Port call savings with DA-Desk
Platform / digitisation savings |
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FDA checks – value of credit notes |
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Supplier discounts |
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Payments savings - FX |
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Payments savings – Transaction/fees/bank charges |
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1. Platform / digitisation savings
DA-Desk is a digital platform to manage and issue all your DAs. Digitalisation savings result in the following ways:
Operational benefits
- Time savings for your team – free them up to work on more value add activities, and not the paperwork
- All documents, DAs, payments and SOAs at your fingertips – saves time
- Process efficiency gain and data quality improvement by automating data capture into IMOS and SAP, eliminating manual data entry
- Benefit from benchmarking capabilities of 200,000 port calls annually
- Full visibility of and access to transactional and port cost data (learning loop)
- Ensuring every port call is costed accurately
- Enhancing operators’ control and understanding of port cost without adding significant workload
Organisational benefits
- Ability to scale up without hiring additional resources
- A web-based system that supports multiple processes
- A digital process and information flow linking all departments
- Our platform offers full integration to your VMS.
2. FDA checks and resulting credit note savings
We carry out a series of checks and validations on EVERY SINGLE PDA and FDA.
Using a combination of skilled experts, automation and AI.
DAVE – our Disbursement Account Validation Engine software – assists our large team of experts.
DAVE helps check that rebates are accounted for on every transaction, irrespective of the value.
This smart screening is achieved using a combination of technology and people expertise. Find out more about our DA screening service.
3. Supplier discounts savings
An associated product closely tied to DA-Desk is our solution called PortsDirect – where you benefit from discounts we have negotiated from port suppliers, especially towage and pilotage.
We have a team dedicated to driving the best discounts from port suppliers in over 400 ports.
The net savings are derived by deducting the PortsDirect fee from the discounted amount which we obtain for customers off the vendor’s official tariffs.


4. Payments savings – Reducing your FX and bank charges
Because we make payments for our customers of $13bn a year, we have negotiated access to preferential FX and bank payment fees/charges.
The bank charge and FX savings are calculated by working out the difference between what customers were paying prior to DA-Desk versus the lower rates they pay after taking DA-Desk.
Full quantification and breakdown of the savings are shown on the financial dashboard of each of our customers.
Webinar: DA-Desk and port cost savings
Watch the webinar on-demand now
A few of the things we cover:
- The largest and smallest credit note in 2023
- The most common mistake or error found in the Final DA
- Interesting results on the trends of the average credit note in the last 16 years
- 3 touchpoints to process your DAs
Savings FAQs
Can you get discounts on services in ports?
PortsDirect delivers structured procurement of discounted rate agreements with quality port services providers. We handle the administration of those agreements for the benefit of shipping companies and suppliers offering high-quality services at competitive pricing. With a growing network of competitive contracts in over 418 ports in 32 countries
Can you make payments outside of the port call to other suppliers and crew wages etc?
MarTrust provides financial solutions and services focused solely on the maritime industry. In close partnership with leading global financial institutions, the company enables ship owners, vessel operators, ship managers, crewing companies and other industry players to make safe and efficient cross-border payments in over 130 currencies at minimal costs and highly competitive foreign exchange (FX) rates. In keeping with Marcura’s operating principles, MarTrust discloses its costs, benchmarks its FX rates, and delivers savings to its customers while ensuring adherence to strict compliance standards.