Officer on the point of having a leading part in shipping (4)
I believe the answer is:
prow
'a leading part in shipping' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'officer on the point of' is the wordplay.
'officer' becomes 'pr' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'the point' becomes 'W' (W is an example).
'of' becomes 'o''.
'w' put after 'o' is 'ow'.
'pr'+'ow'='PROW'
'having' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for prow that I've seen before include "Bow of a ship" , "Pointed front part of a vessel" , "Ship's front part" , "Pointed front part of a ship" , "position of figurehead" .)