The ICS syllabus for its Professional Qualifying Examinations (PQE) is designed to examine students on a wide range of commercial shipping activity.

Group One
Group One papers are compulsory because they represent the fundamental underpinnings of all activity within the commercial shipping industry. Shipping Business must be taken within your first year of study:

Introduction to Shipping
Legal Principles of Shipping Business
Economics of Sea Transport & International Trade
Shipping Business (compulsory in first year)

Group Two
Group Two papers cover a wide range of practical shipping disciplines in considerable detail:

Dry Cargo Chartering
Ship Operations & Management
Ship Sale & Purchase
Tanker Chartering
Liner Trades
Port Agency
Logistics & Multi-modal Transport
Port & Terminal Management
Offshore Support Industry

Group Three
Group Three papers represent activities that support the commercial shipping industry:

Shipping Law
Marine Insurance
Shipping Finance