The vocabulary of ship supply and port agency, explained in plain language — and mapped to the Mazu module where each term lives.
The everyday language of ports and vessel operations that every supplier and agent works with.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Ship chandler | A company that supplies visiting ships with everything they need — provisions, deck, engine and cabin stores, spare parts — while the vessel is in port. Also called a ship supplier. |
| Port agent | The local representative appointed by a shipowner or operator to handle a vessel's port call: berthing arrangements, customs and port formalities, services and the costs that come with them. |
| Vessel | Any ship — tanker, bulk carrier, container ship, general cargo — that a supplier provisions or an agent attends. In Mazu, vessels are records connected to the client that operates them. |
| IMO number | A unique seven-digit number assigned to a ship for its whole life, unchanged through name or flag changes. The safest way to identify a vessel across documents and systems. |
| ETA / ETD | Estimated Time of Arrival / Estimated Time of Departure. The window that dictates when quotes must be confirmed, goods picked and deliveries made alongside. |
| Berth | The spot in a port where a vessel moors to load, discharge or receive supplies and services. |
| Anchorage | A designated waiting area outside the harbour where ships lie at anchor. Deliveries to vessels at anchorage are typically made by launch or supply boat. |
| Master | The captain — the officer in command of the vessel, and the person who signs for deliveries and requests on board. |
| Bonded stores | Duty-free goods such as tobacco and spirits held under customs bond and supplied to vessels in international trade under customs supervision. |
| Provisions | Food and catering supplies for the crew — fresh, frozen and dry stores — one of the core categories a ship chandler delivers. |
| Flag state | The country where a vessel is registered. It determines the regulations the ship sails under and appears on most port-call paperwork. |
Who you sell to and the ships they operate — the records everything else in Mazu attaches to.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Client | A company you actively trade with — a shipowner, ship manager, operator or another supplier. In Mazu, every quote, order and invoice hangs off the client record. |
| Potential | A prospect: a company you are courting but have not invoiced yet. Kept separate from clients so the pipeline stays honest. |
| Contact | A named person at a client or potential — purchaser, superintendent, agent — with the details you need to reach them. |
| Vessel record | The profile of a ship linked to the client that operates it, collecting every inquiry, quotation and port call for that vessel in one place. |
| Fleet | The set of vessels managed or operated by one company. Knowing the fleet tells you the real size of an account. |
The terms of the agency trade — attending vessels in port and accounting for every cost of the call.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Port call | A vessel's visit to a port, from arrival to departure. In Mazu it is the operational file that gathers the services, costs and documents of the visit. |
| Disbursement accountDA | The itemised statement of all costs an agent pays on the owner's behalf during a port call — port dues, pilotage, towage, launches and more. |
| Proforma disbursement accountPDA | The estimated cost of a port call, prepared before the vessel arrives and sent to the owner or operator for approval and advance funding. |
| Final disbursement accountFDA | The settled account issued after the vessel sails, based on actual invoices and receipts, reconciled against the PDA and the advance received. |
| Port tariff | The official schedule of a port's charges — dues, pilotage, towage and other fees — used to price port calls accurately. Mazu prices PDAs from stored tariffs. |
| Charge item | A single billable cost or service line inside a PDA or FDA, such as pilotage inward or garbage removal. |
| Husbandry services | The owner's-matters side of agency work: crew changes, cash to master, spare-part deliveries, provisions coordination, waste disposal and similar services. |
| Port dues | Fees the port authority charges a vessel for entering and using the port, usually based on the ship's tonnage. |
| Pilotage | The service of a licensed local pilot who boards the vessel to guide her safely in and out of the harbour — compulsory in most ports. |
| Towage | Tug assistance for berthing and unberthing. Charged per tug and operation, and a standard line on every disbursement account. |
| Cash to masterCTM | Cash delivered on board to the captain, usually for crew wages and small expenses, arranged by the agent and recorded as a disbursement. |
From a vessel's inquiry to goods alongside — the vocabulary of the selling side.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Request for quotationRFQ | The inquiry a vessel, owner or agent sends with a list of items to be priced. The starting point of every ship-supply deal — and of Mazu's sales flow. |
| Quotation | Your priced answer to an RFQ: items, quantities, unit prices, delivery terms and validity. Once accepted, it becomes a sales order. |
| Sales order | The confirmed order created when a quotation is accepted — the commitment to supply that drives picking, purchasing and delivery. |
| Delivery note | The document that travels with the goods to the vessel and is signed by the master or an officer on receipt. Your proof of delivery, and the trigger for invoicing. |
| Price list | A set of agreed prices — general or customer-specific — that Mazu applies automatically when quoting, so margins stay consistent. |
| IMPA catalogue | The International Marine Purchasing Association's catalogue of marine stores, where every item has a six-digit code. Vessels order by IMPA number so both sides mean exactly the same product. |
| ISSA catalogue | The International Ship Suppliers & Services Association's catalogue — an alternative standard numbering for marine stores, widely used alongside IMPA. |
Sourcing the goods you sell — the purchasing side of the supply chain.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Vendor | Your own supplier: the wholesaler, manufacturer or local shop you buy from to fulfil vessel orders. |
| Requisition | An internal request to purchase items — raised from a sales order or a stock shortfall — that starts the procurement process. |
| Vendor RFQ | A request asking one or more vendors to price the items on a requisition, so offers can be compared before ordering. |
| Purchase orderPO | The formal order sent to a vendor specifying items, quantities, prices and delivery. The document your payable invoice is later matched against. |
| Goods receiptGRN | The record that ordered goods physically arrived, were checked and were taken into stock. Closes the loop between purchase order and vendor invoice. |
Knowing what you have, where it is and what it is promised to.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Product | An item you stock and sell, with its codes (including IMPA/ISSA), units and prices. The building block of catalogues, stock and orders. |
| Warehouse | A physical storage location — main store, cold store, bonded store or delivery van. Stock levels in Mazu are tracked per warehouse. |
| Stock transfer | Moving goods from one warehouse to another, recorded so both locations stay accurate. |
| Stock taking | A physical count of what is actually on the shelf, reconciled against the system to correct discrepancies. |
| Stock movement | Any change in stock — receipt, delivery, transfer or adjustment — logged as a movement so every quantity can be traced. |
| Reservation | Stock set aside for a confirmed sales order so it cannot be sold twice while it waits for delivery. |
| Unit of measureUoM | How an item is counted or sold — piece, kilogram, litre, carton. Getting UoM right is what keeps orders, stock and invoices consistent. |
Closing the loop: billing the work, paying the vendors, watching the numbers.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Receivable invoiceAR | An invoice you issue to a client — for supplied goods or an agency fee — and expect to collect. The accounts-receivable side of the ledger. |
| Payable invoiceAP | A vendor's invoice you owe — matched against its purchase order and goods receipt before payment. |
| Credit note | A document that reduces or cancels an invoice already issued — for returns, shortages or pricing corrections. |
| Payment | The record of money moving — a client settling your invoice or you settling a vendor's — matched against the open invoice it pays. |
| Budget planning | Setting expected revenue and cost targets per period and tracking actuals against them as the year unfolds. |
| Multi-currency invoicing | Issuing and receiving invoices in different currencies with exchange rates handled correctly — everyday reality when clients, ports and vendors span the globe. |
Every term above maps to a screen in Mazu. Explore the modules to see how they connect end to end.
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