Analytics: How to Use the Logistics Pro Vessel Utilization Activities Dashboard
The Vessel Utilization Activities Dashboard gives fleet managers, operations teams, and executives a clear picture of how the fleet's time is being spent — and whether vessels are working, idle, out of service, or on standby. It tracks availability and utilization rates across the fleet and breaks down every hour of activity by type and group, so you can move from a headline percentage to the underlying operational story behind it.
NoteThe dashboard is built around activity data logged in Helm CONNECT. Two configuration tools — Activity Type Mapping and Working Hours — control how activity codes are grouped and how available hours are calculated. These are described in the Configuration section below.
Date Range Selection
Four preset date range buttons appear at the top of the dashboard, below the Selected Date Range label. Click any button to instantly switch the entire dashboard to that period:
1 Week — The last 7 days
Last 30 days — The default view
Last 3 months — Rolling 90-day view
Last 6 months — Rolling 180-day view
The active selection is highlighted. All KPIs, charts, and tables update immediately when you switch ranges. Use Reset Filters on the right to return to the default state.
Filters
All filters are on the right-hand panel and apply across both dashboard sections.
Filter | What It Does |
|---|---|
Date | The date range filter. Linked to the preset buttons at the top — selecting a preset updates this filter, and vice versa. |
Division | Filter to one or more divisions to see utilization for a specific operational group. |
AssetProfile | Filter by asset profile category (e.g. vessel type, fleet segment). |
Asset Type | Filter by the type of asset (e.g. vessel, barge, equipment). |
Asset Name | Focus on one or more specific vessels or assets. |
ActivityTypeGroup | Filter by activity group (e.g. Working, Out of Service, Standby, No Activity). Clicking a KPI card on the Activity Hours Breakdown tab also sets this filter. |
ActivityTypeName | Filter to a specific activity type (e.g. Bunkering, Cargo Operations, Engine Service) within the selected group. |
IsCurrent | Filters to current (active) activity records only when toggled on. |
Dashboard Sections
The dashboard has two main analysis sections, accessible via the banner below the date range buttons:
Fleet Performance Overview — High-level availability, utilization, and time distribution metrics for the whole fleet, with a day-by-day time series and per-asset breakdowns.
Activity Hours Breakdown — Detailed view of how hours are split across activity groups (Working, Out of Service, Standby, etc.), with activity type distribution and a per-asset breakdown table.
Fleet Performance Overview
KPI Cards
Three metric panels sit at the top of this section:
Panel | What It Shows |
|---|---|
Availability | The percentage of total hours the fleet was available (not in downtime/out of service). Shows the percentage prominently, with a gauge bar from 0–100%, plus the total Available hours and Downtime hours (highlighted in red) below. |
Utilization | The percentage of available hours the fleet was actively utilized (Working). Shows percentage, a gauge bar, plus total Utilized hours and Idle hours (highlighted in orange) below. |
Time Distribution | A donut chart showing the fleet-wide split of hours across three states: Utilized (green), Idle (pink), and Downtime (red). The large percentage in the centre reflects the dominant state. |
NoteAvailability vs Utilization: Availability measures whether a vessel could work (it wasn't broken or out of service). Utilization measures whether it did work, as a percentage of its available time. A vessel can be highly available but have low utilization if it is operational but not being deployed.
Availability/Utilization Time Series
A combination chart showing three metrics plotted day by day across the selected date range:
Availability (yellow bars, left axis) — Daily fleet availability percentage
Downtime (orange bars at the base, left axis) — Days with notable downtime events
Utilization (dark green line, right axis) — Daily fleet utilization percentage
A miniature overview bar at the bottom of the chart acts as a scroll/zoom control — drag the handles to focus on a specific sub-period within the date range, and the main chart zooms to that window.
Example use: If utilization dips on specific days while availability remains high, those are days where vessels were available but not deployed — worth cross-referencing with the scheduling team.
Availability/Utilization Per Asset
A ranked horizontal bar chart showing each vessel's individual performance metric. Use the tab buttons above the chart to switch between four views:
Availability — Ranked by availability percentage (highest first). Assets at 100% had no recorded downtime in the period.
Utilization — Ranked by utilization percentage. Shows which vessels were most actively deployed relative to their available time.
Downtime — Ranked by downtime hours or percentage.
Idle — Ranked by idle time. Vessels at 100% had no recorded working activity in the period.
The chart is scrollable — use the scroll arrows on the right side to move through all assets. Clicking a bar filters the dashboard to that specific vessel.
Example use: Switch to the Utilization tab to rank vessels by how productively they were deployed. Vessels near the bottom may be under-utilised or on standby contracts.
Days Out of Service by Asset
A horizontal bar chart ranking each vessel by the number of days recorded as Out of Service during the selected period. Orange bars make the worst offenders immediately visible — whether due to maintenance, drydock, mechanical issues, or planned downtime.
Example use: Vessels showing 30 days out of service in a 30-day window were effectively inactive for the entire period. Switch to the Activity Hours Breakdown and filter to Out of Service to understand the specific causes.
Activity Hours Breakdown
Click ACTIVITY HOURS BREAKDOWN in the banner to access this section. It answers: "Where exactly did all the fleet's hours go?" — drilling from total hours into activity groups and then into individual activity types.
Activity Group KPI Cards
Six KPI cards show total hours and percentage of total for each activity group:
Activity Group | What It Represents |
|---|---|
N/A | Hours with no activity type recorded — data gaps or unmapped activity codes. |
No Activity | Hours where no operational activity was logged. Typically idle periods without a specific standby or working designation. |
Out of Service | Hours where the vessel was unavailable — maintenance, drydock, deadship, moored/deadshipped. Highlighted in red. |
Shipyard/Drydock/Maintenance | Hours specifically categorised as shipyard, drydock, or planned maintenance activities. |
Standby | Hours where the vessel was available and on standby — ready to work but not actively deployed. |
Working | Hours where the vessel was actively engaged in an operational activity (cargo ops, towing, crew transfer, pilotage, etc.). |
Clicking any KPI card filters the entire section to only that activity group — the time series, distribution chart, per-asset chart, and detail table all update immediately.
Time Series by Activity Group
A stacked area chart showing how hours break down by activity group day by day. Toggle between Actual (hours) and Percent (share of total daily hours) using the buttons in the top-right. Each activity group is colour-coded consistently (grey = N/A, dark = No Activity, red = Out of Service, orange = Shipyard/Maintenance, amber = Standby, green = Working). The scroll/zoom bar at the bottom works the same as on the Fleet Performance Overview time series.
Activity Type Distribution (Donut Chart)
A donut chart showing hours broken down by individual activity type within the active filter. Each segment is one specific activity type (e.g. Bunkering, Cargo Operations, Deadship, Downtime, Engine Service). Use the pagination arrows (1/7 ▼) at the bottom of the legend to scroll through all activity types.
Example use: Filter to Out of Service, then review this chart to see which specific downtime causes — Deadship, Moored/Deadshipped, Vessel Downtime — drove the most hours in the period.
Activity Type/Group by Asset
A stacked horizontal bar chart showing each vessel's hours broken down by activity group (colour-coded consistently). Total hours for the period are shown at the end of each bar. This creates a visual operational fingerprint for every vessel — you can instantly see which assets are predominantly Working vs. Idle vs. Out of Service.
Example use: After filtering to Out of Service, this chart shows exactly which vessels contributed to that group and how many hours each spent out of service.
Hours by Activity Group (Detail Table)
A matrix table showing every asset's hours and activity count across all activity groups. Each group has two sub-columns: Duration (total hours) and # Activities (number of individual activity log entries). Rows highlighted in warm tones indicate notable out-of-service or downtime hours.
The table is paginated. Use the page controls at the bottom to navigate, and the Rows per page setting to control how many rows display at once.
Example use: Use this table as the detailed reference for any vessel. Sort by Out of Service Duration to rank vessels by downtime, or look up a specific vessel using the Asset Name filter on the right panel.
Configuration: Activity Type Mapping and Working Hours
Two configuration tools are accessible from buttons at the top-right of the dashboard. These control how raw Helm CONNECT activity data is interpreted across the entire dashboard.
Activity Type Mapping
Click Activity Type Mapping to open the mapping panel. This lists every Activity Type defined in Helm CONNECT and lets you assign each one to an Activity Group (No Activity, Working, Out of Service, Standby, Shipyard/Drydock/Maintenance) using the dropdown next to each row. Click Save Mapping when done.
NoteChanges to Activity Type Mapping may take 2–3 hours to reflect in the dashboard data. Plan configuration changes outside of peak reporting periods. Changes affect all historical data, not just future records.
Example: If "Bunkering (Fuel up)" should count as Standby rather than Working for your operation, change its group assignment here. All historical and future hours for that activity type will recalculate accordingly.
Working Hours
Click Working Hours to open the working hours panel. This lists every asset with a field for its default working hours per day — the denominator used to calculate availability and utilization percentages. Most vessels default to 24 hours/day for round-the-clock operations. Adjust for assets with fixed operational windows. Click Save Mapping when done.
Example: A ferry operating an 18-hour daily schedule should be set to 18 hours/day, so utilization is calculated against 18 hours rather than 24 — giving a more meaningful picture of how productively those scheduled hours are used.
How to Use the Dashboard
Set your date range using the preset buttons at the top. Use Last 30 Days for a current performance snapshot, or Last 3 months / Last 6 months for trend analysis.
Review the Fleet Performance Overview KPIs for the headline availability and utilization rates. The Time Distribution donut gives a quick visual of how fleet hours are split across Utilized, Idle, and Downtime.
Scan the Availability/Utilization Time Series to spot specific days where performance dipped. Use the scroll bar to zoom in on periods of interest.
Switch to the Utilization tab on the Per Asset chart to rank individual vessels by deployment effectiveness. Identify high performers and underutilised assets.
Check Days Out of Service by Asset to identify the vessels with the most service disruption in the period.
Switch to Activity Hours Breakdown and click the Out of Service KPI card to drill into downtime. Use the Activity Type Distribution donut to see which specific events (Deadship, Vessel Downtime, Moored/Deadshipped, etc.) are driving those hours.
Use the Activity Type/Group by Asset chart for a fleet-wide operational profile view — which vessels are working, which are on standby, and which are out of service.
Use the Hours by Activity Group table for vessel-level detail. Filter by Asset Name on the right panel to focus on a specific vessel.
Apply the Division or Asset Type filters to scope the dashboard to a specific part of the fleet — a particular port's vessels, or barges only.
Check and maintain the Activity Type Mapping if you notice activity hours appearing in the N/A group — this indicates unmapped activity codes that need to be assigned to a group.
Notes on the Data Presented
All metrics are based on activity data logged in Helm CONNECT. Hours without a logged activity type will appear as N/A in the Activity Hours Breakdown.
Availability is calculated as: (Total Hours − Out of Service Hours) ÷ Total Hours. Which activity types count as "Out of Service" is determined by the Activity Type Mapping configuration.
Utilization is calculated as: Working Hours ÷ Available Hours. Which activity types count as "Working" is also set in the Activity Type Mapping.
The Working Hours setting per asset sets the total daily hours denominator for availability and utilization calculations. Assets without a custom setting default to 24 hours/day.
Activity Type Mapping changes affect all historical data in the dashboard — not just future records. Allow 2–3 hours after saving for the dashboard to fully recalculate.