Port DA

A Port Disbursement Account (DA) is the statement of all costs incurred during a vessel's port call, prepared by the ship agent and presented to the shipowner, charterer, or operator for payment. The DA is the financial settlement document for the port call.

A typical DA includes: port and harbour dues, pilotage, towage, mooring/unmooring, berth occupancy, light dues, agency fees, husbandry services (crew change, medical, repairs, provisions), bunker barging, fresh water, garbage disposal, customs and quarantine charges, port security charges, and the agent's service fee.

The workflow has two stages: a Proforma DA (PDA) is issued before the call as an estimate, requiring the principal to remit funds in advance; an FDA (Final DA) is issued after the call with actuals, reconciled against the PDA. Disbursement accounts are the single biggest source of revenue leakage in ship agency — modern platforms auto-reconcile supplier invoices against expected lines to close DAs in days rather than weeks.