10 Hidden Voyage Killers
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Small misses stack into big money. Across a 30–40 day voyage, a few hours of queueing, a missed tide, or a slow shift at the berth quietly eats 5–15% of TCE. This series spotlights the top offenders and gives you a quick way to price each one in seconds.
1 Queueing & Window Misses Hidden TCE killer
Waiting at anchor/berth or slipping a pilot/tide/canal booking window. The sting isn’t the minutes, it’s the cascade: a missed slot often adds +12–24 h (or more) to the voyage.
- Berth congestion / slow turnarounds
- Narrow tide bars & pilot windows
- Canal booking cutoffs / auction delays
- JIT arrival to hit windows precisely
- Terminal intel: live crane rates & queue
- “Plan B” routing (Canal on/off) pre-modeled
2 Weather-routing miss Time & fuel penalty
Choosing a track that rides adverse currents, heavier swell, or headwinds adds hours and lifts fuel burn. The hit shows up as extra steaming time and a higher consumption curve, even if speed through water looks “on plan.”
- Ignoring current sets (Kuroshio, Agulhas) for a shorter rhumb line
- Underweighting swell angle → slamming & added resistance
- Chasing schedule at the wrong RPM band (cube-law bite)
- Current-aware routing with “cost per nm” layers active
- Speed envelope locks (no creeping +0.5 kn)
- Sea-state limits baked into RPM set-points
3 Ops and idle cranes Port productivity hit
Small slowdowns on the berth add up. A short crane stop, a gang changeover, or a lower-than-briefed rate can push the vessel into a new tide or pilot window. That can convert minutes into a full extra day.
- Crane breakdowns or slow cycle time
- Weather hold for swell or lightning
- Paperwork waits and shift changeovers
- Live monitor of crane rate versus briefed target
- Early push on spares and gang staffing
- Standby tug and pilot coordination when windows are tight
4 Draft under-lift Parcel shortfall
When river or berth draft is tight you cannot lift the planned parcel. A 1,000 to 3,000 tonne shortfall removes margin and may force extra voyages in a program.
- Seasonal river levels and siltation
- Air draft limits that block topping off
- Conservative terminal under-keel clearance policy
- Trim and ballast plan to free extra centimetres
- Topping off at a deeper roadstead if safe and allowed
- Load plan that protects stowage factor and stability
5 Fouling drag Fuel penalty
Slime, weed and roughness add resistance. Even light growth raises fuel. Heavier biofouling can move the curve a lot. Time the clean to high sea-day legs for fast payback.
- Warm ports with long layups
- Low speed patterns that reduce wake flushing
- Delayed hull clean or missed propeller polish
- Regular underwater clean and propeller polish
- Trim and speed policy that avoids high slip at low RPM
- Biofouling management plan that targets hot spots
6 Speed creep Fuel curve bite
Drifting 0.3 to 1.0 knots above plan pushes fuel nonlinearly. If arrival brings waiting at anchor there is no schedule benefit, only extra burn. Lock the speed envelope and match ETA to the window.
- RPM set for schedule catch-up without window check
- No speed guardrails in noon report workflow
- Underestimating cube-law type fuel curves
- Set min and max speed bands tied to ETA window
- Use current and sea-state aware routing targets
- Share a single ETA with agent and terminal to avoid early arrival waits
7 Bunker off-spec and energy Effective $ per tonne up
When fuel tests low on energy content or the delivered quantity is below what you paid for, your effective $ per tonne rises. The impact is quiet but persistent over a voyage.
- Lower MJ per kg than fixture assumption
- Density variance and air entrapment at delivery
- Sludge and water content that reduce usable fuel
- Stick to witnessed sampling and prompt lab testing
- Use mass-flow meters where available
- Flag energy content in comparisons not only price
8 ROB disputes Quantity and custody risk
Quantity and custody disputes at bunkering or at redelivery turn into quiet cash leakage. A small tonnage variance plus handling and delay often clears five figures before any claim recovery.
- Non witnessed sampling or poor sealing
- Tank calibration uncertainty and temperature correction errors
- No mass flow meter and limited barge transparency
- Witnessed sampling and sealed MARPOL kits
- Mass flow meter and aligned temperature reference
- Clear ROB protocol at delivery and redelivery
9 No JIT arrival Sail fast then wait
If you arrive before the workable berth or pilot window you burn extra fuel and then sit at anchor. JIT targets the same ETA window with a lower speed so fuel falls and CII improves.
- No confirmed berth or pilot time
- Separate ETAs shared with agent and terminal
- Speed policy without guardrails
- One ETA owner with live window updates
- Speed envelope that targets the window midpoint
- Weather and current aware set points
10 Trim and ballast Hydrodynamic efficiency
Small trim errors change resistance. A few centimeters off the optimum can lift fuel burn. Ballast planning that respects stability and bending moments allows you to sit near the vessel’s sweet spot more often.
- One size fits all trim targets across speeds and drafts
- Ballast kept for convenience not for resistance
- No feedback loop from noon consumption to trim tables
- Trim curves by speed and displacement kept on the bridge
- Ballast plan that protects GM and bending moments while targeting the sweet spot
- Post voyage review of speed fuel outliers against trim set points
The items above are screening tools, not verdicts. Each calculator isolates one mechanism and shows a simple range for potential TCE impact. Use your own noon reports, port-call logs, bunker analyses, and trim tables to set realistic defaults for your fleet and routes.
When you apply these checks together you get a more accurate picture of avoidable loss. Update assumptions after each voyage, compare predicted impact with actuals, and keep the models simple enough for the bridge and the office to use without friction.
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