Operating costs set for moderate rise

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

31 Oct 2010

Crew costs will continue to rise particularly on the back of an undersupply of officers, a leading shipmanager predicted. This will impact primarily on specialist vessels, including some tanker types, said V Ships CEO Ship Management Capt Bob Bishop, speaking at the Moore Stephens’ annual Operating Cost seminar.
He said that increased vetting by various organisations now required competent people both ashore and afloat.
He analysed five areas of a 10-year old Suezmaxes opcosts, saying that there would be a modest increase in repair and maintenance and drydocking costs, but that stores’ costs were flat.
A shortage of luboils supply and suppliers will mean an increase especially when sailing in sensitive areas, such as ECAs. The way to manage this was to enter into long tern contracts with suppliers, Bishop said.
The same goes for stores and spare parts where pre-negotiated contracts were the favourable option to keep costs under control.
Rising freight forwarding costs would present a problem going forward and would need analysing. To mitigate this, purchases should be pre-planned, while suppliers should be sourced with care, especially if not using OEMs. “You pay for what you get,” he said.
He thought that in general, suppliers better understood current market conditions today and were much more realistic in their costings.
As for the spate of rules and regulations on the horizon, Bishop said that they were more of an operational problem, rather than a cost problem, including the ILO Maritime Labour Convention.
Insurance claims were becoming less numerically, but higher in value. He thought that insurance and P&I premiums would rise marginally.
He summed up by saying that costs can be controlled by having good, competent people both ashore and afloat, especially where repair and maintenance issues were concerned.

Source: Tanker Operator