Maritime software company Softship has launched a web-based Port Cost Calculator, aimed at supporting carriers in maintaining accurate records and visibility of expenses at all stages during each individual port call.
“Vessels will call at many ports across the world and each port call requires a significant number of services to be provided by a large range of service providers. Multiply this by the number of vessels in an average fleet and the process quickly becomes unwieldly and error-prone,” said Thomas Wolff, Softship’s Managing Director.
“Port calls are expensive and a carrier needs to know, in advance, the anticipated cost of a call so that the overall voyage result can be accurately predicted. Carriers must also be confident that the costs they incur in port are legitimate and accurate and can be reconciled against services actually delivered for the pre-agreed tariff.”
“Our new web-based tool – which slots seamlessly into a carrier’s own internal IT environment – streamlines this time-consuming process and injects a much higher level of confidence and accuracy into the overall port cost calculations.”
A vessel’s expected port activities are pre-loaded into the software from the original port call templates, and real-time adjustments can be taken directly from vessel reports. Based on this, the Calculator will present a list of all expected charges and costs, which are then automatically applied to the overall voyage result to describe the financial performance of each voyage.
As the port call progresses, vendor invoices are also automatically reconciled and approved for payment.
The company says that the calculator can be integrated within a carrier’s existing IT systems using the Softship WebAPI (web application programming interface), with data exchanged using standard JSON or XML files.
