With the world’s increasing reliance on e-commerce, growing international trade, and more focus on supply chains, maritime shipping has gained a new level of importance and priority.
For ship owners this is a massive boon in terms of increased profitability, but it comes with a few problems of its own.
Concerns for Ship Owners
First of these, is increased customer expectation. Shipping delays are some of the most common complaints by customers and persistent failures to meet deadlines can mean loss of revenue and reputation. Reputation, not only the ship owners but also that of the customer. One small accident with a huge media coverage can destroy reputations.
Secondly, in this highly competitive environment there is a need to improve efficiency and optimise in order to stay ahead of the curve.
Finally there is also a lack of expertise. While independent ship owners may have their own operating capabilities, other investors may own a portfolio of ships and might need to delegate responsibilities to international ship management companies. Furthermore, in a rapidly changing world, even independent ship owners might find it difficult to keep up with the many innovations in the industry.
Ship management services located in maritime centres like Singapore, can help with all these issues and provide even greater benefits beyond solving them.
Increased customer expectation
Shipping parcels from one location to another via sea is an extremely complex operation. From making sure the vessel complies with Flag State regulations and international codes, to hiring a trained crew, and handling paperwork, there’s a lot of moving parts involved.
Ship owners who aren’t equipped to properly handle these requirements run the risk of delayed shipments. This can have an acute short-term impact on their quarterly profits and a severe long-term impact on their reputation. With so many options for retailers, one bad shipment could mean a customer leaving your business for a competitor.
Reliable and trustworthy international ship management companies can help mitigate such issues. By leaving parts, or all aspects, or your operation to them, you can rest assured that your reputation and reliability is in expert hands.
Improving Efficiency and Optimisation
Ship management companies also have a wealth of data at their disposal. By using this data and pairing it with the latest ship management software, they can find ways to make your business more efficient to reduce costs and improve profitability.
Business owners can also tap on the economies of scale provided by international ship management services. Trained crews come from a larger pool and human resource management is much simpler. Technical management is also sorted out much more quickly and efficiently, allowing business owners to focus on expanding and growing their own companies.
Providing Expertise
Private investors and banks represent a significant portion of ship owners globally. Although they have the financial means to own an individual ship, or even a fleet, they may not have the necessary expertise to manage them.
That’s where ship management companies come in. Equipped to handle all aspects of shipping, they can take control of all the day-to-day management and provide a reliable, consistent, time and money saving service.
Beyond solving issues, businesses can also directly benefit from utilising ship management services. Delegating management out often leads to reduced overheads overall due to a smaller number of in-house staff and ship management companies with a large fleet under their supervision can also negotiate better contracts for maintenance, repair and insurance.
In general, even with the cost involved in engaging ship management companies in Singapore, businesses can expect to save money in both the short and long term by engaging their services.
They are also able to focus on more important and profitable aspects of their business, compete with bigger fleets, and stay ahead of the curve with industry experts guiding the way.
Want to find out more on how your business can benefit from ship management services? Contact us today to get in touch with us with your questions.
