Hi Mark,
well I guess in simple terms, if the cargo gets to it's destination on time, maximum profit goes to the cargo owner.
All delays come off the profit figure. For example, an extra day's stay in port will cost several thousand dollars. At sea, the ship costs (back when I was at sea) around 10k (pounds sterling) a day to run (all inclusive). So you can see from this that cargo owners will not want an extra minutes delay where at all possible. There would usually be some arrangement to share delay costs between vessel owner and cargo owner, - but they're still significant costs.
I'm not advocating this line of thinking - I'm just passing on approximate facts.
Interestingly, my very last ever trip to sea was not with the British company I'd worked with for years, but was with a Hong Kong based company (nice brand new ship though !) staffed by pommie Officers and South Korean crew (these guys were absolute top guys
). For getting a cargo of wheat safely and on time from Canada to Jordan, the grateful owner (a Lebanese gentleman) provided our ships captain with a very respectably sized ingot of solid gold. This was not your standard ounce - I mean a serious sized 'lump' of gold that was heavy to pick up. The skipper was totally flabbergasted as, with his old (reputable) company just like all of ours', this sort of thing just didn't happen. Still, - that didn't stop him accepting it
Cheers