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The CSL Group Inc.
The CSL Group Inc. is a Canadian based company headquartered in Montreal and has affiliated offices in Halifax, Winnipeg, Burlington Ontario, Vancouver, Boston Massachusetts, Sydney Australia and Singapore. The company specializes in self-unloading bulk carriers with Great Lakes, coastal and deep sea trading capabilities. The CSL Group operates/manages a fleet of more than 50 vessels with a total deadweight of ~2.5 m metric tons. CSL expects to handle ~ 76.5 m tons of dry bulk commodities in 2009. CSL is the largest commercial manager of self-unloading dry bulk cargo vessels in the world.
Scalable, Configurable Technology Needed
For several years, the CSL Group had been using an in house designed system to handle its voyage estimating and reporting functions. As the business has grown it became evident that the system in place would need modifications in order to handle new, more complex voyages that were now being undertaken.
The Montreal-based headquarters IT staff began researching alternatives that could be incorporated easily into the existing commercial systems in use within the organization. The challenge they faced was finding a solution that would offer powerful voyage calculations, deliver comprehensive port to port operational information, and handle unique voyage requirements. In addition, they wanted to partner with a vendor that would be able to offer additional technology as needed in the future.
Veson’s IMOS Chartering Module & Veslink Distances
Kevin Johnston, Director of Information Technology for the CSL Group, explains: “We researched offerings from all the major vendors in this market to replace some of our ‘homegrown’ tools. We needed a vendor that was willing to develop a custom interface that could easily incorporate into our existing systems, as well as be amenable to tailoring other tools to our requirements.” After a thorough analysis, the CSL Group chose to install Veson Nautical IMOS Chartering Module and Veslink Distances.
The installation proceeded very smoothly as Johnston comments, “Veson’s level of expertise was consistent throughout our working together. Veson delivered on time, on budget, and with the modifications that we required—all in less than two months. In addition, John shared his vision of the future, which we find very exciting and opens us up to the possibility of a long-term relationship. We are currently in discussions with Veson for a very new approach for ship to shore information flow to enable us to have real time data and reduce both workloads onshore as well as onboard and alleviate some of the double entry and errors.”
Powerful Functions Within the IMOS Chartering Module
Veson and CSL staff teamed up to incorporate the Veson Nautical IMOS Chartering module into the existing system. Veson built a tailored interface for CSL, and within a very short timeframe IMOS was fully merged and efficiently managing the company’s voyage operations.
Today, Veson Nautical IMOS Chartering Module functions as a true decision making tool; it enables the CSL staff to simulate, analyze and ultimately decide which voyages are the most cost effective and profitable. It estimates the profit/loss or TC equivalent of a voyage and allows the CSL team to perform comprehensive sensitivity analysis quickly and easily.
According to Simon Cox, Director of Contract Administration for CSL International, “The consecutive voyage feature is crucial for us. Because we are a highly specialized operator, we need to look at a whole mix and match of consecutive voyages as a total ‘package.’ Since we have long term, multi-year contracts with our customers, we must be able to analyze the financial result of placing a ship into a series of trades. The Chartering Module gives us the data we need to make the best decisions we can.”
Veslink Distances Delivers
Veson Nautical Veslink is a new configurable web-based service that creates a network of trusted contacts for exchanging data vital to successful shipping operations. The Veslink Distances service provides users access to millions of routes instantly through their own preferred interface. Veslink Distances offers integration with Jeppesen Marine C-Map’s state of the art nautical charts. The web-based service allows companies to plan voyages, analyze incident sites, improve efficiency, and limit environmental impact using Jeppesen’s official government-issued maritime navigational charts.
Today, CSL staff can utilize Veslink Distances as an itinerary planner to chart the best possible course for a voyage; ETA and ETD calculations are included. CSL users may also include Bunker cost and consumption for additional detail.
Looking Into the Future
The CSL Group is continuing to grow at a fast rate and requires software to keep pace with its corporate and customer needs. Implementing IMOS Chartering and Veslink Distances were key components to CSL’s on-going process of improving voyage analysis and decision making. Veson Nautical will continue to work with CSL’s knowledgeable team in the future as its business continues to grow and expand.
