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Port Disbursement Account Audit

A port disbursement account checked line by line from the proforma to the final, each move proven against the tariff, the receipt, the ship's particulars and the port log.

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The problem

A tug ordered on another ship's length still comes with a valid receipt

The port agent's final account lands weeks after sailing, a few dozen lines and a stack of receipts to settle against the advance. Proving one line takes four things kept in four places: the tariff item, the receipt or ticket, the ship's particulars and the statement of facts. Nobody opens all four for each line.

So a weekend pilot surcharge looks like an overcharge until someone reads the statement of facts, and a third tug billed on the wrong length passes because the tug company's invoice is genuine. Queries leave as free email and come back the same way, often as per tariff, while the next call's advance is agreed on top of the open dispute.

Built forPort cost analystsFinance controllersOperations managersVoyage operators

The Problem Today

Each billed line rests on a tariff, a receipt, the ship's particulars and the port log, and the analyst opens them one at a time.

Opened for each line, by hand

  • Tariff book
  • Tickets
  • Particulars
  • SOF
  • Advances paid on assumptionsThe proforma rests on the agent's file and a guessed timeline
  • Queries answered in proseA free email question invites an as-per-tariff reply

The Solution

  1. Moved lines pairedAgents set the final against the proforma and stamp each line that moved
  2. Billed basis testedLength, tonnage and draft on each order checked against the ship
  3. The agent's reply rehearsedA challenger answers our query first and finds our own weak points
  4. Two signatures to payThe analyst proposes; a second signer checks the proof first

Built-in controls

  • No one approves a payment they proposed
  • Agents name the mismatch, never the agency's intent
  • The agency's own notes reach a person first

What You Get

The operator pays port costs on proof, gets credit for lines billed in error, and quotes fixtures on the right ship.

  • Our own weak query droppedThe challenger tests our draft before the agency sees it
  • Estimates from the ship itselfNext-call estimates built from its own certificates
  • A case file per accountWho signed, after opening what, and why
Features

Port disbursement account features, from the agent's final to the credit note

One grain call at a Texas port, worked by the port cost analyst and signed by the finance controller, from the agency's final account to its credit.

demoThe ship, the agencies, the people, the tariffs and the figures shown are all sample data.

  1. 01Reconcile

    Proforma and final disbursement account side by side, line against line

    • Moved lines stamped only once proven. A line is stamped explained, query or part query only after an agent proves it, so the analyst reads no verdict nobody earned.
    • Running hold total above the papers. The amount held counts up as stamps land, with approve, advance and pay now beside it, so nobody works the balance out by hand.
    • A steer box in plain words. The analyst asks for a check, such as launch trips against the master's log, and the plan and the confidence change in view.
  2. 02Particulars

    Length, tonnage and draft billed on, checked against the ship's particulars

    • Service orders compared with the ship. Towage ordered on the wrong length is caught before the balance is paid, even when the tug company's own invoice is in order.
    • Tonnage against the tonnage certificate. Harbor dues and pilotage billed on the wrong gross or net tonnage show before the balance is paid.
    • Draft moves tested for money effect. Arrival and sailing drafts are checked against the pilot tariff's draft bands, and a move with no money effect is marked as such.
  3. 03Tug invoice

    Receipts, tug invoices and pilot cards opened at the passage each agent read

    • Proof chips on every stamp. One click opens the tug invoice, pilot card or certificate at the highlighted passage the agent read.
    • Documents rendered as they arrived. The analyst checks the agent's reading against the page, never against a summary.
  4. 04Account lines

    Each line of the final disbursement account priced from its tariff item

    • Tariff price beside proforma and final. Harbor fee, dockage, pilotage and agency fee are each worked from the tariff item or fee agreement, so undercharges show as well as overcharges.
    • Filters for moved, queried and short of a receipt. The analyst works the lines that moved or lack a ticket and leaves matched lines alone.
    • Receipt threshold applied line by line. Lines above the company's threshold must carry a receipt, so a launch trip with no ticket stands out.
  5. 05Agent's reply

    A challenger plays the port agent's reply before the query is sent

    • Likely replies predicted and checked. Each excuse the agency is likely to give is tested against the pilot card, weather record and tariff, and the evidence goes with the query.
    • Errors in our own draft dropped. A point the statement of facts does not support is taken out before the agency sees it, so the query survives the agency's reply.
    • Hold recalculated when a point drops. The amount held falls when a weak point goes, and the analyst agrees to the drop on the record.
  6. 06The run

    Disbursement account audit run, each step with its source and confidence

    • Each agent's plan and sources visible. Each step carries the document behind it, the conclusion and a confidence, so any step can be challenged.
    • Hand-offs named agent to agent. The analyst sees who passed what to whom, from pairing lines to pricing them to drafting the query.
    • Skipping a check takes a reason. A check the analyst drops is logged with who dropped it and why, so the case file shows what was left untested.
  7. 07What-if

    Pay in full, pay and hold, or pay and claim back, played forward

    • Cash out, money at risk and next advance. Each way of settling shows what leaves today, what is exposed, and what the next call's advance becomes.
    • Assumptions labeled for the analyst. Recovery rate, days to recover and cost of money are marked assumed for the analyst to confirm, and the options recompute on each edit.
  8. 08Approval

    Balance released once the finance controller opens the proof and signs

    • Sign disabled until the evidence is opened. The controller opens the bridge, the pilot card and the particulars before signing, so approval follows the evidence.
    • Reason codes both ways. Approving or sending back takes a code and the checker's own words, both kept in the trail.
    • Approval limits by amount. Larger payments go to the finance controller, smaller ones to the operations manager, and no one signs a proposal of their own.
  9. 09Ask-back

    A fixed-field query to the port agent for each disputed line

    • What we need and what we found, per line. The agency sees exactly which line is held, for how much, and the evidence behind the hold.
    • Sent only after the second signature. No query or payment leaves before someone other than the analyst has signed.

Four desks between the advance and the closed final account

The analyst proves and proposes, the controller and the operations manager sign, the voyage operator supplies the ship's records.

Port cost analysts

Audit each final account, steer the agents, propose payments, holds and queries

  • Moved lines proven, the proof a click away
  • Queries rehearsed against the agency's likely reply
  • Open finals sorted by days left to pay
Finance controllers

Sign larger payments after opening the evidence behind them

  • Bridge, pilot card and particulars to open first
  • Reason codes to approve or send back
  • The agency's credit shown against the hold
Operations managers

Manage agency relations; sign smaller payments, closings and standing checks

  • Each agency's record across calls
  • Past rulings turned into proposed checks
  • The agency's note word for word before closing
Voyage operators

Put the statement of facts, pilot card and master's log on the voyage file

  • The records the analysts still need, listed
  • One place to answer questions about the call
More screens

The port agent's portal, the final accounts queue and the next call's estimate

What the agency answers in, what else is open, and how the next proforma is checked before its advance.

The port agent's sideThe agency answers each held line in fields: credit or keep, who ordered the tug, the length declared, the credit note number.
Reply inThe credit lands through the fields; the agency's free-text note is marked not compared, and closing stays blocked until the analyst opens it.
Final accounts queueNinety-two open finals by status, oldest clock first, with owners and days left to pay.
Port agentsEach agency's calls, average move from proforma to final and credits, with past rulings and a proposed particulars check waiting for approval.
Estimate for the next fixtureAn estimated port disbursement account for another ship, built from its own certificates and audited calls, against a copy of this call.
Audit trailWho did what, when and why, including what each signature meant, filtered by person, agent or signature.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

Seven agents read each account; an eighth builds estimates; none pays

Each proves its part of a line and passes it to the next by name.

DA reader

Itemizes the proforma and final, pairs their lines and lists what moved.

  • Never treats a line total as proof
Port log agent

Reads the statement of facts, pilot card, master's log and weather record for times, tugs and trips.

  • Never fills a gap in the log with an assumption
Tariff agent

Prices each line from the port, pilot and tug tariffs and the agency fee agreement.

  • Never prices on particulars it has not checked
Particulars agent

Checks length, tonnage and drafts on the account and on service orders against the ship's own record.

  • Says billed on particulars that do not match, never that anyone overcharged on purpose
Receipts agent

Matches every line to a receipt, ticket or agreement.

  • A receipt alone never proves the service was needed
Query writer

Drafts the fixed-field query and the pay and hold split.

  • Sends no query and no payment
The agent's read

Plays the port agent replying to the draft query and attacks our own points.

  • Decides nothing about what to pay
Estimator

Builds port cost estimates for the chartering desk from each ship's certificates and audited calls.

  • Never copies another ship's account

Holding a line is immediate; paying and closing need a second signature

Paying the balanceThe analyst proposes; the finance controller or operations manager signs by amount, after opening the evidence.
Closing the accountBlocked until the analyst opens the agency's free-text note; the operations manager signs with the note in view.
Judging the agencyAgents describe the mismatch only. Short-paying, changing agents or claiming is a person's call, and the assistant names who.
Standing checks on an agencyA check learned from rulings applies only once the operations manager approves it.
SettingsTolerances, the receipt threshold and approval limits change only when the controller approves the administrator's proposal.

What port cost teams ask about the port disbursement account

What is a port disbursement account?

A port disbursement account is the port agent's account of a ship's port costs: the proforma estimates harbor fees, pilotage, tugs, launches and the agency fee before arrival, and the final bills what was spent, with receipts. Here agents prove each line that moved between the two, and people decide what to pay.

How does a PDA differ from an FDA?

The proforma disbursement account is the estimate the owner or operator pays in advance. The final disbursement account follows after sailing, with receipts, and the difference against the advance is settled or queried.

How does a disbursement account audit decide what to hold?

A line is held only when its proof fails: the tariff prices it differently, a receipt or ticket is missing, or an order was placed on particulars that do not match the ship. The analyst proposes the hold, and paying the rest waits for a second signature.

Does it accuse the port agent of overcharging?

No. The agents say a line was billed on particulars that do not match the certificate, and give no verdict on paying, short-paying, changing agents or claiming. Asked, the assistant points to whoever decides.

How does the port agent answer a query?

Through a portal, with one fixed-field answer per disputed line: credit in full, credit part or keep the charge, who ordered the service, and the credit note or ticket. Only those fields and attached receipts change the account.

Does it help with port cost management before the call?

Yes. The estimator builds next-call estimates for the chartering desk from the ship's own certificates and audited calls, and a check learned from past rulings can test the next proforma before its advance is paid.

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Bring a final account
you already paid.

Send one closed call with its proforma, final and receipts, and we will prove it with you, line against line.

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