SHIP MAINTENANCE

SHIP MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT

In the maritime industry a number of administrational management
systems are used to provide information and to support decision
making both onboard the vessels and ashore in the shipping
companies´ offices.

Examples of the systems’ functionality are financial, chartering and

operations, personnel, safety, quality, document, procurement, and
maintenance management.

In addition there are a number of TECHNICAL MANAGEMENT

SYSTEMS supporting various functions onboard such as
navigation, propulsion & manoeuvering, machinery monitoring &
control, cargo handling, and trim & stability systems.
In today’s competitive international shipping it is
of utmost importance that owners’ and managers’
end state is RELIABLE SHIPPING OPERATION.

The member states of IMO have in recent years

adopted a number of conventions and
amendments to those regarding RELIABLE
SHIPPING OPERATION, Maintenance, Manning,
Protection Against Terrorism and Environmental
Protection (IMO, 2010).
 According statistics from UK Government Marine Investigation
Branch 23% of all accidents with merchant vessels above 100 gross
tons are due to MACHINERY FAILURE. The main causes for marine
machinery failures are inspection or handling of equipment,
insufficient maintenance, incorrect lubrication, poor machine
installation and misalignment and balancing of rotating shafts

Examples of the rules and regulations influencing the

shipping industry are the International Safety Management
Code (ISM), the International Convention on Standards of
Training Certification and Watch keeping for Seafarers
(STCW), the International Ship and Port Facility Security
Code (ISPS) and the International Convention for the
Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), (IMO, 2010).
The ISM Code Chapter 10
Maintenance of the ship and
is equipment describes in
general how ships should
be maintained, inspected,
non-conformities be
reported and corrective
actions be taken.
Paragraph 10.1 of the ISM Code states that the Company
should establish procedures to ensure that the ship is
maintained in conformity with the provisions of the relevant
rules and regulations and with any additional requirements
which may be established by the Company.

In paragraph 10.3 of the ISM Code it states that the

Company should identify equipment and technical systems
that through sudden operational failure might result in
hazardous situations (ISM, 2002).
When implementing a MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT
SYSTEM onboard a vessel as part of the shipping
company’s SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM,
it is imperative to define the critical systems and equipment
(IMO, 2002).

Maintenance instructions according to manufacturers and

others instructions should be issued to ensure the
uninterrupted and safe operation at all times (IACS, 2008).

In the design phase of a vessel some of the critical

equipment and systems could be duplicated or even
tripled in order to gain redundancy.
Shipping companies must strive for continuous improvement
by monitoring safety and conducting internal audits to
prevent recurrence of faults. Particular attention must be
given to the human element in accidents and man/equipment
interface (Mandaraka-Sheppard, 2007).

The classification societies develop according, and in

addition, to the rules detailed regulations for different types of
ships and operation environments. The rules and regulations
are continuously adjusted to new findings and new
technology through additions to the class rules, e.g.
continuous Survey for Hull and Machinery and Condition
Based Maintenance (Bohmer, 2002).
Maintenance

Maintenance encompasses all the activities that relate

to keeping facilities and equipment in good working
order and making necessary repairs when
breakdowns occur so that the system can perform as
intended.

The goal of maintenance management is to keep

the production system in good working order at
minimum cost.
Organizations have two basic options with respect to
maintenance.

One option is REACTIVE: it is to deal with breakdowns

when they occur. This is referred to as BREAKDOWN
(EMERGENCY) MAINTENANCE, i.e., repair or replacement
only after failure.

The other option is PROACTIVE: it is to reduce or avoid

breakdowns through a program of lubrication, bolt
tightening, cleaning, inspection, and replacement of worn
parts. This is referred to as PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE.
Maintenance managers try to make a trade-off between
these two basic options that will minimize their combined
cost. With no PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE, breakdown
and repair/ replacement costs would be tremendous.

As an example, if a person never had the oil changed in his

or her car, and never had the brakes or tires inspected, but
simply had repairs done when absolutely necessary,
preventive costs would be negligible BUT REPAIR COSTS
WOULD BE QUITE HIGH, considering the wide range of
parts (engine, steering, transmission, tires, brakes, etc.)
that could fail.
In addition, there would be the UNCERTAINTY
of WHEN FAILURE MIGHT OCCUR (e.g., on the
highway, during rush hour, or late at night).

On the other hand, having the oil changed every

month would obviously be excessive because
automobiles are designed to perform for much
longer periods without oil changes (in most
circumstances once a year or 15.000/25.000km).
The best approach is to seek a balance between
Preventive Maintenance and Breakdown
(Emergency) Maintenance.
The age and condition of equipment, the degree of
technology involved, the type of production process,
and similar factors enter into the decision of how
much preventive maintenance is desirable.

Thus, in the example of a new automobile, Little

Preventive Maintenance may be needed since there
is slight risk of breakdowns. As the car ages and
becomes worn through use, the desirability of
Preventive Maintenance increases because the risk
of breakdown increases.
 Thus, when tires and brakes begin to show signs of
wear, they should be replaced before they fail; dents
and scratches should be periodically taken care of
before they begin to rust; and the car should have its
oil changed after exposure to high levels of dust and
dirt.

Also, inspection and replacement of old critical parts

that tend to fail should be performed before a long
trip to avoid disruption of the trip and costly
emergency repair bills.
A fundamentally different approach is to redesign the
item in order to prevent failures from occurring. This
is done by increasing the reliability of the equipment.
This approach is part of
RELIABILITY-CENTRED MAINTENANCE (RCM).

In RCM, for each equipment, its major functions are

identified, then major possible failure problems are
determined. Next, major causes of each failure (also
called failure mode) are identified, and finally various
ways (including preventive maintenance) are used to
reduce the effect of each major cause.
Planned/Preventive Maintenance
Planned/preventive maintenance can be defined as
systematic inspection, detection, correction and prevention
of failures before they become actual or major failures.

Planned/preventive maintenance is always time based either

by CALENDAR or by the objects actual RUN-TIME. The
maintenance intervals are mainly based on empirical data of
the mean time between failures (MTBF), (Mobley, 1990).
Examples on board where Planned/Preventive maintenance
activities are utilised are for propulsion and auxiliary
engines.
Condition Based Maintenance (CBM)

CBM is carried out according to the need indicated by

Condition Monitoring (CM). CM is defined as continuous or
periodic measurement and interpretation of data to indicate
the condition determine the need for maintenance. The
monitoring is carried out when the object is in operation
(Stoneham, 1998).
An example on board where CBM activities are carried out is
a rotating shaft in a turbo charger where e.g. CM according to
vibration monitoring indicates that there is a need for
replacement of a bearing.
The major classification societies are
supporting routines for CONDITION BASED
MAINTENANCE-CBM
PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE
The goal of preventive maintenance is to reduce breakdowns
and avoid the associated costs. (Those costs can include loss of
output; injuries; damage to other equipment, products, or facilities; and
unexpected repairs, which may involve maintaining inventories of spare parts,
repair tools and equipment, and repair specialists.)

Most PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE is periodic

(others are CONDITION BASED).

Periodic Preventive Maintenance can be scheduled

according to the availability of maintenance personnel and to
avoid interference with operating schedules.
Managers usually schedule PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE
using some combination of the following:

•The result of planned inspections that reveal a need for

maintenance.
• According to the calendar (passage of time).
• After a predetermined number of operating hours

An important issue in Periodic Preventive Maintenance is its

frequency. As the time between periodic maintenance
increases, the cost of preventive maintenance per unit time
decreases while the risk (and cost) of breakdowns increases.
The goal is to strike a balance between the two costs.
Ideally, PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE (especially replacing of worn-
out parts) should be performed just prior to a breakdown because
this will result in the longest possible use of equipment without a
breakdown.
PREDICTIVE OR CONDITION-BASED MAINTENANCE-CBM

is based on historical records (to predict when a piece of

equipment or part is about to fail) and ongoing monitoring of
equipment condition (temperature, pressure, rates of flow, vibration, noise, humidity,
and changes in electrical and mechanical characteristic of critical equipment) that will
indicate impending damage to equipment.

A good PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE relies on

complete records for each piece of equipment (date of
installation, operating hours, and dates and types of
repairs) and instruments to monitor the health of each
equipment.
BREAKDOWN (EMERGENCY) MAINTENANCE
The risk of a breakdown can be greatly reduced by an
effective Preventive Maintenance Program.

Nonetheless, occasional breakdowns still occur. Even

organizations with good maintenance practices have
to be prepared for breakdowns. Of course,
organizations that rely less on Preventive
Maintenance have an even greater need for effective
ways of dealing with breakdowns.
Unlike Preventive Maintenance, management cannot schedule the
breakdowns but must deal with them as they occur.

The following provisions are used to deal with breakdowns:

•Standby or backup equipment that can be quickly brought into

service.
•Spare parts always available and especially when needed, thereby
avoiding lead times involved in ordering parts, other equipment will
be less likely to be affected by short-term downtime of a particular
piece of equipment.
•Operators who are able to deal with emergencies and perform at
least some minor repairs on their equipment.
• Maintenance staff who are well trained and readily available to
diagnose and correct problems with equipment.
REPLACEMENT
When breakdowns become frequent and/or costly, the manager is
faced with a trade-off decision in which costs are an important
consideration:
What is the cost of replacement compared with the cost of continued
maintenance and repair?

This question is sometimes difficult to resolve, especially if future

breakdowns cannot be readily predicted. Historical records may help
to project future experience. Most of us are faced with a similar
decision with our automobiles: when is it time for a replacement?
Another situation when replacement before failure may be economical
is in group replacement of components. There may be cost savings in
replacing all the components together before most of them start to
fail.
RUN TO FAILURE
can be used as a maintenance management methodology i.e. no
repairs are undertaken until an object actually breaks. “If it’s OK,
don’t fix it” (Stoneham, 1998). A synonymous description is Run to
break down.

RUN TO DESTRUCTION
is an alternative method meaning that the object is completely
replaced when broken down (Stoneham, 1998).
Examples on board where either of these two methods could be
applicable are for redundant circulation pump functions, e.g. in a
fresh water system.
Often the three concepts RUN TO FAILURE, RUN TO BREAK DOWN
and RUN TO DESTRUCTION are used interchangeably without the
distinction if it is a repair or complete replacement to be performed.