From nomination
to a closed port call.

1. Establish the call and its shared information

Start with the vessel, IMO number, port, terminal, operation and responsible agent. Record the owner or operator, the parties involved and the expected arrival. Keep information that has been confirmed separate from details that are still unknown.

The master’s questionnaire is an early source of vessel and operational particulars. Capture the answers once and review which documents reuse them. A known vessel name does not mean that its master, cargo or arrival draft is unchanged from the previous visit.

When reusing a previous call, check the new call reference, operation, dates, terminal, cargoes and parties before treating the copied information as current.

2. Prepare and review the PDA

The Proforma Disbursement Account is the estimate for the call. Check the vessel particulars and the applicable port and terminal charges. Review conditions, discounts, agreed agency fees and any items handled directly by the owner.

Keep the basis of a calculation understandable. A GT-based service and an RGT-based charge should not be treated as interchangeable simply because both appear in the same estimate. Use the appropriate configured tariff and confirm the conditions before issuing the PDA.

PDA and FDA software should help the team follow the estimate into the final account while retaining the saved amounts and their context.

3. Keep each cargo and B/L identifiable

Record cargoes as distinct lines. One B/L can contain several cargo lines, and one vessel call can contain several B/Ls. Keep the product description, quantity and unit together when preparing terminal and cargo documents.

For tanker work, confirm whether the metric-ton figure is in vacuum or in air. A combined number can be useful as an internal overview, but it should not replace the separate product quantities where the document requires them.

Check the shipper, consignee, notify party, ports and owner or operator information. Use saved company details where appropriate, then review them for this particular call.

4. Maintain the Statement of Facts as events happen

Record arrival, anchoring, pilotage, berthing, cargo operations, documentation and sailing events with the dates and times actually available. Use consistent operation wording and correct the sequence when an event is entered later.

Several products may need separate commencement and completion events. Keep those parcel events identifiable in the Statement of Facts rather than overwriting one cargo’s time with another’s.

Before printing, check dates, single times and ranges, cargo descriptions, quantities, berth and terminal remarks. Review page continuation and signing areas as well as the visible text.

5. Review departure and the final document set

Enter the actual departure or sailing date when it is known. In a connected workspace, that shared date can feed Port Clearance and the departure and signature dates in the Customer Evaluation Questionnaire.

Review each PDF using the agreed form: vessel and IMO, owner name and address, cargo quantities, terminal recipients, dates and the correct signing area. Do not assume that every document uses identical fields or that a blank date can safely be replaced with the print date.

The cargo document workflow should make the shared information easy to find while leaving document-specific choices clear.

6. Reconcile the FDA and hand over a complete record

Compare the actual charges with the estimate, add the relevant supplier evidence and check the recipient, agency fee and payment details. Keep internal costs and margin separate from the customer’s account.

Check additional recipient accounts carefully so the same charge is not copied into another FDA unintentionally. Use the agreed approval step before issuing the final account.

A useful handover leaves the next person able to find the saved SOF, documents, supporting invoices and account status without reconstructing the visit from separate messages.

Use the workflow to evaluate your software

Walk through a realistic call with two cargoes, a late SOF event, a changed departure date and an invoice that differs from the PDA estimate. Check what is reused, what stays editable and what appears in the printed PDFs.

That exercise is more useful than a long feature list. Request a 7SeasDesk demo and we can work through those steps with fictional data and the document formats your agency needs.