Help and glossary

The one screen that answers “what needs me today?”. Every cargo we have bought and not yet consumed is on this page: where the ship is, what stage it has reached, and which of them have a problem that costs money if it is left alone. The exception list is ordered by money at risk, not by date, so the top item is always the one worth opening first.

Exposure strip

Rupees currently at stake across all cargoes: demurrage being claimed against us, how much of it we dispute, and how many rebuttal windows close within a fortnight.

Open exceptions

Things the system has spotted by reading the contract against the facts. Each one links straight to the screen where it can be dealt with.

Fleet map

Where each vessel is right now. Cargoes waiting at the Sandheads anchorage are burning laytime.

Terms used here: Parcel, Demurrage, Rebuttal window, Laytime

The full list of cargoes, sortable and filterable. A parcel is one lot of bulk material under one Bill of Lading — 45,000 tonnes of coke on one ship, not a box in a warehouse. Everything else in the system hangs off a parcel.

Status

Where the cargo has reached in its life: nominated, in transit, at anchorage, discharging, on the road, received at the plant, closed.

B/L quantity

The quantity written on the Bill of Lading at the load port. It is what we pay against provisionally, and the number every later measurement is compared to.

Terms used here: Parcel, Bill of Lading, Laycan, Nomination

One cargo, end to end. The header names the material, the ship and the Bill of Lading; the timeline shows what has happened; the right-hand rail lists the open problems and the key paperwork. The tabs across the top break the same cargo down by subject.

Fact strip

Commodity, quantity, commercial terms, vessel and Bill of Lading reference — the six things you need before speaking to anyone about this cargo.

Discharge nodes

A deep-draft ship cannot enter Haldia loaded, so the cargo is split: part is lightered into barges at the anchorage, the rest is discharged at berth. Each of those is a node with its own timeline.

Terms used here: Parcel, Lighterage, Mother vessel, Barge, Incoterm

The contract gives us a fixed number of hours to unload the ship, free of charge. Run past it and the shipowner charges demurrage for every day over. This screen recalculates that time from the Statement of Facts, event by event, and puts our number next to the seller's claim. Where the two differ, the reason is a specific event whose treatment we dispute — usually rain or waiting for barges.

Allowed

Cargo quantity divided by the contractual discharge rate. If the contract says 8,000 tonnes a day and the cargo is 45,000 tonnes, we get 135 hours.

Used

Time actually consumed, after excepted periods are stripped out. Sundays, holidays and weather come out if the contract says they do.

Claimed against computed

What the seller says we owe, against what the same events give when the contract is applied strictly. The gap is what a rebuttal is worth.

Rebuttal window

The days left to dispute the claim. Miss it and the claim is deemed accepted in full, whatever the facts say.

Terms used here: Laytime, Notice of Readiness, Turn time, Demurrage, Despatch, Statement of Facts, Laytime statement, Rebuttal window, Weather working day, SHEX

Bulk cargo is weighed several times between the load port and the plant, and it never weighs the same twice. This screen follows the chain — Bill of Lading, draft survey at discharge, weighbridge at the plant — and shows where the material went missing. Each leg is measured in basis points against the tolerance the contract allows for that leg.

Chain

Each measurement in the order it was taken, with the change from the previous one. A leg outside its tolerance is flagged.

Attribution

How much of the shortfall belongs to moisture, to handling losses at the anchorage, and to road transit.

Dry basis

Weight after deducting moisture. If the contract prices on a dry basis, this is the number we pay against, not the wet weight.

Terms used here: Draft survey, Weighbridge, GRN, Dry basis, Basis points, Tolerance

The contract specifies what the material should assay at — ash, moisture, fixed carbon and so on. The cargo is sampled at the load port and again at discharge. Where the delivered analysis is worse than the specification, the contract reprices it, and this screen shows that arithmetic step by step. If a parameter is beyond the rejection limit, we have the contractual right to refuse the cargo.

Contract against delivered

Each parameter as promised and as it actually landed. Figures are shown as percentages; internally they are held in basis points so nothing rounds away.

Adjustment working

Penalty per tonne for each step beyond the threshold, multiplied by the priced quantity. This is what we deduct from the final invoice.

Rejection limit

The point past which the cargo may be refused outright rather than merely repriced.

Terms used here: Assay, Price adjustment, Rejection limit, Dry basis, Basis points

An import moves on paper. This checklist groups every document by the stage it belongs to and shows what has arrived, what is still expected and who owes it to us. A missing document marked as blocking clearance is the one to chase first: without it, customs will not release the cargo and the plot rent keeps running.

Status

Expected means not due yet. Received means it has arrived. Verified means someone has checked it. Missing means it is late.

Blocks clearance

Customs will not grant out-of-charge without this document, so the cargo cannot leave the port.

Document extraction

Uploading a scan reads the fields off it and offers them for review, each with a confidence score. Nothing is saved until it is confirmed.

Terms used here: Bill of Lading, Statement of Facts, Bill of Entry, Out of charge, Plot rent

The Bill of Entry is the import declaration filed with Indian Customs. It must be filed before the ship arrives, or a late fee applies. Once assessed, duty is paid and customs grants out-of-charge, at which point the cargo may leave the port. This screen shows the filing position and the duty calculation in the order the law applies it.

Filing deadline

Counted against the vessel's arrival. An unfiled entry inside the window is shown as a countdown.

Duty cascade

Basic Customs Duty is charged on the assessable value; the Social Welfare Surcharge is charged on the duty; IGST is charged on all three added together.

IGST marked recoverable

IGST is reclaimed as input tax credit, so it is cash flow rather than cost. It is deliberately excluded from the landed cost figure.

Terms used here: Bill of Entry, Basic Customs Duty, Social Welfare Surcharge, IGST, Out of charge, Customs House Agent, Assessable value

From the port the cargo travels to the plant by truck, a few tonnes at a time. Each trip is weighed out at the port and in again at the plant weighbridge, and the difference is the shortage on that truck. Shortages above thirty basis points are flagged: at that level it is no longer spillage, it is worth asking about.

Dispatch, gross, tare, net

Weight loaded at the port; the loaded truck at the plant; the empty truck; and the cargo weight, which is gross minus tare.

Shortage in basis points

The loss on that trip as a share of what left the port. Thirty basis points is 0.30 %.

E-way bill validity

The tax document that lets the truck move. If it expires in transit the truck must stop.

Terms used here: Weighbridge, E-way bill, GRN, Basis points, Transit loss

What one tonne of this material actually cost by the time it was standing in the plant yard. The waterfall builds it up from the price we paid the seller, through freight, port handling, duty, demurrage and road transport. It is compared against what was budgeted, and the difference is explained line by line. Quantity shortfall comes first in that explanation because it changes the denominator every other line is divided by.

Per tonne, estimated and actual

Total cost divided by the quantity that actually arrived at the plant, not by what was shipped.

Variance

Actual against budget, in rupees per tonne and as a percentage. Positive means it cost more than planned.

Recoverable

IGST. Paid in cash but reclaimed, so it is shown separately and kept out of the cost per tonne.

Memo

The value of material lost in transit. It is not an extra invoice; it is already reflected in the fact that fewer tonnes carry the same spend.

Terms used here: Landed cost, Variance, IGST, Transit loss, Estimated against actual

Bulk cargo is paid for twice. A provisional invoice goes out on the Bill of Lading quantity as soon as the cargo is loaded, usually against a letter of credit; a final invoice trues it up once the discharge survey and the assay are agreed. Because the invoices are in dollars and we pay in rupees, the exchange rate on the day of remittance differs from the rate on the Bill of Lading date, and that difference is a real cost.

Provisional against final

The first payment, the true-up, and the quality adjustment applied inside the final invoice.

Exchange difference

What the remittances cost in rupees against what they would have cost at the Bill of Lading rate.

Letter of credit

The bank's undertaking to pay the seller once the shipping documents are presented and found in order.

Terms used here: Provisional invoice, Final invoice, Letter of credit, Exchange difference, Price adjustment

Every open laytime claim in one queue, ordered by how soon the window to dispute it closes. Each row shows what the seller wants, what our own calculation gives, and the days remaining. A claim left past its window is deemed accepted in full, so this is the screen where silence is expensive.

Days remaining

Days left in the contractual rebuttal window, counted from the day the statement was received.

Gap

Claimed less our computed position. This is the amount a successful rebuttal saves.

Terms used here: Laytime statement, Rebuttal window, Demurrage, Statement of Facts

The same cost analysis, but across every cargo costed in the past twelve months, grouped by supplier, by commodity or by route. It answers which supplier is quietly costing more than the price list suggests, and whether a route is worth its freight advantage once lighterage and port handling are counted.

Variance per tonne

Weighted by quantity received, so a large cargo moves the number more than a small one.

Month costed

A cargo is counted in the month the vessel arrived at the discharge port, or its Bill of Lading month if it has not arrived.

Terms used here: Landed cost, Variance, Incoterm

What is arriving at the plant gate, grouped by day, with today first. It is the receiving desk's view: which trucks are due, how much material they carry, and which of them came in short at the weighbridge.

Today's receipts

Trucks weighed in today, and the tonnage they brought.

Shortage

Weighbridge net against the weight dispatched from the port, for each truck.

Terms used here: Weighbridge, GRN, Transit loss

Each purchase contract in full: what we agreed to buy, at what price and quality, how laytime is counted, and how it is paid for. The risk panel at the top reads the clauses on their own terms and flags the ones that can cost money if the voyage goes badly — uncapped demurrage above all.

Quantity tolerance

The band either side of the contract quantity that the seller may ship at their option, shown as an actual tonnage range.

Laytime terms

The discharge rate, what counts as laytime, and the daily demurrage rate. These are the inputs to every laytime calculation on that contract's cargoes.

Risk flags

Clauses read straight from the contract. Nothing here depends on how any particular shipment went.

Terms used here: Incoterm, CFR, Laycan, Demurrage cap, Charter party, Rejection limit, Letter of credit

Everyone we deal with on an import. Sellers carry a performance record built from their own cargoes: whether they nominated a ship on time, how the delivered quality compared with what they promised, how much demurrage they claimed and how much was ever settled, and how much material went missing between the Bill of Lading and our weighbridge.

Nominated on time

Share of cargoes where the vessel was nominated within the first five days of the laycan window. A late nomination compresses everything downstream.

Quantity loss

Bill of Lading quantity against what reached the plant, across every measured cargo from that seller.

Average delivered quality

Mean of the certificates used for pricing, against what the contract called typical.

Terms used here: Nomination, Laycan, Assay, Demurrage, Draft survey

Four numbers and a list. What we spent on imported material in the past twelve months, how far the landed cost ran over budget, what demurrage was claimed and how much of it was recovered, and how much material was paid for but never arrived. Below that, the three live exposures worth the most money today, each one a click from the screen where it can be dealt with.

Import value

Goods value of every costed cargo in the window, in rupees.

Landed cost against plan

Total actual cost against total budgeted cost. Positive means the material cost more than planned.

Quantity lost in transit

Tonnes paid for on the Bill of Lading that never reached the plant, and what that material was worth.

Cost per tonne trend

Twelve months of landed cost per tonne, one line per commodity, plotted against the month the vessel arrived.

Terms used here: Landed cost, Demurrage, Transit loss, Variance