Dry bulk shipowners and fleet operators are looking for practical ways to improve fuel efficiency, control costs, and support emissions goals, without complicating daily operations. By combining the MyRA route appraisal platform developed by Raymarine Commercial (formerly ChartWorld) with NAPA Voyage Optimization, the collaboration – built on seven years of working together – gives operators a more connected way to plan and optimize voyages.
Challenge: More variables, more pressure, more fragmentation
Voyage planning has always been complex. Operators must balance competing priorities simultaneously; tight schedules, fuel consumption, shifting weather patterns, safety requirements, and increasingly stringent emissions performance targets such as Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) ratings. For bulk carrier operators in particular, where bunker costs represent 40–60% of total voyage costs and charter party performance clauses add further scheduling pressure, the commercial stakes of every voyage decision are high.
Yet many of the tools available to support these decisions remain fragmented. Route appraisal, weather routing, and performance optimization are often handled in separate systems, requiring manual coordination between platforms and creating gaps in the overall picture. The more disjointed the workflow, the harder it becomes to make consistently good decisions, voyage after voyage, across an entire fleet.
Solution: Bringing route appraisal and optimization together
To address this challenge, NAPA Voyage Optimization has been integrated directly into Raymarine Commercial’s MyRA platform via API. This integration enables a seamless flow of weather, voyage, and vessel performance data within a single system. Fleet operatorscan carry out both route appraisal and optimization in one place, without the need to switch between tools.
By embedding optimization into an established platform, the solution also supports easier adoption, allowing crews and onshore teams to enhance their workflows using systems they already know and trust.
Results: Turning data into better day-to-day decisions
In practice, the integrated solution supports more informed and efficient operations.
2️⃣ At the same time, enhanced weather routing supports safer voyages, while a unified system enables more consistent, end-to-end and data-driven decision-making across fleets.
3️⃣ Importantly, these improvements come without adding complexity and without the need for manual data exchanges and cross‑checks between systems. Instead, the integration simplifies workflows, helping teams focus on what matters most: making the right decisions at the right time.
From integration to real-world impact
The partnership between NAPA and Raymarine Commercial (formerly ChartWorld) began in 2019, with a shared goal of combining route appraisal and optimization into a single solution.
Following phases of scoping, API integration, testing, and validation, the solution was rolled out to fleet customers, supported by training and ongoing guidance.
Today, the results highlight the success of this approach. Since commercial rollout, NAPA Voyage Optimization via MyRA has been adopted by 9 shipping companies, with expansion ongoing across a major dry bulk fleet. This growing uptake demonstrates both the effectiveness of the solution and the value it delivers to operators.
Alex Ponomarev of Raymarine Commercial (formerly ChartWorld): “Our collaboration with NAPA reflects a shared commitment to giving shipowners practical tools that deliver measurable results. By bringing route appraisal and voyage optimization into a single workflow within MyRA, we help fleet operators make better-informed decisions on fuel, schedule, and emissions performance – without compromising on safety, which remains the center of maritime operations. The strong uptake we’re seeing across our dry bulk customers confirms what the market has been telling us: the industry can achieve its decarbonization goals through smarter integration, not by trading off the fundamentals that keep crews and cargo safe.”
Why integration matters for the wider industry
Shipping companies are increasingly looking beyond standalone tools, instead prioritising solutions that integrate seamlessly into their existing operations. In this context, usability and interoperability are just as important as advanced analytics. For bulk carrier shipowners evaluating voyage optimization solutions, NAPA’s roots in naval architecture and advanced vessel performance modeling provide a depth of technical credibility that goes beyond standard routing software.
The project also highlights a key insight: meaningful progress, particularly in areas such as efficiency and decarbonization, often starts with improving everyday operational decisions.
A more connected future for voyage planning
As the collaboration continues to evolve, the focus remains on expanding adoption, enhancing capabilities to provide more comprehensive voyage planning and fleet performance improvements, and delivering even greater value to shipping companies.
By bringing voyage planning and optimization into one workflow, NAPA and Raymarine Commercial are helping to create a more connected, efficient approach to voyage planning that supports both commercial performance and emissions compliance.
