Signal Maritime debuts Position Value concept

Tanker pool manager Signal Maritime has introduced a new monthly ‘Position Value’ concept to enable tanker owners to capitalise directly from the geographic position of their vessels on entering or exiting its pools. The Position Value determines the potential earnings of a vessel based on its geographic position considering market conditions, historical data, and every trading option.

“At any given moment a vessel’s opening position holds an earning potential,” explained Signal Maritime Services CEO Panos Dimitracopoulos.  “We’ve developed a price tag for all geographic trading areas which allows us to price spot and time charters in a way which factors the vessel’s earning potential on pool entry or exit.”

Dimitracopoulos described Position Value as a “zero-sum game” which supports the triangulation and trading strategies needed to run a tanker operation.”

The model analyses the historical voyages of a given vessel class to understand the market structure, including flows and their frequency. It utilises data for port and canal expenses, current market rates, average fuel consumption and bunker prices to calculate the time charter equivalent (TCE) for each potential voyage.

Next, the model identifies the most profitable sequence of voyages for any location worldwide, given the current market conditions and most common flows. This analysis derives the Position Value of each area, representing its earnings potential.

The algorithm derived values are checked by the Signal Maritime team, shared with partners and then applied.