 Companies seek predictability in an uncertain financial climateAs the recession bites deeper, more shipping companies switch to liferaft rental
May 15, 2009 - One of the effects of the financial uncertainty facing the shipping industry is that operators are looking for ways of spreading capital costs over longer terms. This has the effect of saving money on capital expenses, and introducing a level of predictability into traditionally unpredictable expenditure.
A good example of this is liferaft rental. Traditionally, operators purchased new liferafts on the launch of a new vessel, and review the situation roughly every ten years thereafter. SOLAS regulations stipulate that these must be serviced and checked annually, to ensure that the liferafts are still seaworthy. These annual services often arise at inconvenient times in a vessels' schedule, and can lead to delays if liferafts are condemned, or need extensive repairs.
Wilhelmsen Ships Service's solution to this problem is to offer liferafts on a fixed annual rental. When the liferaft becomes due for its annual service, vessel operators merely exchange their old liferafts for newly-serviced replacements, at any of Wilhelmsen Ships Service's 25 liferaft service stations around the globe.
"We launched this concept several years ago," said Dave Evans, the product marketing manager for life-saving and survival products in Wilhelmsen Ships Service. "However, the last six months has seen a dramatic increase in the demand for liferaft rental. In this period, we have signed up 250 vessels to liferaft agreements.
"We believe that this significant change to the way vessels deal with liferaft supply is due to shipping companies' increased focus on cost saving. It allows companies with global operations to keep a close check on expenditure, and centralise expenses in one operation. It also reduces the time and stress involved in dealing with local liferaft service centres and ships' crews know that they will get a guaranteed quality replacement whenever their liferafts become due for replacement."
2009-05-18
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