DOCKING MANAGEMENT
Docking projects are notoriously difficult to control. Technical surprises pop up at the most inconvenient of times, the cost escalates and delays are common. Important jobs are being cancelled to keep the budget and the final invoice is frequently higher than expected. Invoice negotiations, sometimes done without documentation about what has been agreed, leaves too much money in the pot to be settled.
This is a risky approach!
Fortunately, there is a better way. Over the last 10 years, Cap Marine Consultants have developed a methodology which integrates all aspects of docking planning, management and control.
Our Docking Management Methodology (DMM) takes a contract-oriented approach to project control, incorporating best-practises from other industries, adapted to the fast-paced reality of ship repair. A key component of the DMM is the systematic management of scope-risk. In concert with modern web/app-based docking management software, it has proven to be a viable way to achieve the holy grail of project control: Real-time cost and progress control. Shipowners should settle for nothing less!
Learn more from our recent article in The Maritime Executive Magazine.
Cap Marine Consultants will advise your organisation on any aspects of docking management and how to achieve full control of cost, time and quality.
Do you manage the scope-risk properly? Do you use standardized processes, or is it every man for himself with his Excel sheet? Do you collect, analyze and report data so that you gain actionable insights? Are you able to learn as an organisation? Are your projects really under control? Have you joined the digital transformation yet?
These are transformative times for the maritime industry. Past performance is just not good enough anymore and every organization has its pain-points. Cap Marine Consultants have a proven track record of helping shipowners achieving excellence!
If you wish, we’ll deliver a turn-key docking, assembling the docking and repair specification, tender for the optimum shipyard and execute the docking on your behalf. We will use the latest web/app-based docking management software. The benefit for the customer is full transparency and total control from A to Z.
Or, we support you along the way. In particular cost-control and reporting during the docking, assisting your superintendent so that he can focus on technical issues is a highly valuable service.
The traditional approach to cost control during docking is to outsource it to the yard, waiting for their weekly update. We are not aware of any other billion-dollar-industry which outsources cost control to the contractor. That is cost-control upside-down!
Cost-control is genuinely difficult, so it is understandable that it often falls beyond the capability of the lean teams typically managing a docking. Proper cost-control relies on a specification that is detailed, precise and complete. It should also clearly differentiate between fixed and variable scope of work. Using modern cloud/app based docking management systems now enables real-time cost-control. Let Cap Marine Consultants help you tie up all loose ends and bring your next docking project fully under control.
Cap Marine Consultants developed DNV’s classroom Docking Management course in 2009 and later the joint DNV GL course in 2014, following the merger between DNV and Germanisher Lloyd. We are delivering the course word-wide on behalf of DNV GL, including in-house courses for shipping and ship-management companies. Ask us to provide an in-house classroom course in collaboration with DNV GL, and we will tailor the course to suit your needs, if necessary. You’ll find the course details here.
Cap Marine Consultants also developed Lloyd’s Maritime Academy’s online Docking Management course. We are still leading the online courses, guiding the students through the learning process. If online is your preferred learning mode, you’ll find the course here.
OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE
The volume of procedures in a company has a tendency to grow indefinitely over time. Unless the totality is reviewed from time to time one runs the risk of creating confusion rather than clarity. Cap Marine Consultants can help you carry out or facilitate such reviews.
Everybody, essentially, is aware of this problem, but it is risky for employees to propose simplification because it may come back to haunt them in case something goes wrong. We’d be happy to be your fall-guy.
By project risk, we don’t mean physical risk of accidents, but the risk of a project’s failure to meet objectives, or to deliver on-time, within budget. Cap Marine Consultants will help assess and manage such risks during the course of a project, or in the evaluation phase as part of a due diligence process.
By project monitoring, we mean supervision and control, except the day-to-day quality control which requires a physical presence. This is interesting for anyone committing money to a project, be it investors, banks, or owners wanting independent third-party monitoring of cost and progress.
TRAINING
Cap Marine Consultants developed DNV’s classroom Docking Management course in 2009 and later the joint DNV GL course in 2014, following the merger between DNV and Germanisher Lloyd. We are delivering the course word-wide on behalf of DNV GL, including in-house courses for shipping and ship-management companies. Ask us to provide an in-house classroom course in collaboration with DNV GL, and we will tailor the course to suit your needs, if necessary. You’ll find the course details here.
Cap Marine Consultants also developed Lloyd’s Maritime Academy’s online Docking Management course. We are still leading the online courses, guiding the students through the learning process. If online is your preferred learning mode, you’ll find the course here.
Most shipping companies require their officers to inspect and report the condition of the hull structure of their ship. Unless the officers receive appropriate training, such inspections will yield inconsistent and unreliable results of little value. Cap Marine Consultants help train your officers and superintendents to achieve a high standard of inspection and reporting, and ultimately, to ensure seaworthiness of your vessels.
Cap Marine Consultants offers tailor-made courses within the full breadth of our expertise.
TECHNICAL SERVICES
Cap Marine Consultants developed the methodology underpinning DNV’s Condition Assessment Program back in 2002. The methodology is generally recognised, by BP Vetting and others, as the most thorough in the industry.
Pre-CAP assessment
CAP surveys by the Classification Societies can be costly. Not only is the cost of the survey high, but the costs of upgrading the ship to obtain the desired CAP rating can also be prohibitive.
The pre-CAP assessment is a decision tool for shipowners considering to take their ship through a CAP process. It may be carried out without inspection, on the basis of new or old UTM data and other available material, or with an inspection in order to enhance the accuracy of the cost of upgrading estimate. For predictions of repair quantities, we use the same methodology as for the Hull Repair Forecasting.
CAP optimisation
It has been the experience of many shipowners that they have been over-shooting their target CAP rating by upgrading the vessel far beyond what would have been required in order to reach their objective, usually a CAP 2 rating. In order to avoid such unnecessary costs, Cap Marine Consultants will advise you how to optimize the upgrading and still reach your objectives.
Advice and support
Take advantage of our unmatched competence regarding CAP. We will advise you on any CAP related matters and also support you during surveys or repairs.
Repair forecasting
Hull repair forecasting identifies the most likely repair scope, as well as a likely worst-case scope for an upcoming docking.
The assessment does not require an inspection of the ship and can be carried out based on an evaluation of past reports and thickness measurements. Our methodology is based on an advanced statistical analysis of thickness diminution over time.
The starting point will always be a practical evaluation, ensuring real-life relevance. Experience from sisterships may be used to enhance the assessment.
Repair optimisation
The standard repair solution for ships today is to renew any damaged or corroded structure back to the original design. However, an equivalent safety level may often be achieved by other means such as the removal of unused, extreme loading conditions, etc.
There may be many routes travelled in this respect, some by advanced re-calculation of the ship strength based on as-measured scantlings from thickness measurements. Cap Marine Consultants will take a broad approach in each case, seeking to identify the most cost-effective solution for the ship in question. We will always seek to work in close co-operation with the vessel’s classification society to ensure acceptance of our proposals. Substantial savings may be obtainable by repair optimisation compared to standard, sub-optimal repairs. These will often go well beyond what would be obtainable through a regular customer dialogue with the classification society.
Specification
Review or development of technical specifications for newbuilding or conversion projects.
Drawing approval
Shipyards often follow “design for production” philosophies, which sometimes results in less than optimal design from a practical point of view. Similarly, Classification Societies who approve drawings are concerned with safety only, not the fulfilment of purpose. To ensure that the vessel will have a long life and that it fully satisfies expectations it is necessary to closely review all relevant drawings.
Cap Marine Consultants can help you get full value for money from a newbuilding or conversion project.
Supervision
Our approach to project supervision is to not only focus on technical issues and quality control, but on the overall project including planning, progress reporting, QA, etc. We aim to integrate as closely as possible with the yard’s systems and way of working, thereby ensuring efficiency and the best possible control of the project. Our suite of tailor-made software tools enables an efficient flow of information and total control of the project. For the owner this means real-time information on cost and progress, as well as forecasting of cost and time of completion.
If the newbuilding or conversion projects takes place at relatively inexperienced yards it is advisable to adopt an approach of partnering with and guiding the yard management in order to reach the best possible results. This requires a thorough understanding of the challenges facing a shipyard. Cap Marine Consultants has the necessary expertise to undertake this task and thereby reduce the risk associated with building at such yards.
Contract review
We believe that most shipbuilding contracts fall short in that they focus too much on sanctions after the event, and too little on ensuring controllability of the project in the first place. The contract should not be seen as the domain of the lawyers alone, but as a practical tool for the shipowner and his supervision team in the continuous task of controlling quality, cost and progress of the project. Controllability should be built into the contract, and Cap Marine Consultants can assist you by ensuring that simple, but powerful control mechanisms are included in the contract.
Buying second-hand tonnage is always a significant investment, and carries with it considerable technical risks. We have seen numerous examples of surprise repairs coming up after purchase, sometimes running into several million dollars. Yet it is surprisingly common to see pre-purchase evaluations amounting to little more than “kicking the tyres”. In our opinion, proper management of the technical risk is required. This may comprise:
- Inspection
- Risk assessment
- Repair forecasting
- Due diligence
Development of Guidelines
Cap Marine Consultants developed DNV’s Guideline for Lay-up of Vessels (April, 2009), and can assist other organisations with similar needs. The latest revision of the guideline is available here.
Development of lay-up procedures and specifications
- Lay-up site
- Mooring arrangements
- Ballasting
- Power availability
- Safety precautions
- Anti-pollution measures
- Security
Preservation plan and log
- Hull
- Engine and boiler rooms
- Machinery
- Boilers and steam system
- Electrical installation
- Instrumentation and automation
Re-commissioning
Care-free operation after a lay-up period requires and orderly and professional re-commissioning process. Achieving this depends to a large degree on having had an orderly process when laying up the ship in the first place, and can be complicated if the preservation of the vessel has been poorly documented.
Buying laid-up vessels
We have seen cases where the re-commissioning of laid-up second-hand tonnage have been several million dollars more expensive than expected. Such projects can be challenging. We can help manage the risks.
Cap Marine Consultants carry out independent third-party services in the maritime or offshore energy industries such as warranty surveys, on-hire/off-hire surveys, etc.