Release Notes: What’s New in the New Year

The Veson IMOS Platform (VIP), Veson Nautical’s end-to-end software platform for commercial marine freight and fleet management, is constantly evolving. With an average of 500 new features added to VIP every year, our clients are empowered with the tools they need to do their jobs efficiently and make data-driven decisions.

In the Help Center, Veson Nautical’s Release Notes and summaries of What’s New? provide continuous updates on new features and enhancements, keeping you up to date on all the ways that VIP is evolving to meet industry needs. To learn more, you can also read full documentation, including video tutorials.

New in the Chartering Module

Improved Navigation in the Estimate P&L

For charterers to fix the most cost-effective business, they must be able to create and try out potential voyage scenarios to find the most profitable option. The Estimates workspace allows you to do just that, calculating estimated P&L based on detailed information about voyage revenue and expenses, bunkers, and cargo.

When adding and making changes to voyage details, the TCE (Time Charter Equivalent) and expenses are automatically updated in the Estimate P&L to help easily determine the best voyage scenario.

New and simplified links have been added in the Estimate P&L panel to make it easier to navigate. Field labels such as “Misc. Revenue,” “Bunkers,” “Port Expenses,” and “Misc. Expenses” are now links to the relevant forms, on which you can manage each component of the P&L in more detail. When Deviation TCE is enabled, the “Deviation TCE” label also links to Deviation TCE details.

Automated Updates to Contract L/D Rates

When you need to set up a contract agreement to move a certain amount of cargo over a period of time, you can use a COA, or Contract of Affreightment. A COA is like an umbrella contract that might include several different cargoes and several different load and discharge ports, each with its own terms and costs.

Since L/D (loading and discharge) rates have a direct impact on the risk of incurring demurrage, they are important to track carefully. To better maintain visibility of L/D rates from pre-fixture to post-fixture, the L/D Rates that are populated on a COA’s itinerary will now copy to a linked lifting’s itinerary when the COA is added to the lifting.

New in the Trading Module

Updated Trading Profile Option: Show Cargo/VC In Weighted Days as Voyage Days

Within the Trading module, you can create different Trading Profiles, each with different options, specific settings of TC Exposure, and adjustments of Mark-To-Market values. Several configurations are available as check boxes on the right side of the form; you can hover over a check box label to see a description of what it does:

When the “Show Cargo/VC In Weighted Days as Voyage Days” check box is selected for a Trading Profile, the Weighted Days column adjusts depending on the contract(s):

• For cargo contracts that utilize the Benchmark Estimate exposure method and are scheduled onto a voyage, the Weighted Days column reflects the voyage days from the associated voyage instead of the Weighted Days.
• When multiple contracts are scheduled on one voyage, the Weighted Days column for each contract displays the Total Voyage Days / Number of Cargoes on the voyage. For example, if there are 3 cargoes on a 21 day voyage each cargo will show 7 days in the Weighted Days field.

In addition to the existing check box functionality, the start date will now reflect the Commencement Date of the voyage instead of the Cargo Laycan when “Show Cargo/VC In Weighted Days as Voyage Days” is selected.

Create Paper Trades against Calculated Routes

Within the Trading module, you can access FFA, Bunker, or Commodity trades, which are each valued in a different way.  FFA contracts are valued against the quoted forward rates for the route underlying the trade, Bunker Swap contracts for the bunker symbol underlying the trade, and Commodity contracts for the route underlying the trade.

With proper configuration, you can now select Trade Routes and symbols marked as “Calculated” when creating FFA, Bunker, and Commodity trades. This allows you to easily create paper trades against routes that have already been calculated in the system.

New in Trading Workflows

Display Trade Commission Settlement on the Voyage P&L
Requires the Trading module

Within the Financials module, you can quickly and easily create Trade Commission Settlement invoices for one or more trades per Broker. The information contained in the Trade Commission Settlement itself, which lives in the Trading module, automatically flows through to the Financials module to streamline the invoicing process.

On a Trade Commission Settlement, you can now enter a specific “Vessel” and “Voyage No.” so that the amount appears on the corresponding Voyage P&L. In this case, Trade Commission Settlement details flow seamlessly between the Trading, Operations, and Financials modules, providing visibility for all three teams:

Only in the Veson IMOS Platform

Manage Voyage Reporting Module Rights from the Security List
Requires Veslink Voyage Reporting

At Veson Nautical, we take your security very seriously. Security within the system is designed to protect data and prevent unauthorized access to the VIP environment used by your organization. It also enables VIP Administrators to manage all user rights on the system by assigning rights to perform the functions related to each module and object.

To make managing user rights easier, you can now manage Voyage Reporting rights for users and groups from a unified list of Module Rights in the Security List. If you prefer, you can still manage access from the separate Voyage Reporting Security workspace, in the Operations module.