7 challenges

in technical ship
management

WHITE PAPER
Freight rates are still low for most cargo, and
many shipping companies are facing difficul-
ty generating profit - or at least the profit mar-
gin they require. Not much can be done about
freight rates as they are a result of the world
market and the necessity to move cargo around.

However, shipping companies can ensure effi-

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This paper identifies 7 challenges faced by shipping
companies all over the world. The data is gathered by
observing many shipping companies using different
solutions, having different policies, procedures and
strategies. We provide a recipe of how to overcome
the challenges and thereby contribute to the overall
performance of the ships from the best practice seen
across companies.
Data communication between
ship and shore
Even with constantly improved data information. Not all data communi-
communication available on the cation and systems are able to do
ships, there are still limited band- this, and too often we have observed
width. This means that ships cannot frustration from ship crew when data
stay online, and a lot of data com- is not transferred as expected. The
munication must be transmitted in best practice seen in this area is when
packages. The ships are constant- the communication lines and princi-
ly requesting spare parts, inventory, ples are reliable and self-repairing.
food and other things from the office For example, in case a package is
with the expectation that they will be not transferred correctly, the systems
delivered as requested. Otherwise, it will identify the problem and resend
can impact the performance of the the package to restore information.
ships. Therefore, it is very important These lines must be completely reli-
that the information is sent without able and ensure smooth and secure
errors from the ships to the office. If communication. Due to the high cost
anything goes wrong, the communi- of data communication, it is always
cation principles must be able to deal vital that data is compressed in the
with errors and resend the required most efficient way.

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Ease of use
“Garbage in equals garbage out” is a dependent on their usage of systems.
well-known phrase in systems deal- Training of the crew is costly and
ing with user entered data. Operation often a logistic challenge as the crew
of ships today is often dependent on reaches shore in many different loca-
data entered by the crew on-board. tions. It is, therefore, important that
Decisions are made, and actions are ease of use has a very high priority
taken from the data that is available in software applications. Training on-
in the systems. Therefore, we are de- board the ships is difficult and access
pendent on the quality of the data. to support more challenging.
Data is not valuable if it is not correct The cost of training the crew is of-
or of a sufficient quality. One of the ten seen as a barrier for implement-
main reasons for wrong or missing ing new systems and/or changing
data is that many software systems existing systems. To lower this bar-
today are still made to be operated rier, systems need to be easy to use
by experienced IT users understand- and self-explaining to the highest
ing the complexity of functions and possible extent. Use of guidelines
data. Although the crew onboard is from Microsoft or other software sys-
well-educated, their main job is not tems will ease the use and make the
to operate computers, but we are still users more familiar.

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Control of maintenance jobs
and routines
This is an area where many different pecially in a fleet of varying age and
policies are observed. Many ship- with different equipment on-board.
ping companies treat each ship as For those who manage to harmon-
an individual unit and provide only ise across the fleet, there are great
overall guidance in how to maintain benefits to achieve. It is much easi-
and inspect. This practice is easy er to have a consistent policy across
to implement, and many ship offi- the fleet that allows ship managers
cers prefer to be independent with to analyse all data and figure out the
little influence and control from the necessary adjustments. Finally, it
head office. However, there is a lot makes adjustments to policies much
of limitations to this strategy. The easier to implement. This is probably
safety and maintenance level might one of the harder challenges to over-
vary from ship to ship in the fleet and come, but we have observed more
might cause a poor reputation if one and more shipping companies that
ship diverts in the wrong direction. It make investments to achieve a cen-
also makes it harder to exchange ex- tral control. Of course, the systems
perience across the fleet, and even used must support distribution of
harder to adjust behavior based on data from the office to the ships and
experience. It is, however, a hard job be able to receive feedback.
to synchronise across the fleet, es-

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 Overview and priority of tasks
Many fleet management systems required actions or approvals that
have become quite large and com- need attention. This leads not only to
plex. This is a natural trend as they frustration, but it can also cause de-
are required to assist with quite com- lays and missed deadlines. What is
plex processes and must contain a seen as good practice is that despite
lot of data. This means that a user the complexity of growing number of
can easily lose oversight of what is functions and actions, the user, the
important and what tasks are planned department and the company must
Use of analytics to drive for today. In many cases, they will keep an overview of tasks to prior-
have to search in various places to itise and ensure that nothing is for-
behavior figure out what requires action. This gotten.
may cause overlooking or forgetting
All shipping companies have policies rather than as rules and regulations.
and goals for their operations. What We have seen an example of a ship-
is more difficult is to drive those po- ping company changing the behavior.
licies to reality and to measure where They went from having most mainte-
they are met onboard the ships. In- nance jobs performed unplanned to
spectors and superintendents that a situation where 95% of all main-
visit the ships are often seen as “po- tenance jobs are now performed as
licemen” who want to control and planned. This was achieved by set-
give directions. What we have seen in ting up KPI’s and measurements
some of the more advanced shipping that could compare performance be-
companies is the use of analytics to tween the ships. Again, the systems
drive behavior. If the right KPI’s can be need to be able to provide analytics
defined and measured to provide the in a simple way that does not require
right communication, then it is possi- a full BI project before new KPI’s and
ble to drive a certain behavior more measures can be defined.
as a competition between colleagues

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 Vessel

Modules
Integration of processes
As stated in the previous challenge, For example, when a member of
ormance
Perf the scope of fleet management sys- the crew has an accident on the
tems is growing, and each function stairs due to a missing railing, the
has its own purpose. In many cas- incident must be registered in the
es, Health & Safety, Planned Main- HSQE system, but it should not end
tenance

Proc
tenance and Procurement process- here. It should “automatically” trig-
es live separate lives. This is natural ger a maintenance job to fix the rail-
urement as these applications are seldom ing and if spare parts are required, it
developed as one big application must also “automatically” be put on
Main

but often implemented sequentially the job, and if not available, create a
and without integration. Despite dif- requisition. This example demon-
ferent people having different respon- strates that if systems and process-
sibilities and tasks and using differ- es are well integrated, a lot of un-
ent systems or parts of systems, the necessary work can be avoided, and
HSQE best practice is to have an integrated actions are not “forgotten”.
process.

Office

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Implementation and support
There is a lot to be said about this solution such as a fleet management
challenge, however, it will only be solution cannot simply be implement-
briefly described in this paper. Soft- ed without help and guidance from
ware systems of a certain complexity an experienced partner. Every com-
(and fleet management systems are pany is different, so the partner must
complex) do not implement them- also provide the necessary flexibility
selves. They require a structured to accommodate that. The job is not
approach and support from the finished when the solution is imple-
management team. They also require mented. When a problem arises, it is
appointment of the right resources necessary to have a partner, who can
and an educated and well-respect- provide help quickly and accurately.
ed project manager both within the Most companies face problems at
company and from the implemen- this stage. They often feel let down
tor. Furthermore, they require a part- by their supplier who do not provide
ner who understands the business, the necessary attention and support.
critically assesses current processes This is also true for “reactive sup-
and gives advice. Too often there is port”, where the supplier provides
only one parameter that dictates the help on request. Companies should
choice of partner, and that is price. expect proactive help from their part-
Of course, price matters but you of- ners to improve their businesses and
ten get what you pay for. Companies to ensure the maximum return on
must look for an experienced partner their investment.
with a proven track record. A complex

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Logimatic is a Danish software and engineering
company established in 1987. The company
has more than 30 years of experience in the
maritime industry and provides software
solutions for shipping companies all over the
world.

SERTICA is a fleet management solution

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facebook.com/sertica.dk

linkedin.com/company/logimatic

Denmark: +45 9634 7000 [email protected]