Ballast Port: Latitude & Longitude for 'At Sea'

This section explains the Ballast Latitude and Ballast Longitude fields and how they function.

Starting in Release 8.7, ballast port that are 'At Sea' will have latitude and longitude coordinates. These coordinates will be used for routing as well as for the voyage map. If a previous port call is available, the ballast port will automatically use its coordinates. Otherwise, the coordinates will default to (0,0) until updated manually.

Figure 1: Voyage ending At Sea

Figure 2: The consecutive voyage with ballast port At Sea

Figures 1 and 2 illustrate how this works for consecutive voyages when the previous voyage ends at sea.

How It Works

When a voyage has an 'At Sea' ballast port, the Ballast Latitude and Ballast Longitude fields appear in the vessel section of the voyage drawer (see Figure 3). If there is an open position port call available, its coordinates will be used by default. If no previous port call is available, both values will default to zero.

Users can also manually enter the ballast port’s position in these fields. If the ballast port is later changed to a another port, the fields will be hidden, and the voyage will use the coordinates of the selected port.

Figure 3: At Sea Ballast Port selected

Editing the Ballast Latitude & Longitude

After creating a voyage, the ballast latitude and longitude can be modified by opening the voyage drawer and navigating to the vessel section (see Figure 3). These fields will only be available when the ballast port is set to 'At Sea'.

Note: Editing is only enabled if the voyage start date is fixed.

Changing the Ballast Port

If the ballast port is changed from 'At Sea' to a another port, the latitude and longitude fields will disappear, and the voyage will automatically update to reflect the new port’s coordinates.