Digital port clearance for tankers
Life at sea is hard.
Port clearance should not be.
Digital port clearance
A tanker call carries more paperwork than any other port call.
Every tanker call involves unique ports, berths, terminals, cargoes and reporting requirements. While the information often exists, crews still spend valuable time finding, verifying and re-entering it.
Digital port clearance replaces manual arrival and departure paperwork with pre filled forms, up to date port requirements and electronic submission.
For tanker operators, this means cargo declarations, terminal forms, class and flag documents, and crew lists are generated from data entered once.
Tasks that previously took hours can be completed in around 20 minutes.
In Practice
Documentation should support safety and efficiency – not extend the workload.
Source: The 191-minute average and 64% paper-based figure come from the 2024 Global Survey on Port-Call Documentation, commissioned by BIMCO, IAPH, IFSMA and FONASBA. The survey received 488 valid responses worldwide, predominantly from ship Masters across mixed vessel types. The approximately 20-minute preparation time is CFARER’s own workflow figure and is not a measured comparison with the survey.
Digital Port Clearance by CFARER.
Customized for tankers.
Always compliant.
I wish to express my gratitude for your program. It is making my life much easier and saves a huge amount of time. Now I cannot imagine how I filled out all these pre arrival papers before.
Master, m/v Sea Shannon
Amasus Shipping
Digital port clearance customers
Trusted by tanker operators and
maritime professionals
across the industry
Euronav
Odfjell
TORM
Uni-Tankers
Solvang
EXMAR
Höegh Evi
Rederiet Stenersen
TB Marine
Anglo-Eastern
Stolt Tankers
OSM Thome
BW LNG
BW LPG
Maersk Tankers
Navig8
V.Group / V.Ships
Synergy Marine Group
Ardmore Shipping
Hafnia
Two solutions to match your trading patterns
Two routes.One destination.
Every trade has its rhythm. No matter if short sea runs or deep sea crossings, the goal stays the same: faster, safer port calls.
CFARER offers two digital clearance routes. Pick what fits the way you sail.
PORT MATE
For frequent, short-sea and regional tanker calls
Built for short sea rhythm. Low bandwidth. Offline ready.
- One account per vessel. Vessel details entered once, then reused for every call.
- A guided checklist walks the Master through the port call.
- Generates the official local pre arrival forms.
- Digital signature or stamp, or print the old fashioned way.
- Sends the document package straight to your chosen agent, with a copy to the Master.
- The offline module keeps admin running and syncs once you are back online.
Best fit: Chemical and product tankers in short-sea or regional trade. Frequent terminal calls, tight schedules, patchy connectivity, an agent-led clearance process.
Coverage: EMEA-focused port coverage.
NAVIGATOR PORT
For international and complex tanker routes
Broader port clearance and port intelligence. Built to keep running regardless of satellite connectivity. Maintained weekly.
- Port papers prefilled from operational logs and static datasets.
- Arrival and departure checklists unique to each port and regulated water.
- An inbuilt requirement explorer for current rules and regulations.
- Electronic reporting direct to US eNOAD and Singapore ePAN, plus reporting to various Maritime Single Windows through approved agencies.
- Interlinked port, terminal and pilot-station information, with nautical publications in the same environment.
- Weekly updates to forms, regulations, port and terminal data.
Best fit: International tanker fleets on changing or complex routes. Crews needing broader port and regulated-water information, direct electronic reporting and maintained publications.
Coverage: Global port, terminal and pilot station coverage.
Maritime Single Window
Submit once.
That was the idea.
A Maritime Single Window is a national electronic system where a ship submits its arrival, stay and departure information once, and the authorities share it between themselves. IMO Member States have been required to run one since 1 January 2024.
It is the authority’s front door, not the vessel’s. Someone still has to work out what each destination wants, gather it, check it and prepare it before arrival. That vessel side is the part we build.
Prepare faster. Turn hours of document preparation into a streamlined workflow.
Reduce retyping. Reuse vessel, crew, cargo and certificate data across forms.
Stay current. Work from port and berth specific requirements.
Submit with confidence. Create clean, complete document packs for agents and authorities.
Tutorial Navigator Port
Curious how it works?
Watch a port call go from arrival notice to submitted, start to finish.
Contact us
Get started with digital port clearance
FAQ
Want to know more?
Quick answers to the questions tanker operators ask most about digital port clearance.
Does digital port clearance cover chemical and gas tankers as well as crude and product tankers?
Yes. Requirements are held per port and per berth, not per vessel type, so crude oil tankers, product tankers, chemical tankers and LPG or LNG carriers all draw on the same current data set and the same pre-filled forms.
What differs between them is the cargo paperwork, not the system. A chemical parcel tanker working several berths and a crude carrier on a single discharge both pull the arrival and departure documents that port expects, filled from information already held for the vessel and the voyage.
Does this replace our port agent?
No, and it is not meant to. In the 2024 Global Survey on Port-Call Documentation, commissioned by BIMCO, IAPH, IFSMA and FONASBA, 92% of respondents said they learn a port’s requirements through the local agent. That model is not going away.
What changes is what the agent receives. Instead of a chain of attachments, late corrections and follow-up questions, they get one clean, complete package built from data the vessel already holds. The agent still translates local requirements and handles the authority interface. Your crew stops retyping.
Can it submit directly to authorities?
In some countries, yes. Navigator Port reports electronically straight to US eNOAD and Singapore ePAN, and supports reporting to various Maritime Single Windows through approved agencies.
Which of your routes are direct and which run through an agency depends on the countries you call at, and we map that with you before rollout. Where no electronic channel exists, you still get pre-filled, print-ready papers in that port’s own format, so the call runs the same way either way.
Does it work with the crewing and certificate systems we already run?
Yes. Crew and certificate records import from your existing systems, including Mintra OCS, so crew lists, certificate numbers and expiry dates fill themselves instead of being retyped for every port.
That matters most on a tanker, where crew lists and certificate checks are asked for at almost every call and one stale entry can hold up clearance. Vessel certificates sit in one place and are monitored, with alerts before they expire.
How does a tanker fleet rollout usually work?
Most fleets start with a handful of vessels and roll out from there rather than switching everything at once. Setup is per vessel and needs no yard visit and no new hardware.
The onboard installation keeps working with no connection at all, and takes the latest port and regulatory updates whenever a satellite link is available. In practice the pace of a rollout is set by your own scheduling and crew changes, not by the software. Our service and support team runs the onboarding with you.
How much does digital port clearance cost?
There is no single list price. Cost depends on fleet size, vessel types, the regions you trade in and which product fits, and Port Mate and Navigator Port are quoted separately because they cover different operations.
A short-sea chemical fleet and a deep-sea LNG fleet do not need the same setup. The quickest route to a real figure is a short conversation about your fleet profile and trading pattern.
How is crew and vessel data protected?
Crew lists and certificate records are personal data and are handled as such. Access is scoped to your own fleet, so vessels and shore teams see their own data and nothing else.
Every sub-processor is assessed for security and privacy controls and works under a binding agreement on documented instructions, in line with GDPR. Our published sub-processor list shows what each provider does, where it sits and its role in the chain, so your IT and procurement teams can review it before you commit.