Ship Management is not an easy business to be in, and no one knows better than Management bosses. For shipping companies, the revenue model has not changed for years whereas operating expenses have increased continuously, hence, to be in business you must outsmart your own way of working to reduce your operating cost whereas the Management fees cannot be exceeded beyond certain numbers.

Superintendent is usually the most expensive component of ship management cost. Each company may have tried different possibilities like in a fleet of 25 ships managed by 4 to 6 superintendent and a fleet Manager who himself work as back up for superintendent & always busy with dealing critical issues. Each ship must be visited by superintendent in 6 months and usual visit could last for a week at least or more and in drydock for almost a month hence it calls for expensive redundancy at office. Each additional superintendent cost around $12K monthly to company which is a big cost.

However, with this conventional thought process, the management commercial efficiency is linked to superintendent experience and his efficiency who himself is a human being and has a capacity restriction. As the superintendent gains more experience to take more responsibilities so is his salary rise and end of the day owners cost numbers are still fluctuating around certain window.

Our recent era has been rewarded by technology connectivity in real time & Covid 19 forced companies not just to work remotely but realize also that this is an option which can work. The

availability of internet onboard has made it possible thing which possibly we would not have thought just few years ago.

If we analyze the superintendent job, it is around 30% of time is spent in job for which he is hired ie use his expertise to run the ship where are rest are mundane job which can be done by persons 1/3rd of his salary. So if the superintendent is engaged on all jobs, he is not utilized to his potential.

So superintendent is like a commodity like any other business, say a hotel business where the profit margin depends on the hotel occupancy. If we take App-based hotel chain model ( Say OYE) where any hotel across the country they give the same room at much cheaper price then if you directly contact the hotel for same room. This is possibly by improving the occupancy of the hotel by use of digitalization. So if they have improved the occupancy from 40% to 70%, the room which was available from hotel at $50, for same revenue, the room can be priced at $30 which is a big reduction.

And this is the business model what shipping owners should aspire, improve Occupancy of superintendent.

There can be an argument that dedicated superintendents do better is not appropriate anymore. He knows the ship better than other but at what price? Today a Superintendent can do the remote attendance of his vessel to get the feel of his ship whereas physical attendance can easily be carried by virtual superintendent available at each location with similar effectiveness as superintendent. This off course call for effective use of digital technologies for effective collaboration ensure that virtual superintendent attendance is in line with your attendance .

Similarly if we think that superintendent analyze the monthly performance better than any 3rd party dedicated team is totally incorrect. A dedicated person or team who spends good time on performance is expected to do better analysis due to his better understanding.

Other than this, the virtual call centers by use of technology whereby technical support on type of ship problem is a possibility thereby reducing the reliance on superintendent.

The digital world is doing wonders and owners would be fool if they cannot take the advantage to their benefit.

By Vijay Arora- MD UGteck Marine Pvt ltd