Maritime data analytics company DTN has announced the launch of a new WeatherFactor API to help freight traders improve pre-voyage planning and better anticipate voyage duration risks.
The new API provides access to multiple data sets that can be used to support a variety of voyage simulations, the company says, allowing for increased cargo bid accuracy and more reliable cost margin expectations.
“Integrated and timely insights are critical for cargo bids because weather is the biggest uncontrollable factor in the equation,” notes DTN Marine Product Manager Jarco van den Brink.
“Even incremental changes in wind or currents can have a large impact on voyage costs and over time those changes can significantly alter key assumptions about route and port conditions. We designed the WeatherFactor API to bring more timely data into consideration and give freight traders a higher level of confidence in the accuracy of their voyage cost calculations.”
“Using data science and APIs allows operators to avoid using guestimates or fixed look-up tables. It is a much more accurate and reliable way to assess voyage duration risk factors and how weather impacts the overall vessel performance during the time of year, a critical factor in calculating profitable bids.”
The cloud-based WeatherFactor API can create vessel-specific simulations for any given route using data modelling and machine learning, delivering information on voyage duration, weather impacts, fuel consumption, carbon emissions and other bid profitability indicators.
