In this article
01 · THE QUESTION
The employment question
A 58,000-dwt Supramax is opening at Qingdao. The chartering desk can fix a Houston cargo, ballast to the US Gulf for grain, or wait for a Pacific opportunity.
The objective is not to identify the highest headline rate. It is to understand which employment offers the strongest commercial position once voyage economics, downside exposure, commitment and the next vessel open are considered together.
02 · THE FRICTION
Why the answer is difficult
Each alternative changes more than the daily return. A longer voyage can improve expected TCE while tying up the vessel, increasing cash exposure and leaving it in a weaker position for the next fixture.
Market inputs also age while the decision is being made. Rates, bunkers, port costs, route assumptions and cargo timing do not carry the same authority or remain valid for the same period. A credible comparison must keep those differences visible.
03 · DENDROH'S WORK
What Dendroh investigates
Dendroh starts from an approved Supramax market-view record, then establishes fresh vessel-specific economics and commercial constraints. The market view is selected explicitly rather than inherited as ambient context.
Every option is calculated on the same basis. The work retains expected and downside TCE, committed days, next open, cash requirement, bunker exposure, contractual risk, evidence gaps, expiry conditions and fallback.
04 · WORKED COMPARISON
Comparing the alternatives
The worked comparison shows how alternatives can be made comparable without collapsing the decision to a score or hiding uncertainty behind a confidence percentage.
05 · THE OUTPUT
What the work produces
The result is a decision-ready comparison in which each employment case answers the same questions and every calculation remains connected to its retained inputs. Unavailable evidence remains unavailable rather than being replaced with a plausible assumption.
- Approved Supramax market-view record
- Freight indications and cargo terms
- Bunker, port and canal cost inputs
- Vessel position and route assumptions
- Expected and downside TCE calculations
- Timing, fallback and evidence-expiry rules
The comparison makes the commercial consequences visible. It does not select the fixture by itself.
06 · AUTHORITY
Authority and accountability
In this application, the chartering manager selects the employment and records the rationale. Dendroh supplies the structured investigation, comparable alternatives and evidence trail under the permissions configured for the programme.
The selected option, source set and assumptions remain available for later review. A new investigation can begin from the approved record without silently rewriting what the desk knew at the time.
