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Cost Calculator — the basics

The Cost Calculator works out the expected cost of a port call. You pick a port, enter a few facts about the vessel and the call (GT, length, draft, number of tugs, and so on), click Calculate, and SHIPM8 applies that port's tariffs to produce a line-by-line cost breakdown.

This section is about the setup side: how to add a brand-new port so it can be calculated. Once a port is set up, anyone with access can calculate calls for it.

What a port is made of​

Setting up a port has two halves, and you build both through the app:

  1. The input object — the form people fill in for each calculation. It's a set of fields grouped into sections: the ship (length, GT, draft…), and per-port sections such as pilots and tugs. You define these once.
  2. The tariffs — the fees for that port. Each fee category (harbour dues, pilotage, towage, boatmen, waste, …) is a tariff group, and inside it each individual fee is a tariff. Every group is "gated" to the port so it only applies to that port.

After both are in place you run a test calculation to confirm the numbers come out right.

The three shapes a fee can take​

Almost every port fee is one of three shapes. You'll meet them again in the tariffs page — here's the plain-language version:

  • A rate per unit — a price multiplied by something, e.g. harbour dues of €0.93 per GT.
  • A bracket lookup — the rate depends on which band a value falls into, e.g. pilotage priced by draft bands. The bands live in a tariff matrix.
  • A flat fee — a fixed amount, optionally only for certain ship types.

If a fee doesn't fit one of these (for example it needs two multipliers, or a minimum charge), that's a sign it needs special handling — we flag those cases as they come up.

Before you start​

You'll need the right permissions, and the feature has to be switched on:

  • Run calculations — the Cost calculator permission, and the portCostCalculation feature must be enabled (otherwise the Cost Calculator menu item won't appear). Ask your administrator if it's missing.
  • Create the input object — the Custom data admin permission (this is what unlocks Object definitions).
  • Create tariffs — the Tariff admin permission.

How this guide is organised​

Work through the pages in order:

  1. Create the port input object — the fields people fill in per calculation.
  2. Add tariff groups & fees — the port's fees, gated to the port, in the three shapes above.
  3. Test the calculation — run a real port call and check the totals.

Throughout, we use the Den Helder port as a worked example.

A note on the buttons

A few buttons in SHIPM8 — Save, New, Add, Cancel, Search — currently show in English even when the app is set to Dutch. That's expected; this guide uses those English labels so they match what you see on screen.