Every port agent knows the feeling. A new appointment arrives. The clock starts. And before anything else can happen, someone has to build the Proforma Disbursement Account from scratch.
It means opening tariff documents, usually in the local language of the port, often in formats that bear no resemblance to the ones you used last month. It means translating, interpreting, cross-referencing. It means manually entering every line item, hoping nothing has changed since the last call. It means doing this under time pressure, for every port call, every time.
For years, we watched this happen. And we knew that if we ever wanted to change it, we couldn’t just build a better form. We had to build the data.
The problem was never the interface
The reason no platform had solved this wasn’t a design problem. It was a data problem.
Autofilling a Proforma Disbursement Account accurately from minimal input requires a structured, live dataset of port tariff information that maps directly to every field in the document. Port tariffs vary by port, by vessel type, by service category. They’re updated continuously, published in dozens of languages, and maintained by port authorities with no obligation to make them easy to parse.
Building a dataset that could actually power autofill at this level of specificity takes years. It requires processing an enormous volume of port calls, standardising data across vastly different formats, and maintaining it in real time. There are no shortcuts.
That’s what HarborLab has been doing, quietly and deliberately, since the beginning.
What we built
Today, HarborLab’s port cost dataset covers 1,400 ports with live tariff data. It is the foundation of our estimation engine, and it is what makes the Single-Click Port Expenses DA Creator possible.
Here’s how it works: an agent selects the terminal and enters the agency fee. The platform automatically populates all associated port expenses (port dues, towage, pilotage, mooring, light dues, and more), drawn from live, verified tariff data. The agent uploads the Proforma Disbursement Account, and the document is complete and ready for approval. Agents who prefer not to import from a PDA can also access the full range of autofilled port expenses directly within the FDA.
One click. The document is done.
Built first and foremost for agents
We want to be honest about something: this feature exists because of a deliberate choice we made early on to invest in data that most platforms didn’t think was worth collecting.
Port agents are at the centre of every port call. They manage multiple systems, coordinate across time zones, handle documentation under constant pressure, and absorb the complexity that everyone else in the chain would rather not think about. DA preparation is one of the heaviest parts of that work, not because it’s intellectually difficult, but because it’s relentless, error-prone, and entirely manual.
We built HarborLab to change that. The Single-Click Port Expenses DA Creator is the most direct expression of that commitment we’ve ever shipped.
The time agents save on data entry is time they can spend on the work that genuinely requires their expertise.
What this means for ship owners and operators
The accuracy benefits flow both ways. DA creation has historically been one of the most contested parts of the port call cycle. Errors in the Proforma create disputes, slow approvals, and generate back-and-forth that nobody has time for.
When agents enter costs drawn from live, verified tariff data from the start, documents arrive structured and accurate. The approval cycle shortens. The noise reduces. And the relationship between agents and owners gets a little less adversarial.
What comes next
We’re covering 1,400 ports today. Our goal is every port in the world.
The Single-Click Port Expenses DA Creator is the first step in HarborLab’s broader vision to fully automate the DA lifecycle: to make the complexity of port cost management invisible to the people who have been carrying it.
We’re not there yet. But for the first time, we can see exactly how to get there.
The Single-Click Port Expenses DA Creator is available to all HarborLab customers with no additional setup required. To learn more, visit www.harborlab.com.
