The problem

Every port asks the same questions, just differently.

Before a ship enters a port, the authorities need to know who is on board, what the ship carries and where it has been. The IMO FAL forms exist for exactly this. But most ports and agents ask for more, each in their own template, their own language and their own order of fields.

So before every port call, the master or an officer opens yet another spreadsheet and types in the same ship, crew and voyage data by hand. Again.

Source: BIMCO Global Survey on the Administrative Obligations set by Authorities for Port Calls (January 2024, with IAPH, IFSMA and FONASBA), 488 responses, 78 percent masters. Submitted to the IMO as FAL 48/5/3, committee report FAL 48/20.

What it costs

• Officer time. At six port calls a month, 191 minutes per call add up to roughly 19 hours per ship. That figure is calculated, not measured. It is time taken from watchkeeping, rest and the actual work of running a ship.
• Scattered data, retyped by hand. Ship particulars, certificates and crew details sit in different files, mails and earlier forms. Before every port call they are collected again and typed into yet another layout. Each copy by hand is a chance for an error.
• No single procedure for the fleet. Every ship and every crew does the paperwork its own way, and a crew change changes the way again. The company has no uniform process it can roll out and rely on.

Why the single window has not solved it

Since 1 January 2024 the IMO requires a Maritime Single Window. In the EU, the European Maritime Single Window environment (EMSWe, Regulation (EU) 2019/1239) has applied since 15 August 2025. On board, little has changed: 40 percent of authorities still require more than the FAL standard forms, and many national systems will not arrive before 2027 or later.