Why Mid-Size Shipping Companies Are Choosing Marlo Over Veson IMOS

Veson IMOS is the industry's most powerful freight management platform, built for the world's largest charterers and commodity traders. Over the past two decades, it has set the benchmark for commercial voyage management at enterprise scale.

That power comes with enterprise requirements. Implementation timelines measured in months. A modular structure where each capability comes at additional cost. Integration projects that require specialist consultants. And a product that assumes you have a dedicated IT team, an existing ERP, and a global compliance function.

For mid-size shipping companies, those requirements are often the wrong fit. You need serious capability. You do not need everything Veson offers, and you should not have to absorb the overhead that comes with it.

Marlo is built for that reality.

What Veson IMOS Does Well

Veson IMOS excels at commercial freight contract management. Through acquisitions, it has built a formidable data ecosystem: Oceanbolt for trade flow and AIS data, VesselsValue for vessel valuations and CII scores, Q88 for vessel document management, and Shipfix for AI-powered cargo and tonnage matching. Its Trading and Risk module handles FFA, bunker swaps, derivatives tracking, and carbon exposure management.

For the world's largest shipping enterprises, Veson is the right choice.

What Changes When You Choose Marlo

Marlo takes a different approach. Rather than building modular depth for enterprise buyers, Marlo builds horizontal coverage for mid-size companies that need every function working together in one system.

Finance and banking, built in. Veson integrates with external ERPs and accounting systems via custom APIs. Marlo builds finance directly into the platform. Business banking, FX transfers, corporate cards, loan tracking, and covenant monitoring live alongside your voyages. No middleware. No separate systems.

Accounting sync without the integration project. Marlo connects natively to Xero and QuickBooks, pushing voyage-level financials into your ledger automatically. Connecting Veson to your accounting system requires custom API work and a Veson Global Services engagement.

Compliance without the add-ons. Marlo includes sanctions screening, CII monitoring, and EU ETS emissions tracking in every plan. Veson handles EU ETS through its Carbon Calculator and VesselsValue Green. Sanctions screening and counterparty due diligence require configurable alerts and third-party tools. On Marlo, all three are native.

A real-time view of your fleet. Marlo's dashboard gives live financial and operational data across your entire fleet: voyage P&L, vessel positions, cashflow status, and open receivables. No waiting for month-end reports. One screen, full visibility.

Cashflow that connects to operations. Marlo projects future cashflows based on open voyages, pending invoices, loan repayments, and expected freight. CFOs get real numbers derived from operational data, not estimates built in spreadsheets.

Pricing: Transparent vs. Unknown

Marlo starts at £500 per month, or £5,400 per year on an annual subscription. Five users are included. Additional users are £100 per month each. A seven-day free trial is available with self-service sign-up at marlo.co.

Veson IMOS does not publish pricing. Access requires a personalised sales engagement. The modular structure means total cost depends on which capabilities you activate.

For a mid-size company evaluating platforms, this matters. You can start using Marlo today and know your cost from day one.

Who Each Platform Is Built For

If freight trading and paper risk hedging are central to your business, Veson IMOS is the more capable platform in those areas. If you rely on deep market intelligence across AIS data, vessel valuations, and cargo matching at scale, Veson's data ecosystem is a genuine competitive advantage.

If you manage a mid-size fleet and need voyage management, cashflow forecasting, sanctions screening, EU ETS compliance, loan tracking, and native accounting sync in one place, without a six-month implementation or a six-figure contract, Marlo is built for that.

Start a free 7-day trial at marlo.co