Marine Log - January 2008 - (Page 25) ICE CLASS TANKERS SHIPBUILDING ing and sea trials. Complete testing of all systems prior to delivery will dramatically reduce vessel downtime for the ship owner and warranty costs for the shipyard and the equipment suppliers. If there is one thing you can take away from the aforementioned, let it be this: the shipyard, key equipment suppliers and the ship owner should be flexible, cooperative and transparent with each other in order to get the best result. Finally, I would advise shipyards and ship owners to remember that when the going gets tough, never lose sight of the goal of a quality ship delivered on time and on budget. Work to keep your interests aligned, always look for ways to keep moving toward the goal, remain flexible and look for alternatives that can move the project toward the goal. A fight between a shipyard and ship owner never ends well for either party. ML *Mr. Rigdon is the Chairman and CEO of Rigdon Marine Corp., an offshore vessel owner and operator. This article is excerpted from a recent speech Mr. Rigdon gave at Marine Log’s Intelligent Shipbuilding 2007. ship construction program. Plan, adjust and adopt changes to streamline the ship construction process. I would encourage both the shipyard and the ship owner to focus during the detail engineering and final equipment selection processes because time lost at this phase in the construction contract is lost forever. Success in this phase of the construction program should substantially reduce the pressure on the production group at the end of the contract. During the construction phase of the contract, you want to have a qualified and experienced owner’s representative in your yard. While it may seem desirable to sign a contract and not see the owner again until the vessel is ready for delivery, this is just not realistic today. The small ships that are being built today are generally too complex, involve many equipment suppliers and subcontractors and require regular inputs and approvals from the owner’s representative on a regular basis. In the current material and equipment supply environment, we will see that some ship owners will have better success in securing key components than some shipyards. Additionally, some ship owners will have a higher level of knowledge and experience with systems integration than some shipyards because of their recent construction experience of modern, complex vessels. As a result of both of these circumstances, we may see more owner-supplied materials and equipment. Owner-supplied materials and equipment demands an even closer working relationship between the shipyard, equipment suppliers and the ship owner; regardless of how this ship owner-supplied or -sourced material and equipment is handled contractually. While a late delivery of ownersupplied equipment may result in a price penalty payable to the shipyard due to the delay, the lost production time and efficiency is a detriment to both parties. The best result for both parties is a well planned and executed ship construction program that stays on time and budget. The complexity and increased testing required for Dynamic Positioning Class 2 ships, which are becoming the standard in the offshore oil and gas industry, demands careful and complete planning to minimize the time and expense of test- www.marinelog.com JANUARY 2008 MARINE LOG 25 http://www.seaark.com http://www.seaark.com http://www.marinelog.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.