What is Ship management?
Ship management is the process where independent ship management companies manages ships owned by shipping companies or independent owners.
Ship management cover the vessel operation, management of crew, vessel service intervals, vessel insurance, quality and safety management, and technical maintenance aspects of a ship.
A ship manager’s responsibility may also extend into the business and commercial aspect such as chartering and financial administration of a vessel. This will require ship managers to possess a great deal of knowledge and experience.
Ship management is also an important part of maritime traffic supervision and management which includes the visas of ships entering and leaving port and management of foreign flagged vessels.
The appointment of ship managers
The appointment of ship managers allows shipping companies to pursue other business aims such as expansion of business or restructuring their business to adapt to the changing market climate. The appointment is on a contractual basis and the ship owner may appoint another ship management company depending on the quality of care and service provided by the ship management company.
Ship management may also be done with the assistance from Third-Party ship managers. These ship managers work with other organisations that owns vessels such as hire companies, investors, and banks. The reason such ship managers’ work with such organisations is to provide expert ship operation experience. Their services will be similar to that of a dedicated ship management company but will have their limitations due to the availability and access to resources.
What services are Included in Ship Management?
We provide audit and due diligence services to ship management companies. Our team of consultants possesses a varied maritime background ranging from Master Mariners to Marine Engineers. They have extensive sea-going experience and fully understands the complexities of ship operation. This enables our consultants to review the operations of ship management companies and provide high level recommendations to optimise ship operations and obtain ISO accreditation.
To provide support to Ship Managers we can specifically provide:
ISM Auditing or ISM Review
We have produced complete Safety Management Systems in compliance with the ISM Code for new ship operators and ship management companies and also updated and amended existing Safety Management Systems to bring them in line with best industry standards.
We provide qualified auditors with extensive experience of company auditing being sensitive to the requirement for minimum disruption to the audited Company’s day to day operations.
Navigation Assessment and Cargo Operations assessment
To support best industry practise, we are providing experienced maritime professionals to undertake third party Navigation Assessment of Client vessels.
Ship Delivery and Voyage Management
We have extensive experience carrying our delivery voyages for Client vessels. We can provide ship delivery crew and voyage management, advice on reflagging, Marine and Engineering Superintendency and expert advice to Clients.
Our Experience
Orcades Marine has a specialised team of experienced Master Mariners and Pilot assessors providing independent evaluation of the bridge team through the Navigational Audit process which can be tailored to suit areas of particular concern.
The findings and recommendations are reported back to the Client providing independent insight to facilitate the Clients management and mitigation of risk. As an important part of that process, on board training and advice is given to the bridge team by the auditor. Orcades Marine work comfortably worldwide and respond promptly to requests for attendance.
We have supported a major UK public corporation taking on “in house” management of a modern roll-on-roll-off car and passenger ferry operation, by undertaking a gap analysis and due diligence process to identify areas of project risk during the management transition and providing an amended and up-dated Safety Management System in compliance with the ISM Code.
Our projects
We worked with a major “blue chip” national shipping company based in the Middle East to review the operations, safety, organisational capabilities, and best management practises of their ship management arm.
The review was performed with guidance principles from established International Maritime body review processed such as ISO standards, ISM codes, and ISPS codes.
The scope of work covered the following items listed below.
- Evaluation of effectiveness of existing ship management knowledge and system;
- Evaluating the selection criteria of manning agents and compliance with industrial regulations or best practise;
- Assessing resource planning systems;
- Assessing safety and marine department responsibilities against best ship management practise;
- Assessing the safety and marine management system and its effectiveness in shipboard operations;
- Assessing the safety department’s processes to ensure employee safety awareness and acceptance of safety responsibility;
- Evaluating the client’s processes and procedures to satisfy the vessel owners of their performance and proof on concept.
