The hard part is rarely collecting vessel data. It is getting data that is consistent enough, and checked enough, to act on.
Noon reports, onboard sensors and AIS each record something different, each has recognised quality problems, and the industry has no single agreed way to process them. A number that two sources contradict cannot carry a speed, maintenance or chartering decision.
Noon reports and sensors record different things, and they do not always agree
Having both a noon report and a sensor feed does not give a fleet the answer. A noon report is prepared by hand by the crew roughly every 24 hours. Autolog systems record automatically from onboard sensors, normally at intervals of minutes. A 2024 study in Sensors compared the two on two container vessels and found similar operational behaviour with statistical discrepancies. For one vessel the averages could not be treated as the same. Two vessels prove no rule, and the authors say so. Its co-authors include researchers from Vessel Performance Solutions, the legacy VPS company now part of GTT Marine, so read it as our own research, not independent evidence.
Noon reports are not the villain. For most vessels they remain a vital, regular indicator (Global Maritime Forum, 2023). They are also written by hand, often to company, charterparty or ship management guidelines, and some fuel figures still rest on tank soundings, which carry high uncertainty.
The usual answer is more sensors. That moves the problem rather than solving it. Sensors are costly to install, hard to maintain and hard to keep calibrated (Global Maritime Forum), and the data still has to be analysed. Faults in sensors and data acquisition degrade whatever analysis follows (SINTEF Ocean).
AIS is the third source used in ship performance analysis, and it shares the problem: it has inherent flaws that need handling before the data is used (Gupta et al., preprint).
Systems define the same data differently
There is no standard way of gathering data from vessels. Owners, charterers and operators each want their own reports, often with different field names and data formats (Global Maritime Forum).
Standards exist, but they help less than they sound. ISO 19848 covers how shipboard sensors and data items are named and described, and ISO 19847 covers shipboard data servers that share that data. Their existence shows the industry sees inconsistent data as a problem. Consistent naming does not check the data, though. A review of ship performance literature from 2014 to 2024 found no consistent, unified processing pipeline (SINTEF Ocean review).
Checking the data is skilled work, and it comes first
Noon, sensor and AIS data each have inherent problems that have to be handled before analysis (Gupta et al., preprint). Noon-report data needs significant manual intervention to cleanse (Global Maritime Forum). Detecting sensor faults and abnormal events takes considerable domain knowledge (SINTEF Ocean).
Skipping the step does not remove the faults. It passes them into the analysis.
Weak data costs trust, not just time
A fleet decision is only as defensible as the data under it. In our view, a speed or chartering call can be sound and still be easy to contest, because the argument moves from the decision to the evidence. The owner-charterer version is documented: inaccurate or opaque data keeps trust low between the two, and owners defending a performance claim rely heavily on data from the master and officers, which is open to subjectivity and human error (Global Maritime Forum). For a Chartering Manager or Fleet Director, that is where weak data becomes a weak decision.
What Vesper Insights / by VPS does about it
Vesper Insights starts from the data a fleet already has. It integrates with noon reports, high-frequency data and third-party systems without requiring new sensor investments, so the first step is not a hardware project.
Before anyone compares anything, it looks for inconsistencies, outliers and deviations in the data, which helps support reliable decision-making. Only then does the comparison start. A Performance Manager can set one vessel against its sister ships, or against the rest of the fleet, over time on the same checked basis, and use that to decide which technical and maintenance actions come first. The same results go to crews and shore teams as KPIs and clear recommendations.
GTT Marine is technology-agnostic and designed for mixed and diverse fleets, and Vesper Insights integrates with the broader GTT Marine platform. As of October 2026, more than 2,000 vessels are on Vesper Insights / by VPS.
Frequently asked questions
What makes it hard to turn vessel data into fleet decisions?
Vessel data tends to be inconsistent, hard to compare across vessels and unchecked before it is used. Noon reports and sensors fail in different ways, there is no standard way of gathering vessel data, and cleaning it takes domain knowledge.
Why do shipping fleets struggle to use voyage performance analytics effectively?
Analysis is only as reliable as the data going into it, and that data often disagrees with itself. Until inconsistencies and outliers are found and explained, results are easy to dispute.
Are noon reports still useful?
For most vessels they remain a vital, regular indicator of performance, according to the Global Maritime Forum. The same paper says they lack the standardisation that voyage, vessel and bunker decisions need, so they work best when checked and read alongside other sources.
Does a fleet need new sensors before it can analyse performance properly?
Vesper Insights works with noon reports, high-frequency data and third-party systems without requiring new sensor investments. Whichever source is used, its quality sets the ceiling, which is why inconsistencies, outliers and deviations need identifying first.
Where should a team start when its data sources disagree?
Establish which source, and which period, is faulty before drawing any performance conclusion. Each common source has inherent problems to handle first, and spotting sensor and acquisition faults takes considerable domain knowledge, so involve people who know the vessels.
