Verification, Fast Quotes and the Right Plan: A Ship Chandler's Checklist for Winning Requisitions

Start with verification

Every buyer requisition on GeoMarineHub goes out to the verified suppliers registered at that port. Verification is the gate: it is what lets a buyer trust a sealed offer without knowing who sent it until after award. If you supply at a port today and you are not listed there yet, the fix is simple — register and get your port confirmed before you worry about anything else.

Right now the platform covers 58 verified suppliers across 50 ports in 19 countries, plus a supply desk that can source at any port when a vessel calls somewhere with no listed supplier yet. Coverage is uneven by design — it follows where vessels actually call and where suppliers have signed up. Chattogram (BDCGP) has 13 verified suppliers and Port Said (EGPSD) has 12, so competition there is real. Smaller stations such as Dubai (AEDXB), Sharjah (AESHJ) or Ras al Khaimah (AERKT) currently have one verified supplier each — a different kind of opportunity. Check your own port's standing on the ports list before you decide where to focus.

Answer fast, quote the exact lines

A requisition arrives with a port, vessel, ETA and a list of lines — often tied to IMPA codes so there is no ambiguity about model, size or packaging. Your offer is sealed and compared side by side with the others the buyer receives from verified suppliers at that port. There is no feature that rewards speed with better placement — but a buyer working against a tight ETA cannot wait indefinitely, and a complete, accurate offer that arrives early is simply more likely to still be open for comparison when they decide to award.

The lines matter more than the pitch. If a requisition lists an IMPA code, quote against that code, not your closest in-stock substitute, unless you flag the substitution clearly and separately. If a line is vague — no brand, no size, no quantity — do not guess; most buyers list exact specs for this reason, and padding your offer with assumptions is the fastest way to lose the comparison. Our guide to reading IMPA codes is useful if your team is still building requisitions manually against the Marine Stores Guide.

—Match the exact IMPA code, brand, size and quantity requested

—Quote every line on the requisition, not just the ones you stock

—State lead time and certificate availability where asked

—Keep pricing clean — no hidden handling fees added after award

The free plan: one port, three offers, for life

Registration is free, and the free plan is not a trial — it is one port and three offers, for life. That is enough to test the platform at the port where you already operate and see real requisitions before committing to anything paid. If your port is one of the quieter ones on our list — say Mina Saqr (AEMSA) or Khor al Fakkan (AEKLF), each with a single verified supplier today — the free plan may cover your whole opportunity there for a long time.

Where it runs out is obvious: once you have used your three offers, or you want to quote at a second port, you need a paid plan. There is no way around that on the free tier, and we do not promise otherwise.

When a paid plan pays for itself

Paid plans add ports — if you chandle at Jebel Ali (AEJEA) and Abu Dhabi (AEAUH), or across several Egyptian gates like Suez (EGSUZ), Damietta (EGDAM) and Alexandria (EGALY), a single free-plan port cannot cover that footprint. The decision is simple arithmetic: how many ports you actually supply, versus the plan price at pricing page.

The other lever is commission, which is charged only on orders you win: 8% on the free plan, falling to 6% on silver, 5% on gold, 4% on platinum, and 3% on diamond. A supplier winning regularly at a busy port such as Chattogram or Port Said will usually find the lower commission on a paid tier outweighs its cost well before the end of the first month. A supplier with occasional wins at a single quiet port may be better off staying free and banking the full margin on fewer, larger orders.

Pick your ports deliberately

Before upgrading, look at where you can actually deliver on time and to spec — not just where you'd like more requisitions. The ports directory shows verified supplier counts per port; a thin list, like the single-supplier stations across the UAE and Nigeria (Apapa, Lagos, Port Harcourt), means less noise competing for the same offer, but also fewer requisitions in total until vessel traffic builds. A thick list, like Chattogram or Port Said, means more requisitions but sealed offers competing head-to-head on price and completeness.

If you run a catalogue of standard parts or provisions, keeping it current in our product catalogue makes it faster to assemble an accurate quote once a requisition's IMPA lines land in your inbox — less time matching codes, more time pricing correctly before the ETA closes in.