For agents, crewing and marine services
High volume, thin margin, every document by hand.
For ship agents, crewing companies, bunker suppliers, surveyors and claims handlers: the document-heavy back office that decides whether a thin margin is a margin at all.
Start a DiagnosticAgents, crewing companies, bunker suppliers and surveyors run the industry's paperwork on the industry's thinnest margins. A port agent prepares a disbursement account for every call and audits almost none; a crewing manager tracks certificates for a thousand seafarers across spreadsheets; a bunker supplier reconciles delivery notes against nominations by hand; a surveyor turns a day on board into a report that nobody can search. Helmwize starts where volume meets manual work. The Diagnostic maps your highest-volume workflow in two to four weeks and sizes what each hour and each error costs. We prove it on live work in fifteen to thirty days, then the platform runs in your own cloud tenant, priced by seat or by transaction.
Where we start
Which workflows are worth fixing first?
DA preparation and audit
Proformas built from the tariff and the vessel's particulars, final accounts checked line by line, and the principal's queries answered from evidence rather than memory. L3 Cost per transaction. Ledger: Cost per port call handled.
Demurrage and claims cycle
Time bars, supporting documents and calculations assembled as the call happens, so the claim goes out complete and early. L1 Working capital. Ledger: Days to recover a claim.
Crew document compliance
Every seafarer's certificates read, validated against flag and vessel requirements and matched to the next deployment, with the gaps staged for the crewing officer. L8 Compliance. Ledger: Deployment delays and MLC findings.
Bunker delivery reconciliation
Bunker delivery notes matched to nominations and soundings the same day, so quantity and quality disputes are raised inside the claim window. L7 Risk avoidance. Ledger: Quantity disputes and claims.
Survey report structuring
A surveyor's notes and photographs turned into a structured, searchable report with findings tagged for the client's follow-up. L2 Cycle time. Ledger: Reports delivered per surveyor.
One real decision
A recommendation should be something you can inspect.
Eleven expiries in ninety days. Three need a reliever.
- What changed
- Chief Engineer on V-03 holds an STCW endorsement expiring 14 October. Next port with reliever availability is Singapore, 22 October.
- Evidence
- Certificate scanCrew matrixVoyage scheduleReliever pool
- Exposure
- Eight days non-compliant if unaddressed; PSC detention risk
- Confidence
- High on dates. Medium on reliever availability.
| Vessel | Rank | Certificate | Expiry | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| V-03 | Chief Engineer | STCW endorsement | 14 Oct | Action |
| V-11 | AB | Security awareness | 09 Oct | Action |
| V-07 | Master | Medical | 02 Nov | Watch |
| V-01 | 2nd Officer | GMDSS GOC | 21 Nov | Ok |
Suggested step
Book the endorsement renewal in Colombo, 9 October. Hold a reliever as fallback.
Illustrative workflow, not a client result. This example changes nothing outside the page: no booking, no assignment, no message.
Systems of record
What stays authoritative?
Agency system, Crewing system, Finance. Helmwize connects the context. It does not replace these systems.
For agents and marine services
High volume, low margin, document-heavy. Built for that.
Disbursement accounts, laytime statements, bunker delivery notes and crew documents move through an agency every day. The platform reads them, applies the rules and leaves the decision with the person whose name is on it.
Disbursement account audit rules
Reads: Proforma DA, Final DA, Port tariff, Agency agreement, Prior calls at the same port. An exception register per port call: line item, proforma, final, variance, rule triggered, recommended action. GATE: A port-cost controller approves each write-back.
PLANNEDBUILD
Laytime and demurrage engine
Reads: Charter party, Statement of facts, Notice of readiness, Port log. A laytime statement with every clause applied, every exception listed, and the demurrage or despatch figure with its calculation shown. GATE: The claims handler approves the statement before it leaves the estate.
PLANNEDBUILD
e-BDN and mass flow meter reconciliation
Reads: Electronic bunker delivery notes, Mass flow meter records, Bunker requisitions, Supplier invoices. A reconciliation per delivery with quantity, density and timing exceptions flagged for review. GATE: The bunker desk approves any dispute raised.
PLANNEDBUILD
PSC and certificate readiness matrix
Reads: Crew list, STCW, GMDSS and medical certificates, Seafarer employment agreements, PSC inspection history. A per-vessel matrix of certificate status, expiries at thirty, sixty and ninety days, MLC readiness and deficiency likelihood. GATE: The crewing manager confirms every action.
PLANNEDBUILD
Maritime document schemas
Reads: Bills of lading, Charter parties, Statements of facts, Survey reports, Crew certificates, Yard quotations. Typed records from paper and PDF, with page and field provenance for every value. GATE: Low-confidence fields are queued for a person, never guessed.
PLANNEDPACKAGE
What you receive
The exception, not the pile.
Illustrative examples. Figures are representative, not client data.
Port-call cost and DA audit exception report
An exception register per call with the rule that fired and the write-back a person is asked to approve. Audience: Port-cost controller.
Illustrative
Proof of Value results memo
Before and after on a defined population of port calls, with every delta stating its source, population and gap. Audience: Operations and finance sponsors.
Illustrative
Crew certificate and PSC readiness matrix
Certificate status by vessel and rank, expiries at thirty, sixty and ninety days, MLC readiness and deficiency likelihood. Audience: Crewing manager, DPA.
Illustrative
Monthly regulatory change brief
This month's instruments, who is affected, the action, and a ninety-day calendar. Sources linked, never copied. Audience: DPA, compliance.
Illustrative
What you stop paying for
Per-call fees become a per-site licence.
Representative ranges by category.
Costs are representative ranges by category · not vendor price lists
| Function | Incumbent | Representative cost | With Helmwize | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DA processing | Per-call outsourced processing | Representative: per-call fee | Review and approval in your estate | replace |
| Document extraction | Cloud OCR per page | Representative: per-page fees | Read into typed records in your estate | replace |
| E-invoicing | Accredited access-point subscription | Representative: four figures a year | Open Peppol and UBL libraries; an access point is still required | reduce |
| Agency and accounting system | ERP or agency software | Stays | The platform reads ledgers and DA portals | integrate |
Compliance
Three tax and port mandates now in force.
| Instrument | Body | Effective | Affects | Evidence needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singapore electronic bunker delivery note and mass flow meter requirements | Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore | 2025-04-01 | Bunker suppliers, Ship managers, Agents | Reconciled digital delivery records per stem |
| Singapore InvoiceNow GST e-invoicing phases | Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore | 2025-11-01 | GST-registered agents and suppliers | Peppol-conformant invoices transmitted to IRAS |
| India GST e-invoicing above the notified turnover threshold | Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs | 2023-08-01 | Chandlers, Suppliers, Yards | IRN-registered B2B invoices and e-way bills |
| IMO FAL Convention amendments — mandatory Maritime Single Window | International Maritime Organization | 2024-01-01 | Port authorities, Agents, Ports and terminals | Electronic exchange of arrival, stay and departure declarations for every call |
| Tokyo MoU concentrated inspection campaigns | Tokyo MoU on Port State Control | annual, September to November | Every vessel calling in the region | Signed seafarer employment agreements, wage records and certificate status on board |
FAQ
Questions
We are a twenty-person agency. Can we afford this?
The licence for agents and crewing companies is priced by seat or by transaction, and the Diagnostic tells you the saving per call before you commit. If the numbers do not work, we say so.
Will this replace our agency or crewing software?
No. It reads from it and stages the work for your people. Your system stays the record.
Our principals want evidence, not a dashboard.
That is the point. Every recommendation carries its sources, so the query to the port or the answer to the principal is built from documents, not opinions.