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22 MaritimeDry bulk shipping and chartering

We replaced a chartering desk run on spreadsheets, email, and WhatsApp with one platform the team owns.

22 Maritime charters dry bulk ships. Its desk ran market data, voyage costings, and client reporting across spreadsheets, an inbox, and WhatsApp. Saffron built the platform the desk now works in. Data arrives on its own, reports go out on schedule, and a person approves anything that leaves.

A maritime chartering office overlooking a working port, with paper cargo documents and a hand-updated wall board of vessels
jobs run unattended
24jobs run unattended
parts of the desk
22parts of the desk
months of building
15months of building

Counts taken from the finished system, not estimates of outcome.

Where it started.

Freight rates arrived as a PDF in an inbox and were typed into a spreadsheet. Broker quotes came over WhatsApp and were re-keyed. Voyage costings lived in one person's sheet. Client reports were assembled by hand and sent one at a time, and the daily routine lived in people's heads.

Market rates
BEFORETyped in from an emailed PDF each morning
NOWRead from the inbox at 10:15 and checked three ways
Client reports
BEFOREAssembled by hand, sent one at a time
NOWBuilt from saved blocks, scheduled, approved by reply
The daily routine
BEFORERemembered
NOW24 scheduled jobs that run unattended
Broker quotes
BEFORERead off WhatsApp and re-typed
NOWRead from WhatsApp automatically, approved senders only
Voyage costings
BEFOREOne person's spreadsheet per route
NOWSix calculators, saved and shared by link
The daily client brief
BEFOREWritten by hand each morning
NOWDrafted by AI, approved or rewritten by reply
Cargo and bookings
BEFOREA sheet chased from memory
NOWTracked daily, brokers reminded, closed deals filed overnight
Access
BEFOREOne shared login
NOWPer person, with a record of every action

What Saffron built.

Each part of the system, and the manual step it replaced.

01Data in

  • Rates from the inbox

    The daily rate report arrives as a PDF. A job reads it each morning, retrying for half an hour, and refuses anything stale.

    Replaced. Someone opened the email and typed the numbers in.

  • Broker quotes from WhatsApp

    Quotes sent over WhatsApp are read automatically, in any of the three formats brokers use, from approved numbers only.

    Replaced. Quotes read off a phone and re-typed.

  • Ship positions from a data provider

    Counts pulled overnight, with movements between regions detected. If the source looks wrong, the report stops rather than guessing.

    Replaced. Checked by hand when someone remembered.

02The desk

  • Six voyage calculators

    The costings the desk works out for every route, saved and shared by link instead of copied between spreadsheets.

    Replaced. A spreadsheet per route, no shared version.

  • The daily rate reports

    Market rates combined with per-route costs and fuel prices, rendered as a branded image ready to send.

    Replaced. Built by hand each morning.

  • Cargo, ships, and bookings

    Daily grids with brokers grouped by region and reminder links. Closed deals move to the booking list overnight.

    Replaced. Three sheets, updated when someone had time.

  • Daily bids and offers

    Entries with comments and a history, image reports sent at set times, and open positions carried into the next day.

    Replaced. Retyped every day.

03Reports out

  • Report composer

    Drag saved blocks into one client report: rates, bids and offers, market curves, and fuel. Layouts and schedules are saved.

    Replaced. Assembled by hand.

  • Scheduled delivery

    Sent by email or WhatsApp, archived, and shareable through links that expire.

    Replaced. Sent one recipient at a time.

  • Reports by message

    Send a short command over WhatsApp and the report comes back in the chat.

    Replaced. Ask a colleague and wait.

  • The review gate

    No scheduled email reaches a client directly. A named approver replies to release it. Anything unclear stops instead.

    Replaced. Whoever pressed send decided what went out.

04Team

  • Access and administration

    Access per person, dashboard layouts, notifications, and admin controls.

    Replaced. One shared login.

  • Calendar and leave

    Leave requests and balances, holidays, team events, and a calendar email every Friday.

    Replaced. A calendar nobody kept current.

  • Helm, the desk assistant

    Answers questions about the desk's own data. It can read and explain. It cannot change a record or send anything.

    Replaced. New capability, deliberately limited.

Where AI does the work, and where a person decides.

The system prepares the work and stops at the decision.

  1. 01Data arrives

    The rate report lands in the inbox. Ship counts come in overnight.

  2. 02The system prepares

    Rates are read and checked. The report is built from its saved blocks.

  3. AI DRAFTS

    03AI drafts

    The client brief is written from the figures alone. No causes or forecasts are invented.

  4. A PERSON DECIDES

    04A person approves

    The approver replies to release it, or rewrites the wording. Figures and recipients cannot change.

  5. 05Sent

    It goes out by email or WhatsApp and is archived.

  • Helm reads the desk's data and explains it. Its access is read-only, so it cannot change a record.
  • The client brief is drafted from the supplied figures only. Invented causes, forecasts, and market calls are forbidden.
  • The approver releases the draft by reply, or rewrites the wording. Recipients, subject, and attachments cannot change.
  • Every reading, draft, and delivery is recorded. Failures alert an admin instead of sending something wrong.
Chartering desk · Fleet overview

  • MV Meridian

    Handysize

    Open, Rotterdam

  • MV Cardamom

    Supramax

    On voyage

  • MV Vermilion

    Panamax

    Enquiry received

AI drafted the daily client brief.Waiting for your review.

Review and approve

A day, unattended.

What now happens while nobody is at the desk, from the live schedule.

9 things happen on their own schedule, and 2 run the whole time.

  1. OVERNIGHT

    1. 1

      00:00Closed deals filed overnight

    2. 2

      01:00Ship counts pulled from the data provider

    3. 3

      04:00Three client reports written and emailed

    4. 4

      05:00Broker cargo reminders

    5. 5

      06:30WhatsApp messages checked for anything missed

  2. MORNING

    1. 6

      10:15Daily rate report read from the inboxretries until 10:45

  3. EVENING

    1. 7

      18:00Forward market curve read

    2. 8

      20:00Open bids and offers carried forward

    3. 9

      23:00Notes archived for the day

  4. RUNNING THE WHOLE TIME

    • Every 5 minutes: due reports built, approval replies read
    • Every 30 minutes: bid and offer images sent

What changed.

  • 01

    Market data arrives without anyone typing it.

  • 02

    Reports go out on schedule, and nothing reaches a client unreviewed.

  • 03

    The routine runs at night.

  • 04

    The team owns what was built, outright.

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