One taking orders on vessel selling sand to the Arabs (12)

I believe the answer is:

salesmanship

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'one taking orders on vessel selling sand to the arabs' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.

'one taking orders on vessel' is the wordplay.
'one taking orders on' becomes 'salesman' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'vessel' becomes 'ship' (ship is a kind of vessel).
'salesman'+'ship'='SALESMANSHIP'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for salesmanship that I've seen is " Talent for shifting".)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times and the Irish Times (Crosaire).

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