Demo OceanBridge: shipping-line operations day

Demo OceanBridge operates container vessels between Jebel Ali, Mombasa, Colombo, and Rotterdam. It sells freight capacity in USD and EUR, pays port agents and bunker suppliers, tracks containers and equipment, invoices detention and demurrage, and reconciles voyage profitability. OSERP connects voyage, vessel, port call, booking, bill of lading, container events, freight, accessorials, agents, claims, and finance.

1. Create vessels, voyages, and port calls

The vessel master stores IMO number, flag, owner, charter status, capacity, deadweight, class certificate, insurance, fuel type, and active dates. Voyage headers record vessel, voyage number, service loop, origin, destination, departure/arrival windows, currency, voyage manager, and status. Port-call lines store port, berth, ETA/ETD, agent, terminal, pilot, tug, crane, and port-cost estimate.

Field	Demo value	Impact
Vessel	MV OceanBridge Atlas	Asset and voyage key
IMO	9876543	Regulatory identity
Voyage	OB-2609-07	Revenue and cost container
Service loop	Jebel Ali–Mombasa–Rotterdam	Routing and margin
Capacity	8,400 TEU	Booking availability
Freight currency	USD	Contract and settlement
Bunker basis	VLSFO per tonne	Voyage cost
Port agent	Meridian Marine LLC	Payable and disbursement
Class certificate	Valid to 2027-04-30	Dispatch control

A voyage cannot depart while a mandatory class, insurance, crew, or port-clearance document is expired. A port-call change versions ETA/ETD and retains the original plan.

2. Accept bookings and rate freight

Booking headers record shipper, consignee, notify party, origin, destination, commodity, container type, weight, volume, dangerous-goods class, reefer temperature, Incoterm, currency, payment terms, and cut-off. Lines record container count, size, equipment owner, base freight, bunker adjustment, security, terminal, documentation, and other charges.

Al Noor Foods books 20 forty-foot reefers from Jebel Ali to Rotterdam at USD 2,850 each. The quote adds bunker adjustment USD 420, security USD 55, and documentation USD 35 per container. OSERP validates vessel capacity, reefer plugs, dangerous-goods restrictions, credit limit, and cut-off before confirmation.

3. Issue bills of lading and control cargo events

The bill-of-lading header records number, booking, shipper, consignee, notify party, vessel, voyage, ports, freight prepaid/collect, issue date, original count, and release status. Cargo lines record container, seal, package, gross/net weight, marks, commodity, and temperature range. A release is blocked when payment, original-document, or dangerous-goods conditions are incomplete.

Container events store equipment number, event code, location, timestamp, source terminal, seal, condition, and exception. Duplicate EDI events are rejected by source message ID. A damaged reefer records temperature excursion, sensor evidence, surveyor, claim, and customer communication.

4. Invoice freight, accessorials, and demurrage

The invoice header records customer, booking or bill of lading, service period, currency, tax, due date, contract, and branch. Lines record container, charge code, quantity, rate, discount, exchange rate, and revenue account. A detention or demurrage line stores free days, actual days, tariff version, notice, and approval.

Five containers return 9 days late after 7 free days at USD 110 per day: 5 × 2 × USD 110 = USD 1,100. A tariff amendment references effective date and customer notice. Credits reference original invoice and cause; they never rewrite container history.

5. Pay port agents, terminals, and bunker suppliers

Agent disbursement accounts record port call, estimate, currency, services, advance, final statement, supporting invoice, approval, and variance. Terminal invoices link container moves, storage, reefer plugs, inspections, and gate events. Bunker purchases store vessel, port, grade, quantity, density, price, supplier, delivery certificate, and meter reading.

The voyage budget compares port costs, bunker, canal, crew, charter hire, insurance, agency, cargo claims, and revenue by container and leg. An unexplained agent variance requires a reason and approval; it cannot be buried in voyage overhead.

6. Manage equipment, repairs, and claims

Container records store equipment number, owner, size, tare, location, status, CSC plate expiry, inspection, and repair history. A repair work order records depot, damage code, parts, labour, estimate, photos, approval, and return-to-service. A lost or damaged container creates an asset or claim event with responsible party and recovery status.

Cargo claims record bill of lading, claimant, incident, commodity, amount, currency, survey, insurer, reserve, deductible, correspondence, and settlement. Reserve changes are approved and journalled; settled claims retain the original evidence and payment.

7. Multi-currency voyage accounting

Freight may be USD, European customers EUR, port costs AED, and bunker invoices USD. Each booking, invoice, receipt, agent statement, and supplier bill stores transaction rate, source, timestamp, realised FX, and revaluation status. Voyage profitability reports document currency, local currency, and group currency separately.

Revenue recognition follows service completion or configured shipment milestone. Accrued port and bunker costs are reversed or matched when final statements arrive. A voyage close cannot post while a bill of lading is unreleased, a container event is unresolved, or an agent advance is unapplied.

8. Close and report voyage performance

Close reconciles bookings to bills of lading, bills to invoices, containers to terminal events, freight receipts to bank, port-call costs to agent statements, bunker to delivery certificates, demurrage to free-day calculations, claims to reserves, equipment to depot, tax, FX, and GL. Dashboards show TEU utilisation, yield per TEU, on-time departure, reefer excursions, demurrage recovery, bunker consumption, port variance, and contribution by leg.

KPI	Before OSERP discipline	After OSERP discipline	Improvement
Booking-to-invoice accuracy	92.7%	99.4%	+6.7 points
Demurrage recovery	64%	91%	+27 points
Agent-statement cycle	21 days	7 days	67% faster
Reefer exception response	9 hours	2 hours	78% faster
Voyage close	18 days	6 days	67% faster

Practice challenge

Create a vessel and voyage, add port calls, rate a reefer booking, issue a bill of lading, process EDI events, calculate demurrage, approve an agent disbursement, receive bunker fuel, raise a damaged-cargo claim, invoice freight in USD, settle an EUR customer, revalue AED port costs, and close the voyage. Explain every field, status, formula, permission, journal, tax result, API identifier, exception, and audit event.

Related: Sales Order field guide, AR Invoice field guide, Inventory field guide, Multi-currency operations, and API cookbook.