VesselOps - the flagship application of Softmar

VesselOps provides owners, operators and charterers with the means to manage the commercial operation of a fleet of vessels. The system deals with pre- and post-fixture activities, and is designed to integrate into client's own accounting systems to provide a comprehensive end-to-end solution.

VesselOps is a tightly integrated suite of software applications, each one optimised for a particular purpose. The applications share access to a common database to eliminate the need for re-keying data. They also share a common user interface to reduce training time.

VesselOps initially drew on the experience of its founding directors, who each had twenty years' experience of delivering shipping and vessel operations software to their customers worldwide.

Softmar has captured this wealth of experience in an entirely new suite of software applications, which has been operational with clients since the second half of 2002. These clients cover the range of dry, tanker, gas and parcel operations, in their respective roles as charterers, owners and operators.

The following text provides an overview of the functionality of each application and interface, developed and maintained by Softmar. It is a very comprehensive software suite, integrated or stand-alone, and interested parties are encouraged to contact Softmar to arrange a demonstration.

Softmar integrates to 3rd party data suppliers:

• DAdesk and S5 for disbursement accounting
• Lloyds for vessel data
• Baltic for market evaluation
• Vessels for noonday, arrival- and departure reports
• Banks for exchange rates
• Brokers for market information
• ERP and finance solutions
• Trading platforms

Search and Reporting Softmar incorporates a powerful search capability that makes it extremely simple to query the database and report on almost any data items. The system is delivered with a large number of predefined queries, and users can easily extend these with their own custom queries. Any data extracted by a query can then be exported to third party applications such as Microsoft Excel at the push of a button.
Examples of queries might include:

• Port cost by port, for a specific period and size of vessel
• Bunker liftings by supplier
• Commission paid by broker
• Business by charterer
• Freight rates by cargo / trade zone
• Analysis of off-hire by vessel per period
• Outstanding freight

Softmar deliver a number of predefined reports, which can be extended upon request. Examples include daily position lists, detailed voyage reports, and final hire statements. The Management Reports component further enhances reporting by displaying the results of pre-defined queries in real time graphs.
To develop your own reports, a Reporting Tool Kit is available and fully integrated with the powerful search engine.

Company Directory The Company Directory is designed to deliver the basic functionality needed in order to run the Softmar application requiring counterpart information such as:

• company names (short and full names)
• company type
• VAT no. and account code
• address
• bank account details
• access permissions
• contacts and contact details

Chartering

The Softmar Voyage Estimator is available as a stand-alone application, or integrated into VesselOps. The software is the main source of information for VesselOps and is used by charterers for pre-analysis before fixing business:

• optimized for dry cargo / gas / tanker / parcel operations
• handles voyages basis VC/VC, TC/VC, TC/TC
• handles consecutive voyages, voyage / TC combinations
• display all the key information on a single screen
• allows multi-combinations of ports and cargoes per voyage
• integrated with Softmar ports and distance table

Integration to the post fixture applications means that the program

• automatically extracts next open position
• computes bunker consumption based on FIFO principles
• provides a look-up against actual historical port costs

The program goes much further than a typical spreadsheet, and will:

• compute the maximum cargo lifting, subject to cubic /draft constraints
• optimize bunker lifting, taking into account cargo shut-out
• compute break-even freight rates and freight rates based on TCE
• compute reposition credits
• quickly compare voyages and vessels
• easily evaluate discharge port options
• benchmark vessels against standard trades
• fully integrated to the Softmar port, routes and distance application

Vessel Management (Head Fixtures)

Each operated vessel in the fleet is recorded once under a head fixture and holds the following information for owned and chartered-in vessels:

• charter party terms
• joint-venture partners and operating pools
• delivery / redelivery terms
• period options and rates
• payment frequency
• voyages performed
• hire charges (including index linked or flexible hire rates)
• commissions (address, internal and third party)
• owner's bunkers
• off-hire
• reminders e.g. option declarations, redelivery notices
• vessel-related documentation
• monitors outstanding
• monitors vessel performance and support speed claims
• tracks earliest / latest redelivery options, purchase options, and other date-related events

This environment manages the full calculation for hire control, including statements and reports.

Cargo Management

This application environment keeps track of:

• Cargo contracts (COA),
• Cargo Forward Bookings (FB),
• Potential Cargo Bookings (PCB).

Voyage Management

This is the heart of the post-fixture vessel operations system, where voyage results are updated in real time as new information becomes available. In order to reduce the data entry workload, the arrival and departure notices may be received directly via the Vessel Reporting System. Alternatively, the operators may use quick entry forms for entering these notices.
The system handles the recording and posting of:

• actual against estimated voyage results, with drill down functionality to examine variances
• financial data which has been transferred to the accounting system, with a variance against actual-to-date
• arrival and departure times, port and sea durations, average speed
• arrival and departure bunkers, average port and sea consumption
• bunker lifting, by grade and supplier
• bunker consumption computed according to true FIFO principles
• cargo details by charterer, including freight invoices and outstandings
• address, internal and third party commissions
• Statement of Fact data which is passed to the Laytime Calculator
• port and canal costs, with detailed breakdown where needed
• off-hire, including duration and bunkers
• miscellaneous charges, including owner's and charterer's disbursements
• invoices
• financial data to the accounts system, covering invoices, commissions, bunker purchase, disbursements, miscellaneous, owners/charterers expenses, bunker and hire allocation, and period-end (accrual / provisions data).

Laytime Calculator
The Softmar Laytime Calculator is available as a stand-alone application or integrated into VesselOps.

The Laytime Calculator takes information directly from VesselOps, including Statement of Facts and fixing terms, then computes the demurrage due or despatch payable. The result are fed back directly into VesselOps, from where they can be incorporated into a freight invoice or invoiced separately.

The program

• is optimized for dry cargo, gas or tanker operations
• provides a quick entry option for reversible laytime (tankers)
• makes it very simple to enter extra time allowed or exceptions (time not counting) by date or date range
• handles despatch terms such as working or all time saved
• handles demurrage terms such as 'once on demurrage, always on demurrage' and 'not on demurrage'
• handles pro-rata and average distribution of calculation results
• handles stepwise demurrage and despatch rates
• produces laytime statements for printing or emailing as an attachment
• handles multiple port-pairs of reversible calculations

Disbursement Account
DAdesk and S5 services are fully integrated with VesselOps and allow direct data feed of DA data.
Although it is possible to record port disbursements in VesselOps via external services, the Softmar DA application greatly simplifies the entry of disbursement accounts received from port agents, and makes it possible to control agent balances far more effectively.
Further benefits include

• reducing the amount held on agent balances by alerting operators to positive balances generated by other port calls
• paying DAs using a combination of cash and agent balances
• making a single payment to cover multiple DAs
• creating an audit trail to demonstrate how payments were allocated
• simplifying the consolidation of multi-currency agent balances by specifying a default currency by port agent
• controlling owners' and charterers' expenses more easily, and automatically incorporating these into hire or freight statements

The DA application is more than just a software application - it provides a workflow framework that not only speeds data entry but also minimises the chance of allocating expenses and payments to the wrong vessel, voyage or agent.

Claims
The claims application allows the user to follow up any claim situation with charterers or owners, be it demurrage/despatch, off-hire, performance or other types. The system is integrated with Voyage Management, so that when claim items are generated in this part of the system a claim is automatically generated. The Claims application tracks correspondence with the counterparty, and adjusts the next action date according to communication events recorded on the claim.

Distance Tables
The Softmar Distance Table is available as a stand-alone application, or integrated into VesselOps and the Voyage Estimator.
The distance table covers over 3,000 ports and several million distances. Based initially on the U.K. Admiralty Distance Tables, it has been extended and validated in use over many years.

Unique features include:

• pilot-to-pilot rather than port-to-port distances
• automatic listing of route options
• basic weather routing options for main trade routes

The ports database covers more than 3,000 ports, and can hold information on:

• identifying details (country, geographical zone, longitude, latitude, trading area)
• different terminals within the port
• water type (salt, fresh, brackish) and zone (summer, winter, tropic)
• draft, loa and beam restrictions
• port-to-pilot details (distance, time)
• alternate port names, lists of nearby ports

Clients are able to place requests for new ports and distances via e-mail. These will normally be included within twentyfour hours, and are automatically distributed via the Softmar automated data feed.

Maritime Atlas / Globe
The Softmar Maritime Atlas is available as a stand-alone application, or integrated into VesselOps.
The software replaces a conventional atlas, but with the added flexibility of looking up ports and countries at the click of a button. Features include:

• very fast zoom capability
• quick display of all ports in a zone or country
• visual display of route options between ports
• quick calculator to compute total distance, voyage duration and bunker consumption

Integration into VesselOps makes it possible to present voyage and fleet information graphically. Examples include:

• • showing current fleet positions
• • plotting noonday reports
• • displaying past and planned voyages by vessel

Vessel Reporting System
Softmar's Automated Vessel Reporting System is a highly effective means for transferring vessel reports directly into VesselOps without the need to re-key data.

• formats are provided for arrival, departure and noonday reports
• vessels can report via formatted text messages, intelligent data entry templates, or direct entry via web forms
• all messages are received via the client’s own e-mail system
• incoming reports can be processed automatically with exception reports where appropriate
• reports can alternatively be viewed and amended manually prior to entry into VesselOps

Integration to Finance

Softmar provides a seamless integration to clients' own accounting systems. Interfaces have been built to SAP, JDEdwards, Microsoft Dynamics Nav- (ex Navision). Oracle Finance , AS/400, Coda, BASSnet, Shipnet and Danaos. Softmar believes that this partnership approach towards suppliers of accounting systems will allow it to focus on what it knows best - vessel operations.

The design focus throughout has been to avoid the re-keying of data, whether between pre- and post-fixture, or between post-fixture and finance. The Voyage Management application can be seen as a Sales and Purchase application for the accounts system. Whenever statements, invoices or credit notes are generated in VesselOps, transactions are passed seamlessly to the finance package. Any changes that affect previously posted data will automatically be reversed, and new transactions generated.

VesselOps can produce period P&L reports at the push of a button, and provides a facility for monitoring changes to the P&L statement over time, with a drill down capability to explain any variances. Complex pool calculations can compute period profits in seconds.

In short, the seamless interaction between Softmar's VesselOps and the client's own accounting systems offers the best of both worlds.

Derivatives

The Derivatives application is a tool that enables traders to monitor a portfolio in real time as daily prices and forward curves are updated. It is also a back office application that allows companies to record FFA trades and follow up on the settlements for each trade. A consolidated view of long/short position and profit and loss can be presented when integrated with VesselOps.

Exposure

The Exposure Analysis Application allows exposure to be analysed for Head Fixtures, FFAs, COAs, Cargo Bookings, Cargo Relets and Fixed Available Tonnage. It also includes a consolidated view of the total exposure, market-to-market analysis and graphical presentation of the results. It displays a monthly breakdown of the total days and USD value exposure, yearly totals and grand totals for the entire exposure period selected.

Document Management

As an ‘International Premium Partner’ of Saperion, Softmar is the preferred supplier of Enterprise Content and Document Management to the Maritime industry.

Providing a ‘stand-alone’ product or fully integrated to our suite of shipping and communications software, we are able to provide you with an environment tailored to your requirements and the ability to effectively manage all documents and information efficiently.

Installation ranges from a single office to an ‘enterprise’ global solution in a multi-site environment, enabling you to easily archive and retrieve media (regardless of type) and easily amend or update content whilst controlling access and editing rights and retaining an audit trail of any changes made. Add workflow and scanning software and you can automatically check the information contained in a document against a database and depending on the result, forward to the “inbox” of a defined user for ‘action;’ Chartering to Operations to Accounts.

SoftCOM

SoftCOM is the next generation collaborative messaging solution built by Softmar specifically for the shipping industry.
The bespoke application provides a powerful, efficient and secure ‘mission-critical’ communication tool which addresses increasing message volumes and business requirements (such as E-Compliance) coupled with the Industry desire to work on accepted platforms such as Microsoft Exchange© server and Microsoft SQL Server©.

Development of SoftCOM has been steered by the requirements and expectations of the Client. The end-user will benefit’s from ease of use and seamless integration to our Shipping software and Saperion and the IT Department in terms of security, compliance, archiving, availability and support.

Lloyds

During the implementation stage, Softmar can provide clients with a full or partial selection of vessel data from Lloyds. In addition we can offer quarterly updates from Lloyds.

Baltic

Softmar has made an agreement with Baltic allowing us to do a direct daily data feed of spot rates and forward curves to be used for daily derivatives evaluation and market-to-market analysis.

Broker

Softmar’s latest development provides the complete solution to the ShipBroking community providing the perfect environment to easily retrieve and display accurate, detailed and up-to-date vessel information and commercial data.

A complete suite of software including specialist applications for Tank, Dry, S&P, FFA, Bunkers and Research built on a rugged platform and allowing ease of navigation to each or all areas (depending on access permissions) and closely integrated to our new Messaging Solution providing an unrivalled ‘trading platform’ for the professional.

Providing software solution to Brokers and Principals, Softmar offer the direct data link between counter parties and fulfil the vision of providing fully integrated software solutions to the maritime industry with one point of entry.