There are many people here who are making sweeping statements about 1 particular job not paying so well.
I am sure as you are all aware, there are no absolutes.

I’ve been in the industry as a shipbroker (vegoils, chemicals, CPP, DPP, small tankers, MRs), chartering in shipowner (product tankers, chemical parcel carriers, deepsea), charterering in trading house, refinery, producer, grower, etc etc.

14 years total experience.

There are the usual big boys in each “role”.

If you want money, shipbroker.
If you want respect, charterer.
If you want freedom, shipowner.

A tier 1 broker will earn more than a tier 3 charterer, simple fact.

As a broker, all other things being equal, the type of industry affects your salary.
The lowest to highest paid (if all things being equal, like rank, years of exp, title, etc etc)
Liner (container), chemicals, drybulk (handy/supra/pmax), small tanker petroleum, vegoils, LNG/Gas brokers, drybulk (pmax & capemax), deepsea.

As a shipowner, how well you are typically paid will depend on these few factors.
- Owned ships, pooled or com-managed? Com-managed pay the worst, followed by pools, following by actual Owners of the ships.
- Coasters, Handy and below or a bunch of LR/VLCC? The more ships in the fleet, the higher your pay can be. The larger the size of the vessels, the higher your pay can be.
- How many other chartering people are there to “share the wealth”
- Best paying to worst paying by “nationality” are : European, American, Japan-Korea, Indian, Singaporean, Malaysian, Indonesian.
So, an Indonesian shipowner with 4 x 5000dwt junk heaps will pay peanuts compared to a Danish pool owner with 50 vessels of 45-55,000tonnes each.

As for a charterer…. Too many variations for me to list.
I’ve seen salaries for chartering executives range from $3000-9000/month.
I’ve seen salaries for chartering managers range from $5000-25k/month
I’ve seen salaries for freight traders range from $8-15k/month

A broker typically has a low-moderate salary, but with a bonus that is measured in years, not months. (I normally got 2-3 years bonus at book closing)
A shipowner typically has a high salary, at the expense of little or no bonus. I got no bonus at all as a shipowner, but I was paid $12-21k/month, about $2k increment per year.
A charterer typically has a mid ranged salary, with moderate bonuses. I was paid $13k/month, but guaranteed 4 months bonus and additional profit share from my trading desk.