Shipboard management

Abstract

Over the past decade there has been a substantial increase in the cost of labour, fuel, maintenance and ship survey. At the same time, the capital cost of providing new tonnage has risen sharply. Tariffs and fixture rates have not kept pace, however, so that the discrepancy between expenditure and revenue has progressively widened. Shipowners are therefore obliged to reduce costs if they are to operate profitably. Throughout this book stress has been laid on various ways of achieving this objective by improving the design and utilization of vessels, exploiting economies of scale, increasing crew productivity, reducing fuel consumption and cutting the cost of maintenance. Another avenue open to them is that of shipboard management.