Drewry, the maritime industry’s leading independent research and advisory firm, today announced the launch of OpCost IQ, a new vessel operating cost benchmarking tool delivered via Drewry OnDemand. The platform is designed to change how maritime organisations benchmark vessel performance by combining Drewry’s operating cost methodology with AIS-enabled operational analytics.

The shipping industry is under growing pressure on operating margins as costs continue to rise across crewing, maintenance, insurance, spares, lubricants and technical services. At the same time, increasingly varied vessel operating profiles are making it more difficult to understand cost performance, which makes benchmarking more useful when it reflects how a ship is actually deployed rather than treating all vessels as directly comparable.

“OpCost IQ helps solve a fundamental problem,” said Dr Ferenc Pasztor, Head of Ports and Specialised Shipping Research. “Where traditional benchmarking focuses solely on cost comparisons, our new tool combines cost performance with operational context, helping decision-makers identify and understand potential cost irregularities and inefficiencies across their operations.”

OpCost IQ is designed to help shipowners, operators, technical managers and finance professionals benchmark individual vessels or entire fleets against industry averages using Drewry’s established operating cost framework. The service also streamlines the operating cost benchmarking process through a simple online workflow.

Users can analyse operational context through AIS-derived deployment and utilisation analysis, identify cost irregularities with diagnostic insight, and generate intelligence that supports procurement negotiations, budget forecasting and technical decisions. Vessel data is submitted through an online interface, after which Drewry specialists validate the information using predefined quality assurance procedures before benchmarking it against sector-specific datasets, relevant peer groups and operational profile metrics.

The tool is exclusive to Ship Operating Cost Annual Review 2025/26 clients, and each client receives 10 complimentary credits. Drewry said the limited-period offer allows organisations to evaluate the benchmarking process, explore fleet-level opportunities, assess operational insights, become familiar with the platform and trial the tool before wider deployment.

Key features of OpCost IQ include online benchmarking through the Drewry OnDemand platform, confidential data handling and anonymous benchmarking, single-vessel or multi-fleet benchmark submissions, Drewry’s cost validation framework, AIS-enabled operational profiling, downloadable benchmark reports for internal distribution and a credit-based metering system in which one vessel benchmark report submission equals one credit.

Source: Drewry