#1
We repost this threaded since it is being asked a lot:

What is the difference between your Round Voyage (RV) and Actual reported TCE’s.

So we will explain this in a series of tweets.
Skip to tweet #10 TLDR if you just want the summary.

#2
First what is TCE (Time charter equivalent)? As an owner you can employ your vessel in the spot market or agree to a time charter (t/c) with a charterer. The TCE of a spot fixture is comparable to the hire earned if the vessel is employed on t/c.

3#
The TCE is the profit of a ship owner after voyage related costs have been paid. (Income – Bunkers Expenses – Port/Canal Expenses – Commissions). The ship owner still needs to pay for crewing, maintenance, financial costs before we arrive at the net profit.

4#
Actual TCE/days: Based on last discharge port on the previous voyage we calculate the time to arrive at the next loading port plus time to the subsequent discharge port. additionally we add time for port operations such as loading, discharging, bunkering, canal transit.

5#
So the Actual days we publish covers all the time from time of last discharge on previous voyage to the time of last discharge on the current voyage. That number is our Actual Days.

6#
We then estimate:

+Income
– Bunkers Expenses
– Port/Canal Expenses
– Commissions
-----------------
Voyage result
==========

and divide the voyage result by the actual days, the results is the Actual TCE. It is an indication of the financial result of the voyage.

#7
Round Voyage (RV): The Actual TCE is problematic to use when comparing fixtures on different vessels with each other as it depends on the last port of discharge of the vessel. Hence we calculate a RV result which does not depend on the vessels last port of discharge.

#8
So we take the Actual calculation and replace the ballast leg with a theoretical ballast leg which uses the destination of the current voyage as start point.

#9
Example: Assume a vessel has finished discharging in US Gulf and is now fixed on a WAF/China voyage.
Actual voyage: USG -> WAF/China
Round voyage: China -> WAF/China

#10
TLDR (RV vs Act TCE result/days)
The Actual TCE is the financial performance of the voyage for the owner.
The RV can be used to compare fixtures and estimate current market levels. RV is not the financial result of the voyage.

#11
What is open place/date?
Open date/place refers to the position/time where the vessel became available for taking a new cargo. This is usually the last place of discharge but can also be a drydock location if the vessel has just been to drydock.

12#
What does "On Subs" mean?:
When negotiations are concluded, the fixture will be confirmed on subjects with a subs expiry time upon which the fixture must be fully fixed/confirmed or the fixture will fail (or subjects must be extended).

13#
While the fixture is on subjects activities such as the following will be undertaken:
- Charterer’s management approval
- Terminal/Supplier Acceptance

14#
The fixtures tweeted are accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of reporting, but new information may arrive since time of reporting, but be advised that we do not update our tweets (tweets are not editable).
For live updates use our VLCC Fixtures app.

#15
The different elements of our tweets. For explanation of TCE, RV, Act and Idle days see the beginning of this thread.