Technical management for trading vessels has evolved over the years and ship owners prefer to manage their vessels either themselves through their in-house technical team or through a third-party ship manager. 

For the single voyage delivery, on-board management is usually assigned to third-party ship managers. The quick turnaround required in vessels going for recycling poses many a challenge for the managers. 

The main issue faced is getting a competent crew who are honest and transparent during their time onboard. Honest to their profession and their duties on board a vessel, transparent with their managers/owners on the condition of the vessel and likely problems to be faced. 

If these two issues are resolved it is easy for the owners to prepare for any eventualities during the voyage. It is often noticed that the crew tries to hide the problems faced since it is a single voyage and owners end up with a bigger problem to tackle which is beyond the control of the managers.

Reliability of machinery is always a problem as few, if not most, sellers do not like to share the problems faced on board. However, the buyer’s crew needs to try and understand the body language of the seller’s crew and focus on areas where there is a reluctance to show machinery operations.

The reliability also becomes an issue if the two qualities mentioned above for the crew are not met. 

Repair and maintenance budgets are not required to be maintained for a year hence the managers need to be more accurate in their estimation of repairs to prepare for the usually short limited voyages.

Bunkers, stores, and lube oils are handled by owners so they have better control over costs.

Managers and their crew must be able to adjust to newer technologies and regulatory and environmental requirements which are rapidly changing.

Managers, therefore, have to adapt to the requirements of the Industry and improve their processes to be more competitive.

For any questions or comments, please contact us at: operations@gmsinc.net