The fundamental philosophy of this project is to reduce the manual entries made by the user to the barest minimum, outputting results of calculations on to charterer's and/or owner's standard forms.
The program is a premium grade "loadicator" for Crude and Product Oil Tanker with an additional facility for computing ullage reports for chemicals carriage too.
The program caters for entering data for up to 20 tanks in up to 5 segregations. Facility is provided for computing ullage reports using Tables 6, 24 or 54 ("A" or "B") and 54D "In Air" or "In Vacuum" if applicable. The user can compute for pure chemicals carriage also by feeding in the correction factor and its base temperature as advised by the shipper or terminal.
All ship specific data for computing volumes for cargo, fuel, fresh water and ballast are incorporated into the program as well as some of the vessel's contour dimensions.
The premium loadicator provides the facility to obtain :
- Trim and Stability Results.
- Results for Longitudinal Stress Calculations for Bending Moments and Shearing Forces for Port and Ocean-Going conditions.
- Results for Hydrostatic Calculations with tabular results for deadweight, displacement and constant.
- Wedge calculations for obtaining OBQ/ROBs.
- Slop Certificate calculations for obtaining oil+water and water only quantities obtained from ullage and interface measurements.
- Ullage reports.
- Letters of protest.
- Record of V.E.F.
- Trimming to desired cargo and trim.
- A master database containing pertinent details of all previous cargoes with search facility.
- A facility to store "data only" into user defined worksheets (small byte length). These worksheets are automatically compressed and converted to self-extracting files which can be e-mailed to the home office or charterers. These files extract to individual folders for each ship.
- A facility to import data from previously stored data-only files.
- A user-friendly convert facility.
- A dedicated back-solver.
- A pre-set but changeable scenario for the optimizer "Solver".
- Results of calculations exported to charterer's and owner's standard cargo related forms
- Printing of these forms and reports by individual buttons and from a collective menu
- "Watch" sub-routines
to trap common errors and recommend corrections or loop to correction cell in workbook.
- Where Online data is available at the COM port for tank ullages (hardware provided by shipyard for cargo and/or ballast and fuel tanks), software routines are provided
here to update the corresponding cells in the workbook with this data. During cargo operations, the updating is done
every minute but
updating stops with accompanied audio alerts each hour, on the
hour, for manual input of data that is not available online, if any (such as any ballast tanks without online feed and during discharging, for input of pumping details for update of charterer's "Pumping Log")
and a hard copy print of the Online page is then automatically
generated. This page has all the relevant data re cargo and other
weights on board, the resultant trim, stability and stresses as well as
expected completion times.
With Online routines running, it is possible to set threshold alarms for individual tank volume percent, total volume and for mean draft in both directions (>= or <). These alarms can be suspended by the user. Also provided is >98% alarms for each tank which cannot be suspended (only acknowledged).
Worksheets in the project
The Interface Sheet
In this sheet, the user enters the manual entries, which include
The titles for the Ullage Report such as: voyage number, cargo grade for that segregation, the v.e.f., the drafts at LPs, the B/L details and the cargo details such as: measured ullages, measured temperatures, API/Density, calculation tables, etc.
Each segregation has a sub-menu for appending data to VEF record and master database, for step-by-step increment/decrement. etc.
Constant, Fuel, FW, Ballast
This sheet is for input of data for constant, fuel, fresh water and ballast.
Ullage Report
This sheet is the charterer's ullage report for tank ship. The titles automatically change according to the type of cargo and calculation tables selected.
Trim and Stability
This sheets provides the results for trim and stability in tabular and chart presentation forms. SN's unique algoritm for computing actual draft is included here.
Stresses
The stress page provides in tabular and chart presentations, the results of the longitudinal stress calculations for bending moments and shearing forces.
Hydrostatic Calculation
In this page, hydrostatic calculation is featured for input of drafts at the gauges and at the marks. The vessel's contours have been fed in so that the drafts "on the other side" can be ascertained when only "one side" drafts have been taken. Just enter the list and the drafts on one side to obtain accurate drafts on the opposite side. Every tanker man knows that it is practically impossible to read all six drafts at most tanker jetties.
The program also provides the facility for projecting the draft gauges to the draft marks. This is useful when the drafts at the marks cannot be taken - for well known reasons such as poor visibility conditions or the need to complete cargo calculations as quickly as possible.
Accumulation of sludge can be determined by the value of the "Constant". This being the difference in the displacement as per the draft marks and the displacement as per the manual inputs of ullages, etc.
OBQ/ROB Report
This is the charterer's standard form for OBQ/ROB. The results are computed for the measured dip and trim and automatically reflected in the associated Ullage Report and Port Log.
Slops Certificate
This sheet is similar to the OBQ/ROB sheet. The oil+water and water only quantities are computed for the measured ullages and interface, corrected for trim and heel. The results are reflected in the associated Ullage Report and Port Log.
LOP B/L Figures
This charterer's standard form is presented to the terminal or shipper to protest ship and shore figures discrepancy. Only the titles are manual entries, all other figures being directly imported from the associated ullage report. The titles from this page are exported to other forms in the workbook this keeping with the fundamental theme to reduce manual entries to the barest minimum.
LOP Delays
The charterer's standard form protesting delays incurred during the period of port stay.
LOP Free Water
No manual entries required on this sheet at all other than any remarks (for example: "Traces found in tanks 3S and Stbd Slops"). The figures for free water and the respective tanks are auto-updated to this sheet.
LOP Short Load
A standard charterer's form to protest an under-load condition. This is useful if a dead-freight statement is not issued.
LOP No Papers
Another charterer's form that is auto-updated with figures in readiness for issuing a protest for a situation where the vessel is forced to sail without issuance of cargo papers by the terminal or shippers.
LOP Spare
This form is used when a protest letter has to be issued on a subject that is not covered by the forms above. The user enters the titles and text. The other legal "jargon" is already entered.
Deadweight Statement
This form is the charterer's deadfreight statement standard form. Much of the data is auto-updated from relevant cells in other sheets or simply by the click of a button.
Voyage Report
The charterer's standard form for reporting voyage conditions.
Pumping Log
This is the charterer's standard form for discharge pumping conditions. If online facility is provided as in the case of the sample ship here, the program will stop each hour, on the hour, with sound alerts and present a dialog box for the user to enter the required data such as manifold pressure, pump discharge pressure, bulk pumping rate, etc.
Port Log
The arrival and departure cargo details in this sheet are updated at a click of a button. Other details such as times and dates have to be manually entered.
Log Abstract, COW Report, Off-Hire Statement
V.E.F.
This sheet has a record of the vessel's last 30 cargoes and computes and presents the V.E.F. for the last 10, last 20 and last 30 cargoes. Independent surveyors who are usually charged with the responsibility of determining the v.e.f. are very happy with a presentation of the previous cargoes in this way.
NOR.
Cargo
Request
Discharge
Request. Cargo
Receipt
Charterer's standard form for Notice of Readiness. Appropriate fields in the worksheet are updated from custom input boxes.
CTRL-M (In Lieu of a Dedicated Menu)
Keying in CTRL-M from anywhere in the application will bring up a dialog box with some special funtions.