K Line Ship management (KLSM) is a ship management company located in Singapore and involved in the technical management of a fleet of 30 container and tanker ships. It is a fully owned subsidiary company of K Line in Japan and all the ships managed by KLSM are owned by its parent company in Japan. Technical management activities include provision on crew members to man the ships, implementing and maintaining safety and quality management systems on board the vessels, maintaining safe and satisfactory vessel operations and maintenance of hull and machinery on board the ship. The company is involved in procurement and supply management of various goods and services including stores, spare parts, bunkers, food and beverage, manpower etc.
One of the major functions of the company is the maintenance of hull and machinery of vessels under its management. Technical superintendents are responsible for the maintenance matters on board their controlled ships whilst managers are responsible for formulating and overseeing policy making and implementation. A major part of maintenance involves the supply of stores and spare parts to the vessel. Each ship is fitted on board with a large number of complex equipments and machinery manufactured by hundreds of different makers and thus spare parts lists for all the equipment and machinery on board, runs into hundreds of pages. With the life of a ship being 20-30 years, several of these equipments/parts become obsolete and even OEM’s close shop during such course. Procuring spares and delivering these on board ships (in good time) that are trading worldwide thus becomes a great challenge for the technical department and in turn for the company.
Presently the responsibility of procuring spare parts for each vessel lies with the technical superintendent in charge of the vessel. An admin lady assists him in this work. The technical superintendent, who is responsible for the smooth running
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