Read an Excerpt
A Guide to Ship Repair Estimates in Man-hours
By Don Butler
Butterworth-Heinemann
Copyright © 2012 Don Butler
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-08-098280-9
Chapter One
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.
Chapter Two
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.
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.
Dock rent per day
The above comments also apply here.
Hull preparation
• Hand-scraping normal
• Hand-scraping hard
• Degreasing before preparation works
• High-pressure jet wash (up to 3000 p.s.i.)
• Water blast
• Vacuum dry blast
• Dry blast (dependent upon world location, prohibited in some countries)
• Grit sweep
• Grit blast to Sa2
• Grit blast to Sa2.5
• Spot blast to Sa2.5
• Hose down with fresh water after dry blast
• Disk preparation to St2.
The charges for hull preparation works should be given in price per square meter. This will enable the owner's superintendent to calculate the price for the full scope of works.
Special notes for hull preparation
The shipowner's superintendent should be fully aware of the manner in which the ship repair yard has quoted for the hull preparation works. This is to obviate surprise items when confronted with the final invoice.
A ship repair yard should quote fully inclusive rates, which cover the supply of all workers, equipment, machines, tools and consumables to carry out the quoted works, and also for all final cleaning-up operations. Inflated invoices have been known from shipyards covering the removal of used blasting grit, removed sea growth, etc. The dry dock may not belong to the repair contractor and additional charges may be made by the dry dock owner for these items. Ensure that these charges are well highlighted before acceptance of the quotation. It is far better to clear up these matters prior to the arrival of the vessel instead of being involved in arguments just before the vessel sails. Time taken to consider what a yard may see as justifiable extras before the event is well spent prior to placing the order, when everyone in the yard is eager to secure the contract.
The use of dry blasting grit is being phased out in certain areas due to its being environmentally unfriendly. Dry sand is not used for similar reasons and is also a health hazard.
In these cases the choice is for vacuum dry blasting or water blasting using very high pressures or wet blasting using grit in the water stream. Water blasting can use fresh or salt water, but the salt water cleaning must be followed by thorough high-pressure jet washing using fresh water to remove the salts.
The shipowner must determine the blasting method that is to be used by the shipyard in removing the old paint from the hull plating and obtain their fully inclusive quotation for this work. This book does not give man-hour rates for hull cleaning, as yards generally quote per square meter. Within the book a method is shown on how to calculate the square meter area of the hull of a vessel, so this should be used in conjunction with the quoted rate per square meter to determine the final cost of this work.
Hull painting
• Flat bottom
• Vertical sides
• Topsides
• Touch-up after spot blast
• Names, homeport, load lines, draft marks.
The charges for hull painting works should be given in price per square meter, and a fixed rate for names and marks. This will enable the owner's superintendent to calculate the full price for the scope of works (see below for method of determining painting areas of a ship's hull).
Notes for hull painting
Shipyard standard rates will apply for paints considered as 'normal'. This refers to paints being applied by the airless spray method up to a maximum of 100 microns (µ) dry film thickness (dft) and having a drying time between applications not exceeding 4 hours. The owner should ensure that the shipyard is aware of any special, or unconventional, painting compositions that may be used. If this is not highlighted in the specification, the contractor is justified in claiming extra costs.
Additional note on the supply of painting compositions
It is generally accepted practice for all painting compositions to be the owner's supply. This is due to the paint manufacturer giving their guarantee to the purchaser of their paints. Included from the manufacturer, within the price of the paints, is their technical backup, provision of a technical specification on the preparation works and paint application, and the provision of a technical supervisor to oversee the whole process of the paint application. If the paints have been applied to the satisfaction of the technical representative, then the full guarantee will be given to the purchaser by the paint manufacturer.
The contractor is only responsible for the preparation works and the application of the painting compositions. Provided they have satisfied the conditions of the technical specification, and the attending technical representative, then there will be no comeback on them if a problem with the paints occurs at a later date.
With the owner being the purchaser, the paint manufacturer will have the responsibility to provide new paint in the event of problems. The application is the responsibility of the owner. He will have to bear the cost of drydocking the ship and having the replacement paints applied.
If the ship repair contractor supplies the paints, he will be responsible for all these costs incurred. Hence it is not in the interests of the ship repair contractor to supply the painting compositions.
Formula to determine the painting area of ship hulls
Input the following data:
LOA in meters xxx LPP in meters xxx BM in meters xx Draft max. in meters xx P = UW constant for type of hull (0.7 for fine hulls, 0.9 for tankers) 0.x Height of boot-top in meters xx Height of topsides in meters xx N = constant for topsides for type of hull (0.84–0.92) 0.xx Height of bulwarks in meters xx
Underwater area including boot-top Boot-top area Topsides area Bulwarks area Underwater area including boot-top
Area = {(2 × Draft) + BM)} × LPP × P(constant for vessel shape)
Boot-top area
Area = {(0.5 × BM) + LPP} × 2 × Height of boot-top
Topsides area
Area = {LOA + (0.5 × BM)} × 2 × Height of topsides
Bulwarks area (note: external area only)
Area = {LOA + (0.5 × BM)} × 2 × Height of bulwarks
Using the above formulae, it is a simple matter to formulate a computer spreadsheet to determine the external painting areas of the vessel. Input the data into the table and use the formulae to determine the external painting areas of the vessel.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from A Guide to Ship Repair Estimates in Man-hours by Don Butler Copyright © 2012 by Don Butler. Excerpted by permission of Butterworth-Heinemann. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
