Why “black-box optimization” fails in real commercial practice
In chartering and operations, decisions are rarely made once. Inputs change - cargo availability, freight assumptions, bunker prices, laycans, constraints, regulatory exposure - and teams need to understand why a scenario is optimal and what happens if inputs shift.
A black-box output may look impressive, but it is difficult to trust, explain, or adapt under uncertainty. Commercial optimization must be not only accurate, but also controllable.
Marine Solver is built around controllable parameters
Marine Solver makes decision logic explicit. Users can model a single voyage or a chain of voyages, set a planning period, define laycan windows (and allowed deviations), and adjust operational and commercial constraints that matter in practice.
Detectors that reduce manual work and improve consistency
To keep optimization aligned with operational reality, Marine Solver includes built-in detectors that are applied consistently across scenarios:
- SECA zones / SECA ports detection,
- canal detection (with toll modelling and route-choice implications),
- EU ports detection to model EU ETS exposure where applicable.
Fuel differentiation as an explicit control lever
The system supports fuel differentiation (e.g., VLSFO and FO/HFO), so users can evaluate scenarios under realistic bunkering assumptions rather than simplified averages. This is essential when SECA segments, canal choices and regulatory exposure create meaningful commercial trade-offs.
Balancing financial outcomes and environmental constraints
Environmental management is integrated into the same controllable framework. A vessel’s emissions-related performance target (for example via IMO CII (AER)-aware constraints) can be treated as a decision lever alongside commercial objectives.
This means optimization can simultaneously:
- minimise total cost (including bunkers, canals and ETS-related effects where relevant),
- maximise profitability,
- manage time exposure and operational feasibility,
- and keep the vessel within targeted environmental performance bands.
Scenario thinking - the practical result
Every setting forms part of a transparent scenario where results are driven by conscious decisions, not hidden logic. The platform turns optimization into an explainable process: you can adjust inputs, rerun scenarios within minutes, and see how trade-offs shift.