English
Time Charter
A time charter is measured empty to empty. The barge is empty the moment discharge is finished, and one cycle runs from that moment on the previous voyage to the same moment on this one. DirectPort works out that cycle for every voyage billed at a daily rate. It shows what the cycle cost, how that compares to what the voyage earned, and where the time went.
You see it in three places:
- Per voyage: under the voyage's Financial tab, open the Time Charter accordion. It only appears when that side of the voyage is billed at a daily rate.
- In the voyages list: a blue TC mark next to the barge name.
- Per period: on the Voyage Insights page, the Time Charter section lists charter performance per charter, with the four-bucket split. Open a charter to see its individual cycles.
The figures on screen are worked out live from the voyage's timestamps. Nothing needs to be recalculated by hand.
What makes a voyage a time charter
One condition: on the voyage's Charter Party Terms, the Base Freight Cost type is set to Daily Rent and a rate is filled in. Transport and customer are handled separately, so a voyage can be on daily rate for one side and a lump sum for the other.
A charter contract is not required for the calculation to run, but link one where you have it. Without a contract there is nothing to check the rate against, and charters are grouped per contract in Insights. Voyages with no contract are grouped under their barge instead.
The voyage also has to be Active or Completed. Drafts and proposals carry no cycle.
Where the cycle starts and ends
The cycle ends when the cargo work on this voyage is finished. Which timestamp that is depends on the cargo:
| Cargo | Timestamp |
|---|---|
| Dry bulk | Transfer End At on the last stop's operation |
| Liquid | Documents On Board At on the last stop's operation |
When that field is empty, DirectPort works down a list rather than giving up: the other of the two fields, then the operation's End At, then the stop's ATD. The cycle is then marked as estimated and the panel says which timestamp was used instead.
The cycle starts where the previous one ended:
- The previous voyage of the same barge, whatever contract it ran under. A barge on hire keeps running whether or not the paperwork changes, so the search is not limited to one contract.
- The contract delivery date, from Actual Delivery At on the contract's vessel record. This is the start of the first cycle under a new charter.
- The first arrival on this voyage, when there is nothing else to measure from.
Options 2 and 3 mark the cycle as estimated.
Where the time went
The cycle is split into four buckets, shown as a bar with the shares underneath:
| Bucket | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Sailing loaded | On passage with cargo aboard |
| Sailing empty | On passage in ballast |
| Waiting loaded | At a berth or at anchor with cargo aboard, cargo operations included |
| Waiting empty | The same, without cargo |
Time between two stops counts as sailing. Time from a stop's ATA to its ATD counts as waiting, and that includes the loading or discharge itself. The barge counts as loaded from the moment loading is completed, which is the usual charter-party convention. Time at the load berth before that is waiting empty, and time at the discharge berth is waiting loaded.
When a stop has no arrival time, that stretch cannot be split into passage and port time. It is shown separately as Unclassified in grey rather than pushed into one of the four buckets. The shares are always measured against the whole cycle, so a bar that is mostly grey reads as one.
Cost against income
| Figure | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Hire | Net days x daily rate |
| Gasoil | The Gasoil Cost on the voyage for that side |
| Cycle cost | Hire plus gasoil |
| Income | What the voyage earns, the receivable side of its financial items |
| Margin | Income minus cycle cost |
Net days are the gross days of the cycle less any off-hire. Amounts exclude VAT, and cancelled and deleted financial items are not counted. See the Voyage Profit & Loss guide for how the receivable side is put together.
Off-hire
Off-hire comes from Vessel Schedule Events flagged as off-hire for that barge. Only the part that falls inside the cycle counts. An event that starts before the cycle or runs past its end is trimmed to the window, and an event with no end date is treated as running to the end of the cycle.
Off-hire reduces the days you pay for. It does not change the four buckets, which describe the time that actually elapsed.
Cycle status
Every cycle carries one of four states, shown as a badge on the Time Charter accordion.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Calculated | Every timestamp came from an operational field. Nothing was inferred. |
| Estimated | At least one value was inferred. The figures still post; the panel lists what was assumed. |
| Cycle running | The voyage is under way and discharge is not finished, so the cycle has no end yet. |
| Not calculated | Something is missing that no fallback can cover. The panel says what. |
Why a cycle is not exact
When a cycle is estimated or not calculated, the panel lists the reasons underneath the figures. Each reason that comes down to a missing timestamp has a date field next to it, so you can enter the value where it is named. The cycle recalculates as soon as you save.
Typical entries:
- The end of the cycle was taken from the berth departure, because the operational field is empty on the last stop.
- The barge was counted as loaded from its arrival at discharge, because loading was never closed off.
- There is no earlier voyage for this barge, so the cycle starts at the contract delivery date or at the first arrival.
- An arrival was never recorded at a named stop. Every such stop gets its own entry and its own field.
- No charter contract is linked to the voyage. This one is a note only and does not affect the figures.
Contract setup
Create the contract under Contracts and set its type to Time Charter. On the contract's Vessels tab, add the barge and set Actual Delivery At, the date the barge was handed over. That date is what the first cycle under the charter is measured from.
Link the contract on the voyage under Charter Party Terms, on the transport side, the customer side, or both, and set the daily rate there.
Charter performance across a period
Voyage Insights groups cycles per charter, meaning one contract on one barge. Each row shows the number of closed cycles, days on hire, cycle cost, income and margin, with the four-bucket split for the period. Open a row to list the individual cycles and jump to any voyage.
Cycles that are still running or not calculated are counted in the badges on the row, but they contribute nothing to the totals until they close. Their figures are shown greyed out in the expanded list.
The section follows the filters at the top of the page: period, status, operator, customers and transport providers.
Worked example
Barge on hire at EUR 2,450 per day, carrying wheat.
| Previous voyage, discharge finished | 10/06 20:00 |
| Loading Antwerp, arrival | 13/06 06:00 |
| Loading finished | 13/06 16:00 |
| Departure Antwerp | 13/06 20:00 |
| Discharge Sas van Gent, arrival | 17/06 09:00 |
| Discharge finished | 17/06 21:00 |
| Off-hire | 14/06 08:00 to 15/06 08:00 |
| Gasoil on the voyage | EUR 1,320 |
| Income on the voyage | EUR 17,000 |
The cycle runs 10/06 20:00 to 17/06 21:00.
| Step | Value |
|---|---|
| Gross days | 7.04 |
| Off-hire | 1.00 |
| Net days | 6.04 |
| Hire | 6.04 x 2,450 = EUR 14,802.08 |
| Cycle cost | 14,802.08 + 1,320 = EUR 16,122.08 |
| Margin | 17,000 − 16,122.08 = EUR 877.92 |
The time splits into sailing loaded 50%, sailing empty 31%, waiting loaded 9.5% and waiting empty 9.5%.
Where the amount ends up
The hire is written to the voyage as Total Base Freight Cost for the transport side, or Customer Total Base Freight Cost for the customer side. From there it syncs to a financial item of type transport-base-freight-time-charter or customer-base-freight-time-charter, ready for invoicing in the Financial module.
That stored amount refreshes when the operational timestamps on the voyage's last stop are updated. The figures on the voyage and Insights screens are always live.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | What to check |
|---|---|
| No Time Charter accordion on the voyage | The Base Freight Cost type is not set to Daily Rent, or no rate is filled in |
| Status is Cycle running | Normal for a voyage under way. The cycle closes when discharge is finished |
| Status is Not calculated | Read the reasons in the panel. Usually the last stop carries no end timestamp at all, there is nothing to start the cycle from, or the daily rate is still empty |
| Status is Estimated and you expected exact | The panel lists which timestamp was inferred. Enter the real one in the field next to it |
| Cycle is much longer than the voyage | Correct. The cycle includes the ballast leg and any waiting since the previous discharge |
| Large grey block on the bar | One or more stops have no arrival time. Each is listed with a field to fill in |
| Off-hire not deducted | The event is not flagged as off-hire, or it falls outside the cycle window |
| Only one side calculated | The other side is not on Daily Rent |
Chaining cycles
Cycles chain automatically from one voyage to the next on the same barge. Correcting the discharge timestamp on one voyage also moves the start of the next cycle, so both recalculate.