A Guide to Ship Repair Estimates in Man-hours

Don Butler

• Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780080982809
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Technik & Maschinenbau
• Subtopic: Militärwissenschaft & -technologie

Expert ship surveyor Don Butler shares a lifetime's ship repair costing experience in this unique resource for accurate cost estimation and planning

• Includes hard to come by information on typical ship repair labor expectations for accurate man-hour forecasting and cost estimation
• Produced for marine engineers and marine industry professionals to aid with repair specification and negotiation, helping you to plan work and budgets more reliably

• Uses man-hours as opposed to particular rates or currencies, providing a long-term model for pricing regardless of location, rate fluctuation or inflation

Bringing together otherwise scattered details on specific repair and dry-docking activities, this invaluable guide will save you time and improve the accuracy of your ship repair estimates. Don't plan or commission work without it!

Don Butler is a fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineers and a member of Society of Consulting Marine Engineers and Ship Surveyors, UK.

• Made up of very hard to come by information on typical ship repair labor expectations for accurate man-hour forecasting and cost estimation
• Produced for marine engineers and marine industry professionals to save time, aid in repair negotiation and help companies to plan more reliably
• Man-hour listings assist in long-term pricing, meaning the book content remains valid regardless of currency, rate fluctuation or inflation

1

Introduction

This guide has been produced in order to outline, to technical superintendents of shipowners and ship managers, the manner in which the commercial departments of ship repairers compile quotations. The ship repairers use their tariffs for standard jobs to build up their quotations. This guide is based on these tariffs, but is made up in man-hours to assist long-term pricing. It can also be of assistance to shipyards without this information to prepare man-hour planning charts, helping them to assess manpower requirements for jobs and to produce time-based plans. Man-hours have been used so that this book will not be ‘dated’ and can be used without encountering the problems of increases in costs over the years. Where man-hour costs are not possible, these have been noted and suggestions made to compile costs against these items.

It is to be noted that, apart from steel works and pipe works, no cost of materials has been included within this book. Only man-hours are used in order that the compiler may assess shipyards’ charges based on the current market price of labor.

Where materials are conventionally supplied by the repair contractor, these have been built in to the labor costs and evaluated as man-hours. Apart from steel works and pipe works, the cost of materials in the jobs listed is generally minimal when compared with labor costs. So, apart from these two, most of the other costs will be consumables.

A comparison between various countries has been included. The workers of some countries have more efficient skills than do others. Some establishments have more sophisticated equipment than others. However, common ground has been assumed in the output of workers in standard jobs.

It is stressed that this book considers only ship ‘repairs’. That is, removing damaged, worn, or corroded items, making or supplying new parts to the pattern of the old, and installing. It is not meant to be used in its entirety for new building work, although, in some areas, it may prove useful.

Unless specifically mentioned, all the repairs are ‘in situ’. For removing a specific item ashore to the workshops, consideration should be given to any removals necessary to facilitate transportation through the ship and to the shore workshop and the later refitting of these removals, and an appropriate charge made.

In calculating the labor man-hours, it should be borne in mind that these will vary for similar jobs carried out under different conditions, such as world location, working conditions, environment, type of labor, availability of backup labor, etc.

The labor times given in this book are based upon the use of trained and skilled personnel, working in reasonable conditions in an environment of a good quality ship repair yard with all necessary tools, equipment, and readily available materials and consumables.

All of these factors should be considered when calculating the man-hours and if conditions vary from those of the assumption of this book then factors should be applied to compensate for any shortfall in any conditions. As an example, if the work is being carried out in a country that suffers from heat and high humidity, then the output of a worker can fall to 50% that of the same worker in another country that has an easier working climate.

With reduced work outputs for whatever reason, a ship repair yard will need to mark up their pricing rates according to their type of variance, and this is passed on to the shipowner. The estimator should consider influences applicable and may need to apply a factor to increase the man-hours according to whatever may reduce the output of a contractor’s workers.

Once the man-hours have been calculated, the estimator must then apply a pricing rate to the total. These vary from place to place and should be ascertained from the ship repair establishments under consideration. The variance of the rates will be applicable to certain considerations that can be applied. These considerations can include local economy, how hungry the yard is for work, current workload of the yard, and other similar situations. The estimator can look at the economical climate of the repair yards and ascertain a variance factor for each yard and apply these accordingly.

The figures shown in this book are not to be viewed as invariable. Obviously different shipyards have different working conditions and techniques, so the man-hours for the work can vary. However, the figures shown can be used as a fair assessment of the work in general and can produce price estimates for budget purposes to a shipowner. This is the object of the book.

When requesting quotations from shipyards the quotes received always vary tremendously. The figures given in this book reflect competitive tariff rates.

The author has long-term experience in the ship repair world, having recently retired as a director of a marine consultancy and is now running his own consultancy, albeit on a part time basis. An ex-sea-going engineer, qualified and experienced in steam and motor ships, he even has experience of steam reciprocating engines and saturated steam fire tube boilers. From there, he rose to repair superintendent. He has extensive ship repair yard experience gained from production, commercial, and general manager positions.

Seeing a lack of this type of publication, the author decided to put his long-term experience to use in order to assist those responsible for compiling repair specifications with pricing strategy so they may build up costings for their planned repair periods.

Included in the text are a number of tips to be applied in the preparation of repair specifications and finalizing contracts with ship repair yards. The wording of much of the scope of works listed in the book may be used within a repair specification, so as to clearly outline the owners’ requirements.

2

Drydocking works

Berth preparation

This item is included within the charges for docking and undocking, and should also include those for dismantling and removal of any specially prepared blocks.

Table 2.1 Shifting of blocks after docking vessel

This covers shifting of blocks at the request of the owner for access works not known at the time of quoting. This involves cutting out the soft wood capping of the block, shifting the block, and reinstalling at a different location.

DWT	Keel block man-hours	Side block man-hours
<20,000	5	3
20,000–100,000	10	5
100,000–200,000	16	8
>200,000	20	12

Docking and undocking

This is a variable dependent upon world location and market demands. Drydocking charges regularly change depending upon the economical climate, so an owner’s superintendent should check with selected drydock owners for their current rates.

Figure 2.1 A vessel in dry dock sitting on keel blocks undergoing repairs

Dock rent per day

The above comments also apply here.

Table 2.2 Dock services

Service	<100 LOA man-hours	>100 LOA man-hours
Fire and Safety watchman per day	8/shift	8/shift
Garbage skip per day	2	4
Electrical shore power connection and disconnection	4	5
Electrical shore power per unit	Variable	Variable
Temporary connection of fire main to ship’s system	5	6
Maintaining pressure to ship’s fire main per day	3	3
Sea circulating water connection	3	4
Sea circulating water per day	4	4
Telephone connection on board ship	3	3
Supply of ballast water per connection	6	8
Supply of fresh water per connection	3	5
Connection and disconnection of compressed air	3	5
Gas-free testing per test/visit and issue of gas-free ce...