Sofar Ocean Launches Wayfinder Voyage Simulator for Fleet Planning

Sofar Ocean has launched Wayfinder Voyage Simulator, a voyage planning tool that lets operators, commercial teams and chartering desks generate and compare unlimited voyage scenarios in seconds, aiming to improve fleet efficiency and profitability.

Part of Sofar’s Wayfinder platform, the simulator incorporates the company’s marine weather forecasts, informed by what Sofar says is the largest private real-time ocean sensor network and ‘outperform traditional models by up to 50%’, along with vessel-specific performance models that update daily and current market inputs such as hire rates and fuel prices.

By basing plans on real conditions, the tool estimates time, fuel, emissions and cost outcomes and supports decisions such as vessel selection, laycan feasibility and weather impacts, the company said.

Users select a vessel, upload or choose a route, adjust inputs including departure time and RPM, then create and compare simulations across voyages and ships.

According to Sofar, the simulator complements Wayfinder Voyage Optimization, used by carriers including MOL Group and Berge Bulk and by the U.S. Navy, noting that in 2024 the optimization tool delivered average fuel savings of 5.5% across key routes.

“Voyage planning tools have not kept pace with the speed and complexity of modern shipping markets. We saw an opportunity to change this dynamic; not just by improving existing workflows, but by bringing real-time ocean intelligence to the forefront of voyage planning and simulation,” said Dennis Rong, Head of Product at Sofar.