SHIP REPAIR – BUSINESS OVERVIEW

Just as cars need regular servicing and visit to the garage from time to time, ships also require

to be serviced, operating as they do in a hostile, corrosive environment of cold, heat and salt

water. While their crews do what they can to undertake day to day maintenance , it will be

necessary from time to time to send the vessel to a specialist repair yard. Here the ships would

be docked in graving or floating docks or Shiplift facility so that the underside of the ship can be

examined and worked on in safety.

The underwater hull will be subject to fouling from weed and barnacles, as the anti-fouling paint

loses its potency so the bottom will be blasted clean and recoated. While in the dock the

propeller may be removed and tail shaft drawn, to examine and if necessary renew the

bearings, while all the underwater openings such as sea valves and sea chests, and the rudder

will be examined.

A repair yard will have every sort of specialist trade that might be required aboard a ship doing

voyage repairs. Corroded plates or parts will be cut out and new steel welded on. Pipework and

electrical installations will be examined and repaired if necessary, while the ships' machinery will

be subject to a thorough overhaul , which cannot be undertaken with the ship in service.

Specialist sub-contractors will be brought in to work on navigation equipment or electronics.

The yard will also be able to deal, in addition to the regular scheduled repair work, with the

unexpected. The ship which has been damaged in a collision , or as a result of fire or explosion,

will offer more of a challenge to the repair yard than the routine overhaul. There may be

massive steelwork replacement, or whole sections of the ship will have to be rebuilt. A major

engine breakdown will see the yard's engineering staff coming into their own . And as with

everything else in shipping , time is of the essence , and the owner's superintendents will be

urging the yard to greater efforts, so that they can have their ship back earning as quickly as

possible.

Ship repair is a highly competitive industry , with yards all over the world competing for work.

While shipowners may not wish to move their ship half way around the world for repairs, if the

price is right they may be willing to divert substantial distances. Shiprepair yards have

traditionally been situated in or near the biggest ports, or close to main shipping routes. But new

yards are entering the market and the international tendering process. With bargain prices being

offered in the yards of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, China and Vietnam in the

Far East. traditional big repair bases like Rotterdam, Hamburg , Singapore and Japan are

having to face this new competition.

Repairing is labour intensive, as it is difficult, in contrast to newbuilding, to automate much of the

work that is done . But much of the repairing process is also skilled work . The special survey

work done under the supervision of classification societies every five years is extensive and

may take weeks to accomplish, with the ship out of service, with older vessels having to be

subject to much more detailed inspection and survey than their younger sisters. India with its

large skilled worker base is well equipped to carry out Ship repairs and take away business from

established Ship repair countries such as Singapore, UAE and Bahrain.

India not only enjoys easy availability of skilled labour, but also availability of ships for repairs

both from its domestic fleet of around 780 ships totalling and foreign ships calling in Indian

ports. India also has the advantage of being situated along the major shipping lanes between

the east and west. Therefore, with proper policy and support measures, India can become a

leading ship repair nation by offering the most cost effective repair solutions despite its present

short term weakness in dry dock facilities and infrastructure. This is precisely the area we need

to focus so as to become a leading nation in ship repairs.

Typical Repair Works

Blasting and Painting of Hull and Ships internal structures (tanks, holds)

Docking Works – replacement of anodes, cleaning of sea chests, inspection of anchor chains

Steel works ( cropping and renewal of steel plates and structures)

Pipe repairs ( repair or Renewal of pipes and pipe fittings)

Mechanical works ( overhaul, renewal of mechanical components and machines)

Electrical works ( repairs and renewals of electrical machines, cables, light fittings, switchgears)

Cleaning works

Carpentry and insulation repairs, upholstery, carpeting

Air conditioning repairs

Electronic and instrumentation repairs, Navigational instruments repairs / renewals.

Retrofitting works (Fitting new equipments / systems in old ships)

Refit works ( Stripping out entire components or components of a particular system,

refurbishment of same in the workshop and refit on the ship)

Supply of maintenance spares, paints etc.

Testing and servicing of Fire extinguishers, Life saving equipment.

Conversion Work

When market conditions dictate the requirement of a particular type of vessel, some ship

owners prefer to convert an existing vessel into another form to suit the purpose. Typically

Offshore support vessel are converted to suit the role it is required to perform. Upon completion

of the contract, the vessel may be brought back to the shipyard to re-convert it back to its

original design or modified to suit another role. Such jobs where after the repair work, a ship is

converted to perform another function is called Conversion.

Typical example :

Container ship to Livestock carrier

Offshore supply vessel to Seismic survey vessel

Tankers into FPSO (Floating refinery ships)

Conversion of Offshore Supply vessel into Sesmic Vessel

Conversion of Car carrier into Livestock Carrier

Tanker converted to FPSO