Introduction

Voyage management is a complex topic which spans every division within a shipping company. From shipowners to contractors, a voyage plan requires ongoing and dedicated commitment from all stakeholders to ensure operations run smoothly. However, with such a complex task, errors are naturally made. Miscommunications between team members when changes to the original voyage plan occur can have a domino effect on the rest of the vessel’s operations and, in some cases, the whole fleet. 

To make ship operations more efficient, companies have developed Voyage Management Systems (VMS).  These programs are designed to incorporate all the tasks and demands that operators must deal with and consolidate them into one application. The aim of this is to have a workspace accessible to all employees, to allow them to have access to a ship’s voyage, giving the user real-time information. In addition, it is a platform where all employees can make adjustments and communicate with one another, meaning there is less of a chance of changes going unnoticed. 

Most VMS share the same basic principles. In addition, each program offers different and unique features, thus allowing a company to select the right VMS for their company, depending on their needs. VMS is about bringing each disparate activity associated with voyage planning and execution onto a single platform.

Here we unpack the expansive and difficult-to-define world of digital voyage management systems and ask, how are these systems changing the way operators think about voyage management?

What is Voyage Management?

Voyage planning is sometimes conflated with a ‘passage/route plan’,  describing a ship’s navigational route from berth to berth. However, much more goes into planning a voyage than just a passage plan. Port rotation, cargo plans, bunker schedules, planned maintenance and crew changes are other vital factors that must be considered when planning and coordinating those interdependent schedules as a complex communications task. 

When planning a ship’s voyage, many processes revolve in the background. For example, a vessel’s voyage plan will likely start when it receives an order to go to a specific port for the loading/unloading of cargoes. However, things do not always go to plan, with events occurring that will affect the voyage plan meaning all other processes will need to be adjusted. For example, when a ship is delayed or obliged to divert from its intended route for whatever reason, this will have an obvious impact on port rotations, berthing times, pilot and tug bookings, and very likely the commercial aspects of the voyage.  When this occurs, all other operations must be adjusted to fit into the new planned schedule and perhaps involve many different stakeholders in the process. 

Whenever a vessel needs to be rerouted, the ship’s passage plan will need to be amended in accordance with the latest schedule. In addition, considerations need to be made regarding weather conditions and the potential for bad weather along the new route. Weather routing techniques identify routes that have minimal impact on the ship’s operations, speed, and fuel consumption. These can influence the arrival time, port rotations and bunkering plan when changes to bunkering operations occur. Whether its timings that need to be rescheduled or the port location changes, the amendments must be corrected on the voyage plan. 

Port congestion or pilot delays are also factors that need to be considered. It is often the port agent who ensures pilotage is booked upon arrival. Ship’s officers are responsible for supplying their agents with all relevant paperwork such as cargo manifests, stowage plans, crew lists, port calls, etc. This can lead to changes in the availability of port services and a suitable berth. 

Crew management is an essential component of voyage planning as the long-term crew schedules determine crew changes during the voyage. On most deep sea vessels, crew members’ contracts are usually + or – 1 month. This allows crew changes to be amended as per the ship’s schedule, should it change. 

The last point of consideration is to do with any planned maintenance needed around the voyage. This may mean ordering spare parts or needing external assistance from maintenance services. 

Shipowners, operators, and charters must work closely together to ensure the proficiency of the passage plan. There may be instances where the charter would need short-term changes to be made to the ship’s passage plan. Depending on the type of charter party agreement, it could fall to the ship owner to ensure that the required changes can be planned into the shipping schedule. 

With all the different aspects of planning a voyage, it is a complex task, strategically and operationally. It involves multiple stakeholders coming together to make the plan happen, and miscommunication and overlapping within this dynamic ecosystem can occur.

What are Voyage Management Systems?

Today, the maritime industry is becoming more digitalised, with more technical resources being developed for all facets of the industry. However, technical, cargo and manning departments for shipboard operations tend to act as independent units, sending direct updates to the ship. This can often result in communications across all departments falling into separate threads and data structures, which may lead to errors and misunderstandings. 

To prevent miscommunications and errors from happening in the future, companies are developing programs that digitalise the voyage management system, designed to be a workspace used by all members involved with the vessel’s operations. There is not a one size fits all approach to VMS, with some offering different functions than others. However, their purpose is to improve operational efficiency whilst helping the user to adhere to global safety and environmental standards. 

In order to fully comprehend the advantages of a VMS, it is helpful to look at the features different companies have to offer. Here, we take a look at a handful of market-ready options.

NAPA

NAPA Voyage Optimization is part of a wider set of tools offered under its Fleet Intelligence platform. It is an easy to use solution for improving a vessel’s performance and efficiency by optimising route and speed profiles for given voyage. Their system offers the following;

Routing 

• Port to Port connections
• Under Keel Clearance (UKC) requirements and vessels draft based upon the vessels intended route
• Depending on the size of the vessel, it will disable any channels which restrict the vessel
• Routes are optimised on open sea areas while respecting predefined fairways and traffic separation schemes.

Planning

• Users can view the vessels position 
• Access port search facilities 
• Open or save plan or import/export to other formats such as ECDIS
• Speed requirements for routing
• Alternative route options for daily profit maximisation and cost reduction
• Channel restrictions for proposed routes
• Any expected delays taken into account for ETA

Alternatives

• Shows user shorter and alternative routes
• Key performance indicators are shown in an easy comparable way
• Compare different routes or the same route with different schedules
• Shoes the effect of cost for the intended or alternative voyages 
• Share or save the route to use at a later date

Map and Weather Information

• Displays all relevant weather information to the parameters covered for the intended voyage
• Map layers showing the user relevant information such as Emission Control Areas or Piracy Risk Areas 
• Global disruption occurring due to weather 
• Weather information can be shown for any intended voyage 
• Climatology database will be used beyond reliable forecast span
• Tropical storm forecast
• All weather information validated by the weather service provider

MariApps

MariApps VMS utilises the standard daily reports based on metocean data, hydrodynamics, and real-time energy efficiency data from a vessel to generate comprehensive reports and valuable insights about central systems such as hull, propulsion, electric power, fuel consumption, and operations. The company’s aim for this is to improve situational awareness and reduce human error. Some of the main features offered by MariApps include;

• Fleet-wide voyage schedules are accessible to those with access to the system and the port planning for each vessel. 
• A daily log of the vessel’s reporting 
• Cargo and fuel management
• Cross-functional data analysis
• Performance analysis based on speed, consumption, RPM, power, and slip-through log reporting
• Vessels position tracking
• MRV and IMO compliant 
• Graphical overview for quick analysis
• Effective compliance solutions for a variety of regulatory and environmental regulations
• Monitor vessel’s performance to allow ship owners to improve fleet performance and reduced operating costs

Q88

Owned by Veson, Q88 offers a cloud-based system that supports charting and voyage operations to improve communications and data management for shipping fleets. In addition, the company focuses on the needs of charterers. Some features of the VSM include:

• Evaluation of cargos
• Track tonnage supply trends and competitors
• Quote of competitive rates at a quick glance 
• Voyage monitoring 
• Exportation of finances to an accounting system.

The company claims its combination of features is unique to the market, providing leading technology to ensure its customers migrate from inefficient legacy applications and manual practices to modernise and achieve a digital transformation for the core business. Not only does the programme focus on finances and cost effectiveness, but the commercial management platform features also allow the users to focus on:

• Chartering – quoting future voyages quickly and with complete visibility of all factors which impact profitability
• Operations – shows the user operational tools which will help them to monitor and enhance voyage performance within an intuitive interface. 
• Accounting – tracks all invoices, balances and part-payments.
• Collaboration – improves communications between charting and operation teams, by sharing all relevant information on a single platform. This allows team members to discuss details of the voyage and identify potential issues. It also allows all parties to keep up to date with details of the voyage.

Dataloy

Dataloy VMS is a powerful combination of intuitiveness, collaboration and efficiency to provide greater flexibility to amplify business intelligence and performance. The system aims to incorporate the best practices to ensure stakeholders’ operations, planning and financial demands are satisfied. Their system supports end-to-end voyage management and handles complex calculations, allowing users to make informed real-time decisions. The application programme interface (API) offers the user an immersive experience which is designed to help break digital silos and avoid inconsistencies, allowing for optimal decision making and reducing the possibility of human error. The platform can be broken down into four parts;

Opportunities; 

• Quickly accessing critical information allows the user to manage the fleet’s operational vessels from end to end, from planning to financial closing. All relevant information shall be stored in the system to allow for the best decision regarding charting, operations and finances. 
• Communications – users can collaborate regarding voyage, port calls, cargo and transactions. All co-workers shall have access to this information instantly via web links. In addition, they can receive email alerts to inform them of any changes to the voyage as it happens. 

Decide

• Vessel tracking – real time information is provided for the positions of each vessel within the fleet. 
• Entry for cargo opportunities – users can categorise, filter, view and edit open cargo.
• Combine vessels and cargo in voyage estimates – the chartering features in VMS enable users to nominate voyages, compare voyage estimates and vessel scenarios and answer critical chartering questions about vessel capacity, fuel consumption, port costs and profitability.

Execute

• Complete overview – the intelligent communications feature alerts users to relevant events as they happen, which results in workers maximising on-time deliveries and reducing transportation costs. 

• Vessel tracking whilst at sea or in port – users can review upcoming port calls and receive arrival and departure information with updates on the profits and losses of the voyage. 

• Bunker and service orders – manage bunker orders with other port suppliers and maintenance companies while the vessel is alongside.

Invoice, reconcile and control 

• Invoice – users can invoice any receivable items automatically through the VMS, which is automatically transferred to the company’s financial system.

• Track incoming invoices – the VMS allows users to attach original documents and approve them, which can then be transferred to the company’s financial system.

ClearVoyage

ClearVoyage VMS helps with the chartering, operation and financing of a voyage. The features included with ClearVoyages VSM include;

• Fleet list – to track each vessel in the fleet
• Commercial Centre – to handle cargos, contracts and estimates 
• Voyage Centre – to plan operations and voyage accounting 
• Contact Book – to keep in contact with all those related to the voyage
• Voyage performance dashboards – to show an instant overview of key performance indicators
• CO2 Dashboard – to monitor and document the vessel’s environmental performances

Overall, depending on the desired demands from the company, there is a magnitude of VMS available for companies to choose from. Each VMS is designed to take away the complications of voyage management to ensure that the workflow runs smoothly and efficiently and reduces the chances of human error and miscommunication.

How are Voyage Management Systems being used today?

There is undoubtedly a market for voyage management systems, with more exposure being made to them now than ever before. Bill Dobie, founder and CEO of Senda Systems (Q88), told VPO;

“What we see in shipping and logistics businesses is a small set of information that needs to be relayed in real-time. But the set of tools that companies are given to do this, such as emails, often have to be reorganised or connected to another system, and what the companies end up with is a big cloud of noise sitting on top of them.”

As a result, data is stored in different systems, leading to companies working in silos. Q88 reported back in 2016 that VMS systems are now used by 75% of the tanker industry as a means of preventing miscommunications. 

One company that has adopted VMS onboard their vessels is a company called Sokana. The company, which once started with just two vessels in its fleet, now operates 48 vessels, experiencing rapid growth within just one and a half years. 

In order to implement a working structure to maintain the fleets’ busy schedules and accommodate the company’s expansion, Sokana partnered with Q88 in 2020, using their VMS. Q88 reports that since the company has been using their VMS, they have seen significant improvements to operational workflow. The Senior Operator of Sokana, Alex Schulten told Q88;

“Generally speaking, the information one can receive from a Commercial Management System is relatively the same, but in my personal experience, there is a noticeable difference in how we are able to manage vessels on Q88VMS; Q88 provides answers in less time, requiring less amounts of work. It’s also an intuitive and supportive platform, enabling us to shape voyages any way we need (chemical tankers with 10 parcels for example) with the confidence in knowing the system will be flexible and adaptive to our existing workflows and any new ones that arise. As a result, Q88VMS is uniquely customizable.”

VMS has taken over the tanker industry, with hundreds of companies currently using them. With this popularity, other industry sectors have also begun incorporating them into their working system. The concept can be adapted and used for any type of vessel and the working principle of a VMS can only be considered beneficial to most shipping companies. 

However, in recent years the industry has become focused on improving its carbon footprint, and many operators building their VMS have emphasised the importance of trying to incorporate this into their programs too. 

An article by Taylor and Francis explains that shipowners and operators need to trust data-driven decisions and understand the importance of digital technology and its potential to address carbon emissions.

 ZeroNorth is one of a growing number of companies supporting decarbonisation in the maritime industry by identifying common touch points within the industry to help improve vessel emissions. The company is working to develop data quality references for fuel performance monitoring. 

Q88 have developed its VMS to address decarbonisation too. They aim to have their program feature fuel and emissions data on the screen to give the user direct access to this information in real time, meaning a company can create a custom plan to reduce CO2 emissions. With this information available, some might question whether this type of program will become mandatory on all vessels to help with the decarbonisation of the industry.

Conclusion

Although the popularity of voyage management software has been gathering pace for a number of years, they have yet to be fully embedded within maritime operations. However, VMS has the potential to be incorporated on any type of vessel within the industry and it is clear that they are gaining in popularity across the board.

Today, shipowners and operators are facing more challenges than ever, with a changing workforce, a need to keep up to date with the evolving regulatory environment, upkeep on the economic performances of vessels, and the demands of operating a fleet. A technical program incorporating all of these needs makes the ocean supply chain more efficient. 

Outside of the few that we have highlighted here, there are many VMS-related options available for operators to choose from, each one with a different set of features that make them unique. Depending on the user’s critical needs, they can choose a program that works best for them and it is likely that many operators have developed iterations of voyage management systems in-house, perhaps without considering them as such. 

Digitalising and centralising voyage management reduces ambiguity and allows all users to access direct information about the activities of each ship in the vessel. 

In addition, mishaps which occur as a result of miscommunication are minimised as stakeholders operating from different departments can reschedule and plan in real-time, ensuring smooth operations from the beginning to the end of each voyage. Furthermore, users are able to deal with accounting, cargo, bunkering and maintenance, with information displayed in clear graphical form, allowing them to make informed decisions quickly and efficiently.