Ship Supplies - Traditional & Online Process
22 May 2021 | Capt. Vikas Vij
Ships require ship stores and spares quite frequently. On each port call, there is invariably a requirement to pick up some store or the other. Stores are largely consumables and are broadly categorized as deck, engine, electrical, safety, cabin, saloon and food stores. Spares are generally Deck & Engine machinery & equipment including navigation & radio equipment. Spares are either full unit or sub component of the Unit. These are generally described by Model No. Part No. Serial No. as per manufacturer manuals available on board and in ship management offices.
Traditionally the process of procurement starts with Senior Ship Staff making a requisition for all types of stores and spares during the voyage and communicated to shipping company. Procurement department in shore office will review it and approve the requisition. Next process is to obtain ideally 3 quotations from Ship Chandlers (suppliers) available at the port. Quite often all stores and spares may not be available from one single ship chandler. Once the quotations are received, prices will be negotiated and purchase order placed with the short listed chandler. This is a time consuming process and has its limitations to get the price quotations from a limited number of ship chandlers known to the procurement department. All category of stores and spares may not and will not be normally available with one single seller of products. To Buyers delight, the Online portal with the name www.shipstorespares.com is a refreshing change of market place experience with numerous sellers posting their products at competitive prices for various ports and the portal serves the purpose of aggregating the various sellers by registering them on the portal and making it easy for buyers to choose and order any category of marine products online. This saves time and the complete procurement process is automated. The Buyer procurement manager can look for any product through its all products search engine and also by category type search. Prices are very competitive and quality checks are inbuilt at approval stage of products uploading. The portal also provides Advertise handle to the sellers including manufacturers to show case their company profile and products, which is displayed in registered Buyers’ space.
