DockBook vs My Timebook
My Timebook logs your hours and estimates your pay. DockBook is built on the collective agreement, so it catches the weeks payroll shorts you and tracks your pension, guarantee, welfare, vacation, and registration. Already on My Timebook? Import your history in one tap.
The short version
My Timebook is the older, simpler option: a shift logger that estimates earnings from pay rates and stores them on your phone for about $4.99 a year. DockBook does that, then keeps going. It reconciles each paystub, projects your retirement, and tracks the entitlements that decide your future. If you want the full picture of what you are owed, DockBook brings your My Timebook history with you.
| DockBook | My Timebook | |
|---|---|---|
| Log shifts (ship, job, location, hours, notes) | Yes, plus callback auto-logging, templates, dispatch-slip photos | Yes |
| Calculate earnings | Every premium, OT, extension, differential, stat, travel, meal, from the agreement | Yes, from pay rates by local |
| Coverage | US and Canada locals | US and Canada locals |
| Checks your paystub, flags shorted pay | Yes | No |
| Pension and retirement (pension, 401k/RRSP, years of service) | Yes | No |
| Pay guarantee tracking and risk alerts | Yes | No |
| Welfare and benefits eligibility | Yes | No |
| Registration progress (Class B and A) | Yes | No |
| Vacation and leave tracking | Yes | No |
| Vessel intel (community ship data, lashing gear, live map) | Yes | No |
| Equipment notes | Yes | No |
| Live peer / board average hours | Yes | No |
| Retro pay and travel pay calculators | Yes | Logs travel hours only |
| Reports and export | PDF, CSV, and full backup | File export |
| Data and backup | Automatic encrypted cloud sync across devices | On-device; manual backup; lost if app is deleted |
| Platforms | iOS, Android, web | iOS, Android |
| Free tier | Yes | Trial, then paid |
| Price | Free + Pro ($6.99/mo or $49.99/yr) | About $4.99/year |
My Timebook details are from its public App Store listing. Verify current pricing on the store.
The difference that pays for itself
Both apps apply pay rates to your hours. Only DockBook is built on the full agreement and reconciles each stub against its own estimate, so a missed premium or a wrong rate gets flagged instead of cashed. Enter the gross from your cheque, and DockBook tells you which weeks came up short. For a six-figure earner, one caught week can cover years of subscription.
A career tool, not just a timesheet
Your pension and years of service, your 401k or RRSP, your pay guarantee, your welfare qualifying hours, your vacation pay, and your registration toward Class A. DockBook tracks the things that decide your retirement and your benefits, built from your real logged hours, and warns you before you fall short of a threshold. A logger does not work in this territory.
Know before you board
Search any vessel and see community lashing-gear notes, photos, and a live position map. Add your own private notes per ship. Your data is safe by default too, with automatic encrypted cloud backup across your phone, tablet, and the web, instead of a file you have to remember to email yourself before you wipe your phone.
Being fair
Credit where it is due. If you want the cheapest, simplest shift logger, you do not need paystub verification, pension or benefits tracking, or cloud backup, and you like that it is established, My Timebook does that core job for about $4.99 a year. DockBook is for everyone who wants the rest of it, and who treats catching a shorted paycheck as the app paying for itself.
Switching is built in
You do not have to start over. Export your data from My Timebook, then open DockBook, go to Reports and Data, and choose Import from My Timebook. Your shift history comes across and duplicates are skipped, so your career totals stay intact.
Yes, and a much broader one. Both log longshore shifts and estimate pay. DockBook adds paystub reconciliation that flags shorted weeks, pension and retirement tracking, the pay guarantee, welfare eligibility, vacation and leave, registration progress, vessel intel, and encrypted cloud backup. It also includes a built-in importer for your My Timebook history.
Whether your pay is actually correct, your pension and years of service, your pay guarantee, welfare qualifying hours, vacation and leave, registration toward Class A, community vessel intel, and live peer average hours.
Yes. Export from My Timebook, then in DockBook go to Reports and Data and choose Import from My Timebook. Your shift history comes across and duplicates are skipped.
No. DockBook is an independent app built by a longshoreman. Pay and pension figures are estimates. Always verify against your official paystub and plan statements.
Free to start. Pro when you want pension, paystub checks, vessel intel, and the rest. Built by a longshoreman who got tired of guessing.
