1. T
A KEROperator spoke with Chris
Steibelt, managing director of
GAC Marine Logistics (GML)
who explained GAC’s link in the
supply chain and on how best to smooth the
transportation of spare parts to wherever they
are needed.
Steibelt explained that the procurement of
spares is usually undertaken by the shipowner’s
purchasing department or shipmanagement
companies on behalf of the owners.
GAC does not get involved in the
procurement of spares, rather focusing on the
logistics of ensuring that the order is delivered
from the supplier to the ship in the most
efficient way.
“Our role as a specialist service provider is
to manage the global supply chain for ship
spares and marine parts from door-to-deck
seamlessly. This entails managing individual
orders placed by our clients with different
vendors,” he explained.
He explained that because of GAC’s
combination of expertise as both a freight
forwarder and shipping agent, clients are
attracted by the fact that we have the ability to
handle spares from the major supply points
around the world all the way through to
delivery on board their vessels - wherever
they may be. In other words we combine the
skills of GAC’s freight forwarding network as
well as our shipping agency network to take
care of the ‘door to deck’ movement of spares.
GML also operates consolidation points in
key locations to receive and consolidate spare
parts from multiple suppliers before
despatching by air, sea, truck or courier to the
vessels port of call where the company
delivers directly on board.
“By consolidating spares from different
suppliers, GML enables clients to benefit from
lower logistics costs through reduced number of
shipments, fewer shipments incurring minimum
freight charges and lower import clearance
charges at destination,” Steibelt claimed.
“Linking up with a client’s procurement
software is much talked about and something
that GML is very keen on. In reality, however,
the ability to link the software is still very
limited,” he said.
He thought that the ideal situation was that
the client should be able to have full visibility
of the physical movement, or the staging of
his/her orders in different locations around the
world through his/her own system, without
having to refer to his service provider’s own
tracking system.
Details of new orders should interface with
the logistics service provider’s tracking
system and in reverse updates to the
movement or status should flow back into the
procurement system so the purchaser,
technical manager, or vessel can see the exact
position with individual purchase orders in
their own procurement system.
“As mentioned there are only a few
examples of this working effectively today.
Lack of standardisation, low priority and the
general unpredictability of spares logistics are
all factors which have thwarted efforts with
most owners,” he explained.
One way of progressing this matter is to
establish a forum of key stakeholders including,
for example, shipowners, shipmanagement
companies, procurement systems developers,
data integrators and logistics service providers–
to work towards designing a common logistics
template for incorporation in procurement
systems, Steibelt thought.
Consolidation centres
GML has set up consolidation centres in key
countries, for example China, Denmark,
Dubai, Germany, Holland, Japan, South
Korea, Norway, Singapore, UK and US.
Steibelt explained that this forms an
essential part of the business whereby routine
preventative maintenance items are held at
various key locations in the country of
manufacture awaiting for the vessel to be in
position to receive them.
For example, a large number of orders from
different South Korean vendors may have been
accumulated, but the optimum point for delivery
in terms of cost of getting them there and ease
of customs clearance procedures is chosen.
“Two to three months storage is not uncommon
therefore”, he said. “Longer term storage is also
quite common, whereby the owner needs to
store strategic items – ones which have a long
lead time for production for example”.
GAC has many outlets worldwide in which
GML can tap into. Steibelt said that this
network of offices provides a significant
advantage to the owner, who might otherwise
be dependent on his/her charterer’s agent for
advice. “Lack of response and high costs are
just two reasons why owners are often
nervous about using charterer’s agents for the
operation”, he thought.
He explained that rather than having to
appoint an owner’s agent specifically for this
The ability to move spare parts quickly and cost affectively is
an important part of any vessel operator’s maintenance programme.
Logistics comes in to
play when talking
spare parts
TECHNOLOGY – SHIPREPAIR & MAINTENANCE
TANKEROperator June 201048
Chris Steibelt.
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2. purpose, one alternative increasingly being used
today is GML’s single source ‘door to deck’
service whereby spares can be entrusted to one
specialist service provider who uses the GAC
network to get the job done without the usual
supplementary fees for owner’s agency services.
GML shares clients with various OEM supply
chains, rather than compete against them. For
example, in Dubai, MAN uses GML to oversee
complex logistics movements involving many
permutations; from landed items for temporary
import, repair and subsequent re-export all
under bond to import duty paid shipments.
“Often these jobs can be unpredictable;
short port stays or changes in vessel rotation
mean that you learn to expect the
unexpected,” Steibelt said.
GML has had experience in shipping
hazardous materials around the world, either by
air or sea and also offers storage in selected
locations worldwide. The movement and
storage of lubricants is another service offered
whereby GML will house lubes in its own
storage facilities, thus effectively becoming an
extension of the suppliers’ warehouse.
FRS service offered
In addition, the company also has a fire, rescue
and safety (FRS) unit operating out of
Singapore, Dubai and Istanbul. This unit has a
third party service provider network consisting
of roughly 150 class approved companies
around the world. In addition to the service side,
GML has a co-operation agreement with Tyco
Marine, Asia whereby complete systems for fire
fighting are offered and at the same time, Tyco
ensures that GML is always up to date with the
most recent regulations and client requirements.
Steibelt explained that some customers feel
that being able to combine FRS with GML
and ships agency provides advantages, not
least less co-ordination and administration on
their part. “We do see more and more of
complete solutions and that includes, as and
example, GML’s anti-piracy service where we
do both agency and provide sea marshal’s
with one focal point and one invoice,” he said.
Major delivery point
GML is headquartered in Dubai – a major
tanker hub. Due to its location, Steibelt said that
the UAE is a major delivery point of spares.
“If you consider the percentage of the world’s
tanker fleet that come through here, and very
often use the Fujairah anchorage for stores,
there are still plenty of vessels around to keep
us very busy – whether it is handling spares for
preventative maintenance or working with our
clients to help out in times of crisis,” he said.
The outlets in Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong,
Rotterdam, Mumbai, Piraeus and Sao Paulo are
combined sales and operational offices to offer
a seamless service across all time zones. GAC
is expanding its logistics business in both
Norway and Houston on quite a large scale,
“……so you can be sure that GML will be
there too very shortly,” Steibelt confirmed.
Urgent spares can cause problems. For
example, lose an anchor and the chances are
that the class society will only give an owner so
much time before a replacement must be put on
board. Then it’s a case of finding the most cost
effective way of getting it delivered; often it is
with GML providing a series of options while
the owner tries to work out the best solution to
minimise the impact on his/her charterparty.
“As a service provider specialising in spares
logistics, we help in devising the most cost and
time effective solutions. In times of emergency
or crisis, we have to be flexible and innovative
to offer the clients feasible options to make
things happen,” he explained.
“Last month for example a client’s vessel
was stuck in Dubai Drydocks waiting for a
spare part from Finland, which could not be
airfreighted because of the volcanic eruption in
Iceland. The offhire meant it was costing the
owner a fortune in lost revenue every day the
flights were grounded in Europe.
“Consequently, we arranged a special truck
using two drivers to deliver the 900 kgs piece
from Helsinki to Athens where we could connect
with a direct flight to Dubai. Pick up Wednesday
in Helsinki, delivery to the vessel at Dubai
Drydocks five days later. We were quite pleased
with that as was the client,” Steibelt said.
Other services were in the pipeline,
Steibelt said.
June 2010 TANKEROperator 49
TECHNOLOGY – SHIPREPAIR & MAINTENANCE
Often spares are transported by supply boat on the last leg of their journey.
New propellers need to be transported quickly and efficiently.
TO
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