Demurrage has historically been an after the fact calculation done by charterers, brokers, and shipowners. These calculations are a factor of laytime used vs laytime allowed while taking into consideration any exceptions or deductions that were agreed prior to the voyage in the charter party.
How Voyager does demurrage differently
At Voyager, we don’t feel that demurrage should only be a post-voyage calculation. Why not give users the power to be proactive with the information at hand to make critical decisions?
Voyager compares specific data points from the statement of facts and other relevant documents at each load port to corresponding data from the charter party. This will tell us how many hours or the % of the total laytime that has been used at each load port.
This information alone doesn’t tell the entire story or what action should be taken. In order to make this information actionable, it needs more supporting evidence. The way Voyager does this is by utilizing historical data next to the real-time data. By taking historic data points surrounding each specific port’s congestion, seasonality, the average time to discharge, or any other relevant data, the system can make predictions surrounding the expected demurrage that that could be incurred at the upcoming discharge port(s).
How to use this information
Each situation will be different depending on the company, trade lane, cargo, and ports. There will be situations where it will be requested to speed up a vessel, ask for priority berthing, re-arrange the discharge rotation, or magnitude of other decisions. It is at the discretion of each company to determine how and when to take action with this information provided by Voyager.
If you would like to learn how Voyager can help your maritime operations, schedule a demo today!