Port agencies

SHIPM8 for port agencies

This page sets out what SHIPM8 does for a port agency, in the order a port call runs. For an agency, it all starts with the proforma disbursement account (PDA). We set SHIPM8 up around your own process, your documents and your price lists.

The PDA

  • A request comes in, and you make the PDA. It is calculated from your own price lists, the same ones you invoice from later.
  • You send the PDA to your principal from SHIPM8. Their reply stays with the PDA.
  • The PDA fills the port call file. When the call goes ahead, you use the PDA to fill the expenses on the port call file, so the estimate is not typed in a second time.
  • The final disbursement account (FDA) is drawn up on the port call file, starting from the expenses the PDA put there.

Before the vessel arrives

  • One file per port call. It holds the call from arrival to berth to departure. Orders, messages, documents and costs all hang off it.
  • Vessel details come from the ship database, so nobody types them in.
  • The ETA and ETD update themselves from the pilot organisation, the port management systems and our own AIS processing. When an ETA moves, you get a notification and don't have to keep checking.

During the call

  • Orders go to suppliers from the file: the launch, the crane, the taxi for eight crew. The confirmation comes back to the same file, linked to the order and its purchase order.
  • Emails and attachments sit with the call. Anyone on the team can see what has been asked, confirmed and sent, without searching an inbox. SHIPM8 works with your existing mailbox, including IMAP/SMTP.
  • Tasks and task groups show what still has to happen on each call. Overdue ones show up on the dashboard next to the call they belong to.
  • Agency documents are produced from data already on the file: notice of readiness (NOR), statement of facts (SOF) and bills of lading (B/L).
  • Times are recorded on the call as the work happens, in the same place the invoice is calculated from.
  • The customer portal lets your principal see where a call stands without phoning you.

After departure

  • Late costs attach to the right call. Purchase invoices are imported and checked for duplicates. A crane invoice that turns up ten days after the vessel sailed lands on the file it belongs to.
  • The invoice and the final disbursement account (FDA) are drafted from what was recorded on the call. You do the final check.
  • Your price lists do the arithmetic. Evening and weekend rates and minimum charges are set in the price list, and so is the VAT.
  • Every invoice line can be traced. The Connected Data box shows which records and sources produced each amount, so a principal's question in November takes one click to answer.
  • Approval flows and invoice statuses are set up the way your office works. You can filter on several statuses at once.
  • Invoices go into your bookkeeping: Exact Online, Exact Globe and SnelStart. Exact Online also receives projects and purchase invoices from SHIPM8.

Across all calls

  • A dashboard and overviews of calls, orders, tasks and invoice statuses
  • Reports on your own data
  • An AIS map with vessel tracks
  • Fixed folder layouts per object type, so everyone files documents the same way
  • Roles, permissions and multi-factor authentication

Getting started

  • We configure, we don't build. Your process, documents, price lists and invoice flow are set up in the standard platform. We don't write one-off code for a single customer. That keeps the price predictable and every customer on the same version.
  • It runs in the cloud. There's nothing to install, host or upgrade, and new releases arrive without a migration project.
  • You don't need anyone else in the port to use it. SHIPM8 is your own system, not a community system.
  • Pricing is a monthly subscription per user. Most port agencies are in the 11–15 user band. Prices are on request.

Talk to us

Call +31 (0)85 44 44 538, Monday to Friday 09:00–17:00, or email sales@shipm8.nl. In a demo we take one of your own port calls from arrival through to the invoice.