Extended Operational and Trade Vocabulary
Voyage Optimization and Vessel Performance Software glossary
The performance-software vocabulary: situational-awareness and docking aids (Marine Pilot Vision), engine diagnostics (Tekomar XPERT), motion and fatigue monitoring (Octopus), and the risk-and-performance dashboards. Grounds each term in the named software product and the optimization or monitoring function it performs.
146 defined terms.
A
- ABB Ability Marine Pilot Vision
- A situational awareness product from ABB Marine and Ports providing 3D augmented visualization of vessel surroundings to support navigation and docking decisions.
- ABB Ability Tekomar XPERT Marine
- An engine performance diagnostic and benchmarking service from ABB Turbocharging that analyzes marine engine and turbocharger data to identify efficiency losses.
- ABB Octopus Marine
- A vessel motion monitoring and decision support system from ABB that measures ship motions, accelerations, and fatigue loads to assist masters in heavy weather.
- ABS My Digital Fleet
- American Bureau of Shipping fleet performance and emissions reporting platform.
- ABS Nautical Systems NS5
- A fleet management software suite, originally from Nautical Systems and now part of ABS, covering maintenance, procurement, safety, crewing, and dry dock modules.
- AER (Annual Efficiency Ratio)
- Carbon intensity metric used in early shipping efficiency reporting.
- Applied Weather Technology (AWT)
- A historical weather routing service provider whose Bon Voyage System product was later acquired by Sperry Marine and then sold on through subsequent owners.
- Arrival Window Contracting
- A commercial practice in which charter parties stipulate a defined arrival window at the discharge port to enable just-in-time steaming and reduce fuel consumption.
- Asbatankvoy Speed Warranty
- A speed and consumption performance clause within the Asbatankvoy voyage charter party form used as the basis for tanker underperformance claims.
- Awesense
- A data analytics company providing energy intelligence software, occasionally cited in maritime contexts for energy data integration.
B
- Baseline Speed Warranty
- A contractual reference speed and consumption profile, typically in good weather conditions, against which actual voyage performance is compared.
- BASS (BASSnet)
- A fleet management software suite by BASS covering technical management, procurement, HSEQ, crewing, payroll, and accounting for ship managers and owners.
- Beaufort Force Exclusion
- The contractual practice of excluding voyage time from performance assessment when wind force exceeds a defined Beaufort scale threshold, commonly Beaufort 4 or 5.
- Bon Voyage System (BVS)
- A long established PC based weather routing and voyage optimization product, currently offered by StormGeo following multiple changes of ownership.
- Bunker Optimization
- The process of selecting bunker stem ports, quantities, and grades across a voyage or schedule to minimize total fuel cost while meeting operational constraints.
- Bunkernet
- A bunker procurement and management platform supporting price discovery, nomination, and reconciliation for marine fuels.
- Bureau Veritas Veristar Hull
- A classification software module from Bureau Veritas supporting hull condition monitoring, thickness measurements, and survey planning.
- Bureau Veritas Veristar Info
- A fleet information platform from Bureau Veritas providing class status, certificates, and regulatory data for vessels in its register.
C
- Calm Water Resistance
- The hydrodynamic resistance of a hull moving through still water, typically decomposed into frictional, wave making, and viscous pressure components.
- Charter Party Speed Warranty
- A contractual provision under which the owner warrants a stated service speed at a stated daily fuel consumption in defined weather conditions.
- CII (Carbon Intensity Indicator)
- IMO operational efficiency rating influenced by fuel type and consumption.
- CII Rating Tool
- A software application that calculates a ship's required and attained CII, projects its annual rating, and supports SEEMP Part III planning.
- ClassNK MRV Portal
- A reporting tool from Nippon Kaiji Kyokai supporting submission of EU MRV and IMO DCS fuel and emissions data.
- Composite great circle
- Track combining great-circle and limiting-latitude rhumb-line segments.
- Correlation Allowance
- An empirical roughness allowance added to model test predictions to reconcile model and full scale ship resistance, codified in the ITTC 1957 procedure.
- Cost of Slow Steaming
- The trade off analysis between fuel savings from reduced speed and added vessel and cargo time costs, used to determine an economic optimum speed.
D
- DataLastic
- A maritime data provider offering AIS, vessel particulars, and port call APIs used by analytics and routing applications.
- DCS (Data Collection System)
- The IMO regulation requiring ships above 5,000 gross tonnage to report annual fuel oil consumption and related data to the Organization through their flag.
- DNV ECO Insight
- Det Norske Veritas fleet performance management portal covering fuel and emissions reporting.
- DNV Veracity
- An industry data platform from DNV that hosts performance, compliance, and analytics applications with controlled data sharing between owners and third parties.
- DTN Maritime
- The maritime weather routing and forecasting business that combines former MeteoGroup, SPOS, and Meteorlogix product lines under the DTN brand.
- Dynamic Trim Optimization
- A continuous process of computing and recommending the optimum trim for current speed, draft, and conditions to minimize hull resistance.
E
- EEDI (Energy Efficiency Design Index)
- Mandatory IMO design efficiency metric for new ships.
- EEOI (Energy Efficiency Operational Indicator)
- Voluntary IMO operational efficiency metric.
- EEXI (Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index)
- IMO design efficiency metric for existing ships.
- EEXI Calculation Tool
- A software application that computes the attained and required EEXI, models power limitation devices, and prepares the technical file for verification.
- Energy Solutions Onboard Carbon Toolkit
- A shipboard energy and carbon management toolkit used to support SEEMP, CII, and EU ETS reporting workflows.
- Eniram Trim
- A trim optimization product originally developed by Eniram and continued under Wartsila ownership, using sensor data to recommend optimal trim in real time.
- Eshipping Solutions
- A maritime software vendor providing fleet management, performance, and reporting applications.
- EU ETS for Shipping
- Extension of the EU emissions trading system to maritime CO2 emissions from 2024.
- EU MRV
- EU Regulation 2015/757 on monitoring, reporting, and verification of CO2 emissions from shipping.
F
- Fleet Operations Solution (FOS)
- A Wartsila Voyage product suite providing voyage planning, weather routing, fleet performance, and compliance reporting.
- FORCE Technology SeaTrim
- A trim optimization service from FORCE Technology based on CFD derived trim tables tailored to a specific vessel.
- FuelOpt
- A power and propulsion optimization product from Lean Marine that automatically adjusts thrust to maintain set targets while minimizing fuel consumption.
- FuelTrax
- An electronic fuel management system providing automated bunker measurement, reconciliation, and reporting for marine vessels.
- Furuno PathFinder
- A weather routing and voyage optimization solution offered by Furuno using forecast data integrated with bridge navigation systems.
G
- Geollect
- A geospatial intelligence company providing maritime risk and analytics services using vessel tracking and contextual data.
- GHG Service (Lloyd's Register)
- A greenhouse gas accounting service from Lloyd's Register supporting verification of fuel use and emissions for regulatory and voluntary frameworks.
- GMDSS Weather Information
- Maritime safety information including weather forecasts and warnings broadcast under the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System.
- GreenSteam
- A vessel performance analytics provider offering machine learning models for fuel and hull and propeller performance, acquired by DNV.
- Greenwave
- A maritime technology firm offering performance, emissions, and compliance solutions.
H
- Holtrop and Mennen Method
- An empirical resistance and propulsion prediction method widely used for preliminary estimation of calm water resistance and required power.
- Hoppe Marine HoppEnergy
- An energy efficiency monitoring system from Hoppe Marine integrating shaft power, fuel flow, and operational data for performance analysis.
- Hot Wire Fuel Flow Meter
- A thermal mass flow measurement technology used for high accuracy bunker and fuel consumption monitoring on marine engines.
- Hull and Propeller Performance Monitoring
- The process of assessing and tracking the additional resistance and power required by a vessel due to hull fouling and propeller roughness over time.
- Hull Performance Index
- A normalized indicator of hull condition derived from speed, power, and environmental corrections, typically aligned with the ISO 19030 method.
I
- IMOS (Integrated Maritime Operations System)
- A commercial and operational platform from Veson Nautical covering chartering, operations, financials, and demurrage for shipping companies.
- INFORM SyncroTESS
- A real-time optimization software product by INFORM GmbH used for equipment dispatch in container, intermodal, and bulk terminals.
- Inmarsat Fleet Data
- An Internet of Things gateway service from Inmarsat that aggregates onboard data and delivers it via satellite to shoreside analytics applications.
- ISO 19030
- Hull and propeller performance measurement.
- ITTC 1957 friction line
- Standard skin-friction line used in ITTC powering predictions, the framework within which propeller open-water data are scaled.
- ITTC Quality System Manual
- A set of recommended procedures and guidelines published by the International Towing Tank Conference covering testing, analysis, and reporting practices.
J
- JIT Contract Clauses
- Charter party clauses that explicitly enable speed instructions targeting a specified arrival time, allocating fuel savings and demurrage risk between parties.
- Just in Time Arrival (JIT)
- An operational practice in which a ship's speed and departure are coordinated with port readiness to arrive precisely when a berth or pilot is available.
K
- Kyma Performance Monitor
- A vessel performance monitoring system from Kyma capturing shaft power, fuel, speed, and environmental data for efficiency analysis.
- Kyma Shaft Power Meter
- A torsion based shaft power measurement instrument from Kyma used as the primary input for performance and ISO 19030 analysis.
L
- Lean Marine FuelOpt
- A propulsion control system that automatically modulates power to maintain a target speed, fuel rate, or thrust set point selected by the operator.
- Lloyd's Register DRIVES
- A vessel performance and operational data platform within the OneOcean suite covering fuel, emissions, and voyage analytics.
- Lloyd's Register OneOcean
- A maritime software portfolio from Lloyd's Register combining navigation, environmental, and compliance products including the former Marine Press platform.
M
- MAN PrimeServ PowerSensor
- A digital engine performance monitoring offering from MAN Energy Solutions used for diagnostics and optimization of two stroke and four stroke engines.
- Marbase
- A fleet management software vendor offering technical management, procurement, and crewing applications.
- MarineXchange
- A maritime software provider whose products historically included shore excursion and cruise operations management tools.
- Marorka Online
- Icelandic ship performance and emissions monitoring service.
- Mercator Sailing
- A traditional navigation calculation method that derives course and distance between two points using Mercator chart geometry and meridional parts.
- MeteoGroup MeteoConsult
- A weather services business, including marine routing products, that was rebranded under DTN following its acquisition.
- Meteorlogix
- A historical weather information provider whose marine assets were integrated into the lineage of DTN Maritime products.
N
- NAPA Fleet Intelligence
- Finnish performance monitoring service combining noon reports and AIS-derived voyage data.
- NAPA Loading Computer
- Onboard NAPA module for stability and strength monitoring approved by class societies.
- NAPA Trim
- A trim optimization application from NAPA that recommends best trim based on hydrodynamic models and operational data.
- NAPA Voyage Optimization
- A weather routing and speed profile optimization product from NAPA used to plan and execute fuel efficient voyages.
- NCWind
- A wind forecasting product or service occasionally referenced in maritime weather routing for offshore and coastal operations.
- NYPE Speed Warranty
- A speed and consumption warranty under the New York Produce Exchange time charter form, used as the basis for many time charter underperformance claims.
O
- Off Hire Calculation for Underperformance
- The process of determining time and bunker losses attributable to a vessel's failure to meet warranted speed and consumption, expressed as off hire and bunker deductions.
- OneOcean Platform
- The Lloyd's Register branded suite of navigation, environmental, and compliance applications for fleet operators.
- OneTerminal
- A maritime technology offering associated with terminal operations and integration with vessel and port systems.
- OrbitMI
- A vessel performance and voyage optimization software vendor offering an integrated platform for owners, operators, and charterers.
P
- Parallel Sailing
- A coastal navigation technique in which the ship maintains a constant latitude, with east west distance computed from departure formulas.
- PathFinder (Furuno)
- A weather routing solution from Furuno providing route recommendations and voyage performance support on the bridge.
- Performance Speed and Consumption Curve (PCC)
- A vessel specific curve relating service speed to fuel consumption under reference conditions, used in contracts and performance monitoring.
- Plane sailing
- Approximate method assuming a flat Earth over short distances.
- Power Limitation Device
- A technical or operational measure restricting a ship's maximum continuous power for EEXI compliance, often referred to as EPL or ShaPoLi.
- Propeller Open Water Curve
- A characteristic curve relating propeller thrust, torque, and efficiency to advance ratio under open water test conditions.
Q
- Q88
- The standard vessel particulars questionnaire format used industry-wide for tanker chartering and vetting.
- Q88 Maritime
- A software vendor offering vessel management and chartering solutions building on the Q88 vessel questionnaire platform.
- Q88 Vessel Management
- A vessel management software product within the Q88 portfolio covering operations, compliance, and reporting needs.
R
- Reference line (CII)
- Curve representing 2019 fleet-average AER values used to set required CII.
- Required CII
- Annual reference value calculated using ship-type-specific reference line and Z factor.
- Rhumb line
- Line cutting all meridians at the same angle; straight on a Mercator chart.
- Route Optimization
- The selection of a vessel route, speed profile, and steaming plan to minimize an objective such as fuel, time, risk, or cost subject to weather and operational constraints.
S
- SAACKE Fuel Solutions
- A maritime combustion and energy systems business providing fuel handling and combustion equipment used in performance contexts.
- Sea Margin
- A power or speed margin added to design predictions to allow for added resistance from typical service conditions such as fouling, wind, and waves.
- Sea Trial Curves
- The set of speed, power, and consumption relationships established during contractual sea trials and used as a reference for subsequent performance assessment.
- Sealogis
- A logistics services group occasionally cited in maritime supply chain technology contexts.
- SedNa Maritime
- A maritime communications and workflow platform supporting email management and operations for shipping companies.
- SEEMP Part I
- The Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan element covering vessel specific measures and procedures for efficient operation.
- SEEMP Part II
- The fuel oil consumption data collection plan required by IMO MARPOL Annex VI for ships above 5,000 gross tonnage.
- SEEMP Part III
- The CII implementation plan required under IMO MARPOL Annex VI describing how a ship will achieve its required carbon intensity.
- Shaft Power Meter
- Sensor measuring delivered shaft power.
- ShipNet
- Norwegian fleet management software provider.
- ShipPalm
- Cloud based fleet management software, used by mid-size owners.
- Sinay
- A maritime data and analytics platform providing environmental, performance, and operations insights for ports and shipping.
- Slow Steaming
- Operating below design speed to save fuel and reduce emissions.
- SNNM Method
- A semi empirical formulation for predicting added resistance in waves used in performance correction calculations.
- SP-SNNM Method
- A refinement of the SNNM added resistance formulation incorporating spectral wave parameters for performance corrections.
- Speed Degradation Curve
- A characterization of how a vessel's attainable speed at given power degrades over time due to hull and propeller fouling and wear.
- Spinergie
- A maritime analytics platform providing fleet performance and operations intelligence including offshore vessel coverage.
- SPOS (Ship Performance Optimization System)
- A weather routing and onboard voyage optimization product originally from MeteoConsult, later under MeteoGroup, and continued by DTN.
- Squat
- Loss of underkeel clearance due to speed in shallow water.
- STAWAVE-1
- A simplified ITTC method for estimating added resistance in head waves using main wave parameters.
- STAWAVE-2
- A more detailed ITTC method for added resistance in waves accounting for wave spectrum and ship response characteristics.
- StormGeo Bon Voyage System (BVS)
- A leading PC based weather routing product currently offered by StormGeo, evolved from the original BVS lineage.
- Super-slow steaming
- Operation at speeds well below design, common during 2009 to 2015 overcapacity period.
T
- Theyr
- A meteorological data and weather routing services provider working with maritime customers.
- Tidetech
- A provider of high resolution ocean current, tide, and meteorological data used in weather routing and offshore operations.
- Toplis Marine
- A marine consultancy and services group involved in performance, technical, and claims related work.
- Trim Optimization
- Operational optimization of draft and trim using CFD-derived performance baselines.
U
- Underperformance Claim
- A claim brought against an owner under a charter party alleging failure to meet warranted speed or consumption, supported by voyage performance analysis.
- Underperformance Claim Adjudication
- The process by which underperformance claims are evaluated under the contractually agreed weather and good weather criteria, often using independent weather data.
V
- Veracity (DNV)
- An industry data platform hosted by DNV that provides applications and data exchange for maritime performance, compliance, and analytics.
- Veristar Hull
- A Bureau Veritas application supporting hull condition data and surveys for class.
- Veristar Info
- A Bureau Veritas service providing online class and certificate information for vessels in its register.
- Veson Nautical
- Charter and voyage management software that ingests AIS positions for voyage estimation.
- Voyage Cost Optimization
- The process of selecting voyage parameters such as speed, route, and bunker stems to minimize total voyage cost under contractual and operational constraints.
- Voyage Planning
- The structured process of planning a passage from berth to berth covering appraisal, planning, execution, and monitoring stages.
W
- Wartsila Fleet Operations Solution (FOS)
- A Wartsila Voyage suite providing route planning, weather routing, fleet performance, and reporting features.
- Wartsila Voyage
- Business unit of Wartsila that integrates the former Transas portfolio, including NTPRO 5000 simulators and ECDIS products.
- Wave Added Resistance
- The additional ship resistance arising from interaction with waves, typically estimated using STAWAVE-1, STAWAVE-2, SNNM, or SP-SNNM methods.
- WeatherFlow
- A meteorological data company with maritime and coastal forecasting offerings.
- WNI (Weathernews Inc.)
- A global weather services company providing marine weather forecasts, routing services, and onboard products.