Start by mapping where currency risk actually appears across the voyage lifecycle:
Freight receipts: Which contracts are USD, EUR, or local-currency?
Bunker & fuel: often priced in USD or linked to regional indices — but billed locally.
Voyage payables: port dues, agent fees, supplies — many in local currencies.
Corporate costs/financing: interest, leases, and insurance may be in another currency.
Quantify timing (when cash arrives/pays) and amounts (expected +/- variance). This isn’t just bookkeeping — it’s the foundation for deciding which exposures to hedge and which to accept. Industry guides emphasise that explicit exposure mapping is the first step toward an efficient FX programme.
Transactional exposure: currency risk from specific invoices or trades (e.g., paying port fees in JPY). Hedgeable with forwards, swaps or options.
Structural (economic) exposure: longer-term mismatch (e.g., revenue in USD but costs largely in EUR) — may need strategic actions like pricing, invoicing policies, or treasury restructuring.
Most corporates hedge high-frequency, high-certainty transactional flows and use strategic measures (pricing, natural hedges) for structural exposures.
Forwards / non-deliverable forwards: lock an exact rate for a future payment; low complexity.
Swaps (fixed price swaps for bunker): widely used to hedge fuel price risk by swapping floating bunker-index exposure for fixed price legs. Common in bunkers where forward liquidity exists.
Options: add protection with upside participation, costlier but useful when you want a safety floor and keep upside potential.
Netting and internal matching: where possible, offset receipts and payments in the same currency internally to reduce external hedging needs.
Choose instruments based on liquidity (some routes/currencies have thin markets), cost (premiums on options), and the accounting consequences (hedge accounting vs P&L volatility).
Currency-denominated invoicing: negotiate freight clauses to invoice in your preferred currency where commercial conditions allow; even a partial shift reduces FX noise.
Leading/lagging and payment netting: accelerate or postpone payments when commercially feasible to improve natural offsetting. Cross-company netting reduces bank fees and FX trades.
Designated currency bank accounts: hold balances in commonly used currencies (USD, EUR, SGD) to pay locally without conversion each time.
Layered hedging: pair short-term forwards for known payables with options for more uncertain future exposure.
Centralise visibility: a single treasury dashboard that shows open FX exposure by currency and date is essential. Manual spreadsheets break down under multiple voyages and frequent changes.
Automated FX execution: use treasury/Fx platforms or bank APIs to automate rates, place forwards and document fills - reduces manual error and speeds execution. Industry treasury vendors highlight the operational risk reduction from FX automation.
Integrations: tie your VMS (Voyage Management System) to the treasury/payments stack so voyage-level exposures feed the hedging workflow and accounting automatically - this is where Marlo-style integrations add real value.
Build a live exposure map (currency × date × amount).
Classify exposures (transactional vs structural).
Prioritise high-certainty, high-value flows for hedge coverage.
Choose instruments: forwards for certainty, swaps for bunker price, options for asymmetric protection.
Automate execution and reconcile trades to voyage outcomes.
Review monthly: measure hedge effectiveness and adjust sizing rules.
Liquidity matters: some local currencies or routes lack reliable forward markets — forcing synthetic hedges can be expensive. Always check market depth before committing.
Avoid “paper hedging” without economic offsets: hedging that doesn’t match cashflows only creates P&L noise and potential losses.
Post-trade review culture: build a habit of measuring what worked and why — that’s how programmes improve over time.
Pull voyage cash flows and payables into a single view so treasury can see real-time FX exposure per voyage.
Trigger suggested hedge amounts based on due dates and your hedge policy.
Send trade-ready payment files to your treasury system/bank to reduce manual entry and reconciliation errors.
You don’t need a bank trading desk to get FX under control. Start with clear exposure mapping, focus hedges on the largest predictable cashflows (bunkers, recurring port costs), and invest in simple automation that feeds your treasury decisions. Over time, a clear policy, measured hedging, and good integration will stabilise voyage economics and protect margins from currency shocks.