Course 03 of 20 · Freight and Shipping Desk Academy

Bunkers, Speed & Operating Costs

Stage A, Shipping and voyage foundations. Level 2 of 10.

Building the vessel cost base: fuel grades and pricing, consumption against speed, port and canal costs, and daily operating expense.

109 chapters · 10 modules · every chapter one 8 to 10 minute explainer · builds on: Course 01, Course 02

Enrol or enquire See the 109 chapters
How a chapter is delivered

One chapter is one idea taken to the point of use

Each chapter covers one idea to the point where you can use it, and comes two ways: a narrated explainer, and a deep dive audio discussion of around thirty minutes that works the same material at depth.

Self-paced throughout, and the same chapters can be taught as a cohort. Chapters run in order: each one assumes only what the chapters before it taught, and capability belonging to a later course is named and deferred rather than half-covered.

Curriculum

10 modules · 109 chapters

Open any module for its full chapter list, in teaching order.

M0 The Cost Base a Freight Desk Has to Build Ch 1-10
  1. Why a Rate Means Nothing Without a Cost Base
  2. The Three Families of Vessel Cost
  3. The Vessel Day as the Unit Everything Reduces To
  4. Who Bears Which Cost Under Which Employment
  5. Fixed, Variable and Semi-Variable on a Ship
  6. Every Cost Line Carries a Date and a Source
  7. Currency Across a Vessel Cost Sheet
  8. Where the Figures Actually Come From
  9. Cost Per Day, Cost Per Mile and Cost Per Tonne
  10. What a Cost Base Is Not
M1 Marine Fuel Grades and What a Ship Can Burn Ch 11-21
  1. Residual and Distillate: Two Families in a Bunker Tank
  2. Viscosity Grades and What the Number Means
  3. Sulphur Content as a Commercial Boundary
  4. Low Sulphur Residual Fuel and the Blend Behind It
  5. Heavy Fuel and the Ship Still Able to Burn It
  6. Gasoil and the Waters Where a Ship Must Switch
  7. Gas and Methanol as Vessel Fuel
  8. Renewable Blends Loaded as Bunkers
  9. Reading a Fuel Specification Sheet
  10. Commingling, Stability and the Tank You Load Into
  11. Off-Specification Bunkers and What They Cost
M2 Pricing and Buying a Bunker Stem Ch 22-32
  1. How a Bunker Price Is Quoted
  2. Why One Grade Costs Different Money in Different Ports
  3. Barge, Wharf and Pipeline Delivery
  4. Physical Supplier, Trader and Broker
  5. From Enquiry to Confirmed Stem
  6. Quantity Bands, Minimum Lots and Part Deliveries
  7. Measuring What Was Actually Delivered
  8. Payment Terms and Credit on a Fuel Purchase
  9. Where to Bunker and What a Deviation Costs
  10. Fuel Price Exposure on a Committed Voyage
  11. One Stem Bought for a Named Voyage: Worked
M3 Consumption Against Speed Ch 33-43
  1. Why Burn Rises Faster Than Speed
  2. The Consumption Curve and How a Desk Obtains One
  3. Main Engine Burn Against Auxiliary Burn
  4. Laden and Ballast Figures Are Not the Same
  5. Port Burn, Idle Burn and Boiler Load
  6. Reading a Noon Report Into a Consumption Figure
  7. Converting a Daily Burn Into Tonnes Per Mile
  8. Building the Fuel Requirement for a Passage
  9. Weather, Current and the Margin a Prudent Desk Allows
  10. Hull Fouling, Engine Condition and Performance Drift
  11. Two Consumption Profiles for One Ship: Worked
M4 Speed as a Cost Decision Ch 44-53
  1. The Trade Between Days and Tonnes
  2. Slow Steaming and Where the Saving Stops
  3. Burning More to Protect an Arrival
  4. The Least-Cost Speed and Why Nobody Sails It
  5. Dear Fuel, Weak Employment: What Speed Does
  6. Who Captures the Saving Under Which Employment
  7. Instructed Economy Speed and Arrival Management
  8. Easing Back to Reach a Cheaper Bunker Port
  9. Performance Promises and the Line This Material Stops At
  10. A Speed Chosen on Cost Alone: Worked
M5 Port Costs and the Disbursement Account Ch 54-65
  1. What a Call Costs Before Any Cargo Moves
  2. Tonnage Dues and the Measure They Are Levied On
  3. Pilotage and the Compulsory Pilot
  4. Towage and the Tug Order
  5. Mooring, Linesmen and Berth Occupancy
  6. Light Dues, Conservancy and Statutory Payments
  7. The Agent and the Disbursement Account
  8. Reading a Proforma Before the Ship Arrives
  9. The Final Account and Challenging a Line
  10. Cargo Handling Charges and Whose Account They Fall To
  11. Waiting Off the Port and What Lying Idle Costs
  12. A Port Call Costed From Proforma to Final: Worked
M6 Canal, Strait and Transit Charges Ch 66-74
  1. Why a Transit Charge Behaves Unlike Any Other
  2. The Measurement a Waterway Charges On
  3. Booking, Auction and the Slot You May Not Get
  4. Queueing, Convoy Timing and Days Lost at a Waterway
  5. Escorts, Tugs and Mandatory Services on a Transit
  6. Strait and Passage Dues Beyond the Canals
  7. The Transit Priced Against the Alternative Routing
  8. Whose Account the Toll Falls To
  9. A Routing Decision Costed Both Ways: Worked
M7 Daily Operating Expense Ch 75-87
  1. What a Ship Costs to Keep Alive
  2. Crew Wages and the Manning Scale
  3. Crew Changes, Travel and Relief Costs
  4. Victualling, Stores and Lubricating Oil
  5. Routine Maintenance and the Repair Budget
  6. Insurance Premium as a Daily Line
  7. Class, Survey and Certification
  8. Management Fee and the Shore Overhead
  9. Dry Docking Spread Across the Days Between
  10. Lay-Up as a Cost Decision
  11. The Annual Budget Turned Into a Daily Figure
  12. Why Two Sister Ships Cost Different Amounts
  13. The Capital Charge and Why It Is Absent Here
M8 Assembling and Maintaining the Cost Base Ch 88-98
  1. The Cost Base as a Single Document
  2. Building the Base for One Named Ship
  3. Fuel and Days on a Leg Carrying Nothing
  4. Owner Cost and Charterer Cost Side by Side
  5. The Daily Breakeven and What It Is Good For
  6. Cost Per Mile and Cost Per Tonne of Capacity
  7. Which Line Actually Moves the Total
  8. Keeping the Base Fresh
  9. Comparing Two Ships on Cost Alone
  10. Benchmarking Against What Others Spend
  11. Handing the Cost Base On
M9 Worked Cost Bases and the Limits Ch 99-109
  1. A Cost Base Built From Scratch, Part One: The Ship
  2. A Cost Base Built From Scratch, Part Two: Fuel and Speed
  3. A Cost Base Built From Scratch, Part Three: Ports and Transits
  4. A Cost Base Built From Scratch, Part Four: Running Cost
  5. The Same Ship Put on a Different Trade
  6. The Same Base Under a Fuel Price Shock
  7. A Grade Switch Forced on a Trade
  8. Where a Cost Base Quietly Misleads
  9. What This Sheet Cannot Tell You
  10. The Costs Deliberately Left Outside
  11. What the Later Courses Assume You Can Build

The brochure gives each of these 109 chapters a paragraph on what it covers and what you can do once you have worked through it.

This is course 3 of twenty

It stands alone, and it is also the entry point to the Freight and Shipping Desk Academy pathway.

Enrol or enquire See the whole pathway