Fleet Intelligence

Fleet Deployment History

The trend behind the latest Fleet Deployment read. Each day the platform classifies the live AIS universe into slow-steaming, idle / anchored and load condition, then upserts one row per segment — so the daily snapshots accumulate into a genuine deployment time series. Falling operating speed and rising idle tonnage withdraw effective supply and tend to lead freight rates; the load-condition (ballast) line is shown but flagged experimental.

0.802

Bulkers speed index (latest)

Latest Fleet Deployment46 days · to 27 Aug

Idle-led tightening

Over the 46 days on record the Bulkers speed index has held near 0.80 while idle tonnage rose 5.9 points to 36.9% of deadweight — a net withdrawal of effective supply that tends to lift freight, dearer for a charterer. The latest speed sits 0.02 above the window's slowest-steaming day (0.78 on 12 Jul), so the mid-window slow-steaming has since unwound.

Speed index

0.802

-0.003mean SOG ÷ design speed

Idle / anchored

36.9%

+5.9ppDWT share at rest

Mean op. speed

10.8 kn

operating speed over ground

Ballast share

22.9%

experimental — see method

Slow-steaming & idle tonnage

Robust

The two robust deployment signals over time: the slow-steaming index (mean operating speed over ground divided by a vetted design speed, left axis) and the idle / anchored share of deadweight (right axis). Both are read straight from AIS speed and navigational status, so they do not depend on the unreliable registered-draught field. A falling speed index and a rising idle share both withdraw effective supply from the market.

Mean operating speed

Robust

The raw operating speed over ground (knots) underlying the index above, for the segment's steaming fleet. Useful for reading the absolute pace of the fleet — a structural slowdown shows here before it is normalised into the dimensionless index.

Load condition — ballast share

Experimental

The deadweight share of the segment running in ballast (laden-draught below a per-segment cutoff). A rising ballast share signals more tonnage seeking cargo. This line is EXPERIMENTAL: it divides the live AIS draught by the registered design draught, and that registered field is mixed and often understated, so the absolute level is biased low and only the direction should be read.

The registered design-draught denominator is unreliable, so the ballast level is biased low — read the slope, not the absolute number. The robust deployment read is the speed index and idle share above.

Change over the window

The first observed value against the latest, over 46 days (21 Jun – 27 Aug) — measured over the days actually present, not the full 90d window (the series is not back-filled). A lower speed index or a higher idle share over the period means effective supply was withdrawn — a tightening signal for freight. Both withdrawal moves are coloured red here (dearer for a charterer); a faster or less-idle move that adds supply is green.

Bulkers fleet deployment change over the selected window: speed index, idle share, mean operating speed and ballast share, first observed value versus latest.
Signal	First	Latest	Change
Speed index	0.805	0.802	-0.003
Idle / anchored share	31.0%	36.9%	+5.9pp
Mean operating speed	10.9 kn	10.8 kn	-0.0 kn
Ballast shareexp.	23.7%	22.9%	-0.8pp

Method & caveats

Source. Every series is one segment’s daily rows from fleet_supply_snapshot, the table the daily AIS-deployment cron upserts (one row per snapshot date and segment). The history therefore accumulates forward from the day the cron started; it is not back-filled, so a selected window (30d / 90d / 1y) may cover far fewer days than the label implies — the covered span is shown next to the change table above.
Raw daily values, not smoothed. The points here are the un-smoothed daily snapshot values — unlike the latest-snapshot Fleet Deployment read, which shows a 7-day average. Each day’s share is recomputed over whichever vessels had a fresh AIS fix that day, so on thin segments the first-vs-latest delta can partly reflect sample composition rather than a real deployment move. Read the trend, not single-day steps.
Sample size / confidence. Days drawn from a thin AIS subsample are flagged low-confidence and marked with hollow dots on the lines; gas carriers (a 20–40-vessel subsample) and container ships (weak-bimodal load condition) are always low-confidence. A thin edge day should not be read as a headline move on its own.
Speed index (robust). Mean operating speed over ground for the steaming fleet divided by a vetted per-segment design speed. Read straight from AIS speed, so it is independent of the registered-draught problem. A falling index = more slow-steaming = effective supply withdrawn.
Idle / anchored share (robust). The deadweight share of the segment at rest (anchored, moored or stopped offshore), from AIS speed and navigational status. Rising = more tonnage parked = supply withdrawn.
Ballast share (experimental). Live AIS draught ÷ registered design draught, below a per-segment cutoff = ballast. The registered design-draught field is mixed and frequently understated, so the absolute level is biased low. Only the direction is meaningful; suppressed where the dual-draught sample is too thin.
Segments are gas, tanker, container, bulker and other. This is the trend companion to the latest-snapshot Fleet Deployment read.

Fleet Deployment History

Signal

First

Latest

Change

Speed index

0.805

0.802

-0.003

Idle / anchored share

31.0%

36.9%

+5.9pp

Mean operating speed

10.9 kn

10.8 kn

-0.0 kn

Ballast shareexp.

23.7%

22.9%

-0.8pp