has a particular focus on clients from growth and frontier markets in Greater China, Central Asia and the Caucasus, the rest of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, and I equally advise clients from Europe and North America. Through an affiliated Swiss trust company, we also take care of the incorporation and ongoing administration of their companies and other structures, including accounting, tax returns and corporate secretarial services, and I serve as a professional director where required. With the support of a network of first-class cooperation partners, I also implement solutions worldwide.

My approach is to act as a trusted advisor who works directly with decision-makers, on an equal footing: I start from what you want to achieve and shape every structure, contract and tax decision around your commercial goals and how it improves your after-tax return. As “lawyers who make it happen”, my team and I stay involved until your company is set up, your structure is in place and your transaction has closed, and we remain available for any follow-on work that may be required. You benefit from bespoke solutions and personal attention, and sound, friendly and practical advice. We are not the lowest-cost provider in the market, nor do we intend to be; our aim is to deliver well-founded, proper solutions and excellent value for money.

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Logistics

Notes

Setting up or expanding in Switzerland?