Overview
There are 400 repair yards in Europe, mostly SMEs, working at more than a purely local level. This was established in a database development exercise as part of the Fourth Framework Programme's SYRIOS project.
The EU ship repair industry sector maintains around 40 000 ocean-going ships (around 45% of the world's total) which trade in EU waters. Of these, 50% are docked annually (the typical interval between dockings is 30 months, but some types, for example ferries, are docked annually). The industry employs over 40 000 people directly. In addition, the consistent use of sub-contractors results in a further 40 000 jobs. The EU also has a significant marine supply chain, providing the equipment and spare parts for the ships, and an additional 40 000 jobs at least can be attributed to the companies in this supply chain.
It was estimated that the development of new methods of work would allow the stakeholders to reduce manufacturing costs by 30-40% and work lead-times by 25% in the areas covered by the project. Furthermore, research activities would develop new tools, potentially leading to in an increase of productivity by 5% and a repair cost reduction by 3-6%. In all cases it was expected that material costs could be reduced by 10%.
The SHIPMATES project aimed to promote breakthrough research and technological developments to achieve improved product quality and performance based on cost-effective and environmentally friendly production systems on a life-cycle basis. Research tries to reduce manufacturing costs and production lead times.
The operational goal of the SHIPMATES project was to produce a framework and prototype tools to assist stakeholders in the ship repair and conversion industry in achieving the main objective of the project.
An additional goal was the increase by 25% of clean maintenance, dismantling and recycling of vessels as provided by the partners.
The consortium achieved the operational goal through the development of new methods for working in a safer, more environmentally friendly and competitive manner. This will be coupled with the delivery of the research and development results to the industry and stakeholders in a way that assists and encourages them to take practical advantage of what has been developed.
The activities of the project intended to provide a clear understanding of best practice in the sector, and to map and simulate the range of repair and conversion yard activities, with the exception of the painting and coating range of activities, covered in the separate but related SHIP-RECOAT proposal. Then, three groups of activities ran simultaneously:
- trying to improve the steel cutting and joining processes relevant to repair yards;
- improving the processes of repair and replacement of cabling and pipe work;
- establishing a controlled process for converting/retrofitting ships to make their operation more environmentally friendly.
The result of these three groups of activities was used for devising ways in which ship breaking can be carried out in Europe in a safe, environmentally friendly and economically efficient way.
Funding
Results
An international technology survey for ship repair yards was conducted. For the selected shipyards the Activity Map for the current level of technology being employed in the yard was completed.
The results provide a baseline against which any shipyard can compare its own technology assessment. This will give the ship repair yard a quick overview of the current technology levels in use and will highlight areas of poor technology which may be causing problems within the yards operations. It can act as a quick diagnostic tool, which will inform and guide a more extensive and detailed review of the technology employed in the areas of activity highlighted as requiring attention. The results of the survey can also be used to benchmark the shipyard against others, to provide an overview of potential technology gaps. The results are presented in overall terms and also differentiating small and large shipyards, and also those which have associated ship construction. For the future, the Activity Map can be updated as the technology changes. The overall results rate the technology employed on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 represents technology typical of the 1960s, and 5 represents technology which is currently state of the art.
According to this scale:
- Overall the gross level of technology employed in ship repair is 2.61;
- For small shipyards the gross level of technology in ship repair is 2.18;
- For large shipyards the gross level of technology in ship repair is 3.04;
- Large shipyards which also build ships have a technology level of 3.21;
- Large shipyards which only repair have a technology level of 2.75;
The level of technology generally found in ship repair is well below what is possible in most cases. The levels of technology do not usually vary greatly between different shipyard functions and stages of a contract. The level is relatively low for both the operational technology and the technology associated with management and organisation.
For large shipyards, the most effective stages of a contract are the initial marketing and the material management. The most effective functions in ship repair are commercial and quality management. For small shipyards the most effective stages are marketing and enquiry management. The most effective functional area is commercial management.
It is apparent that most ship repair yards concentrate on securing new work, which reflects the intensely competitive market in which they operate