Custom voyage report app for inland shipping
Appfront builds voyage report apps for inland shipping: the skipper records on board what happens during each voyage, from departure and loading to waiting, lock passages, bunkering and unloading, with the time, position and accompanying documents, and ashore the report is ready for the charterer, the shipper and invoicing. So that waiting hours and demurrage no longer have to be reconstructed from the logbook.
What is an inland shipping voyage report app?
A voyage report is the account of a voyage: when the vessel departed, where and how much it loaded, how long it waited and why, which locks it passed, where it bunkered, and when it unloaded, along with the supporting documents. That data determines the settlement with the shipper, the waiting hours that are chargeable and the demurrage the charterer must substantiate. The app records it on board, at the moment itself, with the time and the device's position, and produces a report at the end.
Without an app, the skipper writes in the logbook, phones the charterer when there is a delay, and submits the report after the voyage. Waiting time then becomes a dispute: the shipper says the vessel arrived too early, the skipper says the quay was occupied, and nobody has a timestamp with a position. For a company running dozens of voyages a week, that means administration falling behind and settlements dragging on.
We build custom software because the report has to match your contracts and your chartering: what counts as waiting time, from which moment, which documents the shipper wants to see, and how the voyage sits in your chartering system. A generic logbook app knows the vessel, but not the agreements with the shipper, nor the settlement that has to follow from them.
Recording on board
One tap per event: departure, arrival at the loading point, start and end of loading, waiting with reason, lock passage, bunkering, discharge. With the time and position of the device, even without coverage.
Documents and quantities
Loading and discharge documents photographed or received, quantities entered or read out, and the signature of the quay where that is customary.
Report to the office
At the end of the voyage, the report per voyage, with the timeline, waiting hours and demurrage according to the contract and the documents, sent to the charterer and invoicing.
How we build your inland shipping voyage report app
We start with the settlement of the most recent voyages: which waiting hours were disputed, which documents were missing, and how the skipper currently reports.
Which events count per voyage, what the contract says about waiting time and demurrage, which documents the shipper requires, and how the voyage is set up in chartering. We look at the disputed settlements.
Today's voyage on the phone or tablet, events with one tap, time and position automatic, photos and documents attached. Working without coverage.
Per voyage the timeline, the waiting hours and demurrage according to the contract rules, the quantities and documents, as a report for the charterer and shipper.
The voyage out and the report back into the chartering system, the export to invoicing, and then management and new contract types.
What an inland shipping voyage report app actually does
The components below come up at almost every shipping company. Which ones you need depends on your contracts and your chartering system.
Voyage timeline
Every event of the voyage in order, with time and position: departure, waiting, loading, passages, bunkering, discharge, arrival.
Waiting time with reason
Waiting starts and ends with a tap and a reason from a list: quay occupied, lock, weather, documents. The reason determines whether it counts.
Loading and discharge records
Quantities, documents photographed or received, and the signature of the quay. The basis for settlement with the shipper.
Bunkering and consumption
Bunkering with quantity and receipt, and consumption per voyage where the engine provides it, for the cost price per voyage.
Voyage report
Per voyage the report with timeline, waiting hours and demurrage according to the contract, quantities and documents, as a PDF and as data.
Cargo and invoicing integration
The voyage from the chartering system, the report sent back, and the invoice lines for waiting hours and demurrage to invoicing.
Who we build an inland shipping voyage report app for
The app is intended for those who have to account per voyage for what happened on board and on which the settlement depends.
Shipping companies with their own skippers
Dozens of voyages a week with administration ashore. The voyage timeline and the report to chartering are the core.
Independent skippers on fixed routes
One vessel, fixed clients, waiting hours that get disputed. Waiting time with time and position matters most.
Charterers
Voyages with multiple vessels and a settlement with the shipper. A report per voyage in one format is what is needed.
Tanker and dry bulk shipping
Loading and discharge documents demanded by the shipper and the terminal. Document registration and the quay's signature are the core.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we turn your idea into something tangible in one day for €1,150, so you can see whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we credit the full cost.
Explore OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
This page is about recording the voyage on board. For planning the voyage in advance, see our page on voyage and lock planning, and for road transport with the same questions our page on trip registration software. You can read about our approach at building software.
For the office, with the voyage reports of all vessels, demurrage and invoicing, there is our software for inland shipping voyage reports.
Why choose Appfront for your inland shipping voyage report app?
A voyage report is evidence in a settlement. It has to be created on board, with time and position, and it has to follow the terms of the contract. That is what we build on.
Time and position from the device
Not from the skipper's memory after the trip, but at the moment it happens. That is what a charterer accepts when there is a dispute about waiting hours.
The contract is built in
What counts as waiting time and from when is set per contract in the app. The report calculates according to those rules, so the charterer no longer has to work it out.
One tap per event
A skipper has no time for forms. Departure, waiting, loading: one tap, and the device handles the rest.
Security and privacy for an inland shipping voyage report app
The app processes vessel positions, cargo details and customer data from charterers, and sometimes signatures from quay staff. Access is set by role: the skipper sees their own voyages, the charterer their voyages, and the shipper only the report for their cargo. Data is kept for as long as the settlement and retention obligations require.
The app runs in a European data centre, with encrypted storage and daily backups. Integrations with cargo and invoicing systems use their own keys, which can be revoked per integration.
Frequently asked questions about an inland shipping voyage report app
Questions shipping companies and skippers ask before getting started.
On board, the skipper records every event of the voyage with a single tap: departure, waiting with reason, loading and unloading with documents, lock passages, bunkering and arrival, with the device's time and position. At the end, the app produces the voyage report with waiting hours and demurrage days according to the contract, for the charterer, shipper and invoicing.
Yes. Events are stored with the time and position at that moment and sent as soon as there is a connection. On the river, in a lock or at a remote quay, the skipper simply keeps logging; the shore side sees it as soon as the vessel has signal again.
According to the terms of the contract with the shipper: from which point waiting time counts, which reasons count and which do not, and how demurrage days are rounded. Those rules are stored per contract in the app, and the report applies them. The skipper only records events; the calculation is done on shore.
Yes. Loading and unloading documents can be photographed or received digitally, quantities entered or read out, and where the quay signs, the signature is included in the report. Photos of damage or a blocked quay are attached to the event with its time and position.
Yes. The voyage comes from your chartering system onto the skipper's phone, and the report goes back to the voyage, with invoice lines for waiting hours and demurrage days sent to invoicing. We connect to the package you use; the app does not become a second chartering system.
No. The voyage report covers the commercial accounting of the voyage to the charterer and shipper. The statutory logbook and voyage time registration have their own rules and their own tools; the app can supply data to them, but does not replace them.
Ask that first. There are logbook apps that record events, and for a skipper who doesn't dispute settlements, that's enough. Custom development makes sense when waiting time has to be calculated according to contract terms, when the report has to land in the chartering system, or when shippers require their own formats and documents.
Every voyage documented on board, settled without dispute?
Tell us how many vessels you operate, which chartering system you use, and how many waiting hours have been disputed in recent months. We'll show you what the skipper app, the calculation and the report look like.