Real-World Assets · Crypto Literacy

Tokenized Ships: How RWA Revenue Actually Flows

Projects like tokenized dry-bulk fleets promise "real charter revenue on-chain." Use the simulator to see what a vessel actually earns — and learn exactly what to verify before believing any RWA pitch.

Drag to rotate · Cargo holds fill with the utilization slider · Toggle the token layer to see on-chain claims

Gross charter revenue / yr
Operating costs / yr
Net cash flow / yr

Dry bulk 101

Dry bulk carriers haul unpackaged cargo — iron ore, coal, grain. Owners earn via time charters: a charterer pays a fixed day rate to use the vessel.

Rates swing hard with the commodity cycle. The Baltic Dry Index has historically moved from crisis lows near a few hundred points to booms above 5,000 — meaning the same ship can earn $6k/day one year and $25k+/day another. Any "steady yield" pitch has to explain how it survives the trough.

What a token can claim

A token is only worth what a legal structure gives it. Three common models:

  1. Equity in an SPV that owns the vessel — strongest claim, most regulation.
  2. Revenue-share contract — a right to a slice of cash flow, not ownership.
  3. Nothing enforceable — a "utility" token whose value is narrative only.

"Working product before token" — real ships, real charters, dashboard tracking — is a genuinely better signal than vaporware, but it still doesn't tell you which of the three models you'd be buying.

Due-diligence checklist

Vessel IMO numbers you can verify in public ship registries
Audited financials or third-party charter attestations
Named legal entity + jurisdiction for the asset SPV
Yield quoted from peak-cycle charter rates
No mention of dry-docking, insurance, or crew costs
Token rights described only in marketing, never in legal docs

Worked example

A mid-size Supramax at a $14,000/day charter, on hire 330 days (35 days off for dry-docking and idle time), with $6,000/day OPEX (crew, insurance, maintenance, management) across all 365 days:

Split across 10,000 tokens that's $243/token/yr. If tokens sell at $2,000 each, the implied yield is ~12% — attractive, but entirely dependent on charter rates staying near $14k. Drag the rate slider to $8k and watch the yield collapse. That sensitivity is the core risk of every shipping RWA.

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