Pool points are the weighting that sets each vessel's share of a tanker pool's earnings. A pool puts similar ships under one commercial operator that markets them together and distributes the combined revenue, and the points formula decides who gets what: a faster, more fuel-efficient ship with more cargo capacity earns more points and therefore a larger share. In some pools the formula also weighs performance factors, and vetting standing is among them.
How it shows up in practice
Take two sister ships in the same product tanker pool. On paper they are identical, so their base points match. One holds a clean SIRE 2.0 record and clears oil major screening without friction; the other carries observations that keep drawing questions from vetting departments. The pool manager feels the difference before the owners do: the clean ship can be offered to any charterer in the book, while the other gets passed over for the fixtures that pay best. Pools that link points to performance turn that difference into money directly, trimming the weaker ship's share. Pools that do not still cannot conjure earnings from a ship charterers decline, so the whole pool's result, and every member's distribution, absorbs the drag. The mechanics and worked numbers are in pool points and vetting earnings.
There is also a gate before the formula ever applies. Pool managers screen vessels at entry, because one chronically unvettable ship weakens the fleet they are selling to charterers. A ship that cannot pass charterer vetting may not get into the pool at all.
What it means for operators
Pool points make vetting performance legible as revenue. Outside a pool, a failed screening costs a fixture an owner may never know about; inside one, the points statement and the monthly distribution put a number on it. That visibility cuts both ways: it stings, and it justifies spending on preparation, because keeping a ship cleanly vetted protects its share directly. For owners weighing where inspection readiness ranks among competing costs, the pool statement is the clearest answer the market provides. How Fleetward supports the underlying vetting record is on the vetting solution page.