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Stowage solution · Container ship

Container stowage planning software

Build container ship bay plans for domestic and feeder services, from pre-stow to the final plan. Every container you place is checked for slot fit, stack weight, POD sequence, reefer, DG, VGM and stability. The container module is the second wave and is rolling out in stages after the barge, LCT and general cargo modules.

Rollout wave 2Plan Cargo. Balance Vessel. Sail Safer.

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Vessel Planner · Sample voyage SUB → MAK → BPN → TRK Illustration
  • IDMAKMakassar × 44
  • IDBPNBalikpapan × 46
  • IDTRKTarakan × 58
  • Reefer
  • DG
  • Slot compatibility
  • Heavy containers below
  • POD sequence, no restows
  • Reefers on plugged slots
  • Stability & strength from the deterministic engine
Illustration with a fictional vessel and sample data — not a stability calculation result. Shore-side planning & decision support. The class-approved onboard loading computer remains the official reference.

Problems it solves

Multi-port rotations create restows

Domestic feeders call at many ports per voyage. One far-POD box buried under a near-POD box means extra crane moves and a longer stay alongside.

Spreadsheet bay plans check nothing

Excel sheets and hand-drawn bays know nothing about stack weight limits, reefer slots, high cube heights or GM. Mistakes surface in the ship’s loading computer or during cargo operations.

Data arrives from many parties

Bookings, VGMs, reefer lists and DG declarations come from the line, depots and terminals in different formats. Reconciling them with the arrival BAPLIE eats the planner’s time.

Used by: Ship and container plannersChief officersMarine superintendentsPort captains of domestic linesTerminal operators and stevedores

What is modelled

  • Bay–row–tier in holds and on deck (tiers 02–xx and 82–xx)
  • 20/40/45 ft slots, disabled slots and stack height limits
  • Reefer plugs per slot
  • Stack weight limits per row and hatch cover loads
  • Ballast, fuel and fresh water tanks
  • Bridge line of sight and air draft

Checked on every move

  • Slot compatibility

    A 20 ft box goes into a 40 ft slot only where allowed, a 45 ft only into a 45 ft slot, and high cubes are checked against tier and hold height limits.

  • Stack weight

    Total weight per stack is compared with the ship’s row limits in the hold and on deck. A violation blocks the placement.

  • POD sequence

    Boxes for the next port must not sit under boxes for later ports. Violations are flagged as likely restows.

  • Reefers, OOG and DG

    Reefers only in plugged slots, OOG checked against adjacent slots, and DG segregation from a licensed rule set or the company’s own rule set.

  • VGM (SOLAS VI/2)

    A laden box without a VGM is on Hold and cannot enter a Final plan. A VGM versus booking weight difference above the threshold raises a warning.

  • Stability, strength and visibility

    Drafts, trim, corrected GM, SF/BM and bridge line of sight (SOLAS V/22) are recalculated every time a box moves.

Shore-side planning & decision support. The class-approved onboard loading computer remains the official reference.

Workflow

  1. Set up the vessel model

    Build bays, rows, tiers, reefer slots and stack limits in the Vessel Builder, then import hydrostatics, KN and tanks from the stability booklet (Excel/CSV).

  2. Load the voyage and cargo

    Create the port rotation per leg, then import the arrival BAPLIE, booking list, VERMAS and the DG and reefer lists.

  3. Plan or run AUTO PLAN

    Drag and drop in the bay view or let the optimizer return four options. Every option is re-checked by the same constraint and stability engines.

  4. Approve and send

    The plan goes through Planner → Chief Officer → Superintendent → Master and is exported as a hashed final PDF and a BAPLIE for the terminal.

Outputs

  • Bay plan per bay and vessel profile (PDF)
  • BAPLIE and MOVINS files for the terminal
  • Stability summary per leg: drafts, trim, GM, SF/BM
  • Reefer list, DG manifest and VGM status
  • Estimated restows and crane moves per port

Example scenario

Illustration — fictional vessel, not a customer case study

Illustrative 600 TEU feeder, four-port rotation

Situation

Illustration with a fictional vessel: a 600 TEU feeder loads at port A for discharge ports B, C and D, with 40 reefers and a few DG boxes among 480 containers.

Steps in the planner

  1. 01The planner imports the arrival BAPLIE and the booking list; 18 laden boxes without a VGM are automatically put on Hold.
  2. 02Pre-stow by POD block: port D boxes in the after bays and lower tiers, port B boxes in the upper tiers near the holds worked first.
  3. 03AUTO PLAN returns four options; the balanced option is chosen because it predicts no restows and keeps GM above the minimum on every leg.
  4. 04The chief officer reviews the plan on board in offline mode, approves it, and the BAPLIE goes to the terminal.

Result

Illustrative result: all hard constraints are met, Hold boxes stay out of the final plan, and every leg’s stability condition is stored with the plan.

Illustration with a fictional vessel and sample data — not a stability calculation result. Shore-side planning & decision support. The class-approved onboard loading computer remains the official reference.

See it with your vessel data

A demo video is coming. Meanwhile we schedule a live demo with a demo vessel or your own vessel data.

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Related guides

Related free tools

Vessel type guide

Related cargo guides

Frequently asked questions

Is the container ship module available yet?

The container module is part of the second rollout wave and is rolling out in stages after the barge, LCT and general cargo modules. Meanwhile, the related free tools on this page can be used for estimates.

Which EDI formats are supported?

BAPLIE 2.2/2.3 and 3.x for bay plan import and export, MOVINS for terminal instructions, VERMAS for VGM, COPRAR/COARRI for load and discharge lists and confirmations, and TANSTA for tank status, following SMDG guidance.

Can the stability results replace the ship’s loading computer?

No. Stability results in STOWAGE.ID are shore-side planning and decision support. The class-approved onboard loading computer and the stability booklet remain the official reference, and the plan PDF carries that note.

Does AI build the bay plan?

No. Container positions come from the planner or the optimizer and are checked by deterministic constraint and stability engines. AI only helps import data and explain results, and extracted data must be confirmed by the user.

How are restows counted?

For each port the system counts boxes that must be shifted because they sit on top of nearer-POD boxes, so the current plan can be compared with the optimizer options before approval.

Other vessel types

Plan Cargo. Balance Vessel. Sail Safer.

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14-day trial on paid plans, starting with a demo vessel built on synthetic data.