- 1. This year has seen the launch of a new membership package
that is available to both the 45,000 plus suppliers who are
registered with ShipServ and any new suppliers who would like to
join. If a supplier now becomes a ShipServ Member, they receive
access to ALL our core products This includes a Premium Profile
with the ability to add online catalogues, unlimited order
management, E-invoicing, a new RFQ Filter that allows suppliers to
choose to receive RFQs that are only relevant to them and the
ability to control their brand through their own brand verification
page, which means it is easier for maritime buyers to find
authorized distributors. ShipServ wants to bring more value and
ultimately more business to its members so we have combined all of
our core prod- ucts into one complete Membership pack- age for
suppliers, so that they get the best opportunity to raise brand
awareness, gen- erate new leads and handle orders from all ShipServ
buyers in the most efficient way. As part of this move, we are
introducing a new pricing set-up that will be linked di- rectly to
the value ShipServ brings a sup- plier so that they are only
charged for business as and when they receive it mak- ing it easy
for them to see and measure the exact value they get as a ShipServ
Member. Suppliers that are not members will still be able to trade
for free with all our buyers through our StartSupplier solution. If
one of your suppliers has any questions about ShipServ Membership
they can con- tact our Membership hotline on +44 203 111 9700
CONNECT ShipServ September 2013 Issue 5 ShipServ is delighted to
announce the release of ShipServ Onboard 2013 including the print
edition, formerly known as Mariners Annual, and the Digital CD
version that now includes electronic supplier catalogs in its brand
new catalog viewer. The combination of the Print Edition and CD
allows crew onboard to source and specify the exact part required,
create a requisition and send ashore. The ShipServ Onboard print
edition is now in its 56th edition and includes ap- proximately 500
manufacturers, distribu- tors, chandlers and service providers
list- ed in over 1300 pages of information. The CD version now
contains the Ship- Cat Catalog Viewer, which allows crew to
instantly access over 40 electronic sup- plier catalogs provided
additionally by print edition advertisers with the ability to drill
down by product or to carry out text searches on all catalogs
simultaneously. For the first time, the IMPA Marine Stores Guide
6th Edition is also included on the CD and this can be accessed by
any company with a valid IMPA Data Li- cense. We have now increased
exposure for our advertisers who formerly viewed us as primarily a
print publication with the Catalog function on the CD. We expect
the number of electronic catalogs to ex- pand dramatically in the
2014 edition, said Don Staffin, Senior Vice President of ShipServ.
All the sponsored content and advertis- ing from the 2013 edition
is also available on ShipServ Pages and an iPad or iPhone version
of the print edition is also now available at
www.shipserv.com/help/sso Latest news and exclusive features for
our shipowners, shipyards and shipmanagers New Membership package
for suppliers ShipServ Onboard 2013 released
2. ShipServ is continuing to work with Eye-share to allow
shipowners and shipmanagers, who use ShipServ TradeNet, the ability
to receive, process and approve invoices and ultimately to save
both time and money. With the ShipServ e-Invoicing service, in-
voices are sent from suppliers through the TradeNet platform and
can be processed directly into the Eye-share Invoice solution to
speed up the workflow and approval process. ShipServ and Eye-share
will be hosting two seminars in the Netherlands on the 8th and 10th
of October seminar in Rotterdam and Groningen to provide further
informa- tion about the latest developments in the purchase-to-pay
process. A number of shipowners and managers are using the
e-Invoicingsolution from ShipServ to receive invoices in their eye-
share Invoice solution including Seatrans, Utkilen and Wilson
Shipmanagement and the advantages of using both ShipServ and
Eye-share Invoice in tandem include: Eye-share Invoice lets you
access and ap- prove invoices from anywhere, work tasks are easier
and faster to complete. Save time by reducing manual work and
automate repeated task with seamless inte- gration between ShipServ
and Eye-Share Invoice Distribution, collection routines, remind-
ers and matching invoices to purchase orders are all automated
tasks within eye- share Invoice. Better traceability with the
electronic ar- chive and invoice activity log The ShipServ
e-invoicing solution is now used by ten shipowners and shipmanagers
with thousands of invoices sent monthly through ShipServ TradeNet
over 25 signed up suppliers. To find out more about the ShipServ
e-invoicing solution visit: http://www.
shipserv.com/info/save-time-and-money-
with-tradenet/e-invoicing-for-buyers/. If you are interested in
attending the seminar in the Netherlands contact afos-
[email protected] September 2013 2 C an you answer the following
questions? How many suppliers respond to our RFQs and how long does
it take them? Are we always delivering spares and stores on time
during port calls? Do we ask for at least three quotes per PO? Do
we receive enough quotes on our RFQs to make sure we are able to
source in a timely manner? Are our suppliers responding in a timely
fashion or are we creating problems by asking for too rapid a
response to RFQs? Are we using the right suppliers? Do they respond
at all? Do we take advantage of the latest tools in our supply
process are we using e-commerce and to what ex- tent? How are we
doing compared to the rest of the industry? ShipServ has been
making available the data that answers questions like this for the
last 11 years. We call it our Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
dashboard and you should receive your KPIs by email every quarter:
Used properly it can be really help to improve any companys ship
supply op- erations, as well as relationships with your supplier
partners. The table to the right is a snapshot of the ShipServ KPI
Dashboard, which shows several important data elements:
E-Enablement Status: this figure is the percentage of POs the
company sent through TradeNet compare with the esti- mated total
no. of PO per vessel per year as reported by the shipowner/manager.
Useful in seeing progress on getting elec- tronic trading going
with your suppliers. Supplier Response Rate: this figure is the
percentage of supplier responses to all RFQs divided by the number
of RFQs themselves. The number may be below 100% because Invited
suppliers may not stock the items requested or supply the requested
ports. The RFQs have too short a response time due toinsufficient
information, or the fact that the RFQ was sent over weekend, or the
supplier is simply too busy etc. RFQ to PO Ratio: Shows the ratio
of the RFQs issued in the period compared to the number of POs
issued in the period. Ship owners will need to drill into the data
to find the balance between on-contract and off-contract
transactions. This will en- sure sufficient RFQs are sent out. Run
Rate: The annualized number of POs per vessel sent via TradeNet.
This number is the annual projection of your current POs sent over
TradeNet Line Items per PO: As with the re- Ensuring you get the
most out of KPIs E-invoicing partners to hold Dutch seminars 3.
sponse percentages, the absolute number for this KPI is less
important than the im- provement over time. However, this can have
as large an impact as unit prices for the lower value items because
each PO car- ries a fixed overhead cost (including han- dling the
invoice), believed to be between $50 and $150 for each PO. B e n c
h m a r k i n g KPIs are very helpful, but they have an im- portant
limitation they operate in a vacu- um. Benchmarking compares the
perform- ance of a company (i.e., its KPIs) against those of
similar organizations or internally between business units. Its a
useful tool that can help make a com- pany more competitive while
providing an objective picture of the business strengths and
weaknesses. In the table above right we have expanded the KPI
Dashboard to include industry av- erages (using example data only).
What we can see from this data is: - FleetCo is at a high level of
e-enable- ment, but theres still room for improve- ment. Why are
the remaining 24% of sup- plier still not trading electronically? -
The supplier response rate is close to the average, but still way
below what is achiev- able by best in class. - The percentage of
one day turnaround for quotes is just below the average, but again
way below best in class. -The RFQ to PO rate is slightly below the
average. -The number of Line items per PO is fairly low leading to
the issue of more POs than average. The data for this type of
benchmarking is based on transactions from almost 8,000 vessels in
the period. KPIs and benchmark statistics like these help identify
and correct weaknesses in critical business processes before they
are noticed. Over the next few issues of Connect, were going to be
investigating several different aspects of our KPI and benchmarking
data to show how they can improve business processes and overall
performance. In our next column, were going to spend some time
analysing the importance of understanding RFQ response rates, but
be- fore then here are some questions for you to think about: Do
you know how many responses you get to your RFQs compared to the
number of RFQs you issue? Is it a low response rate or a high one?
How do you establish what is low/ high? If you think your response
rate is low, why is it? Are you sending your RFQs to the right
suppliers, ones who can provide the equipment you need in the
places you need it? Are you truly being fair? i.e. do not actually
favour certain suppliers despite the results of the quote phase
(and, btw, if thats the case why not enter a contract and stop
RFQing!). Are your deadlines for quote sub- mission reasonable? Or
are they too short? Is the data you provide on your RFQ
insufficient or inaccurate such that it prevents a supplier from
responding appropriately? By knowing your RFQ response rate, you
will be in a much better position to improve the rate because youll
be able to analyze exactly where the problem lies. And better rates
of response hold out the prospect of better prices. September 2013
3 Improvements to WebReporter and Transaction Monitor Over the last
few months ShipServ has improved the usability and features of its
two business intelligence tools Transaction Monitor and WebReporter
to ensure you can access your key data in a user friendly format.
Our new WebReporter interface pro- vides you with key business
intelligence on all your transactions through ShipServ As in the
previous version you will be able to run seven standard reports:
Purchase Orders by Supplier, Purchase Orders by Vessel,
Transactions by Sup- plier, Transactions by Vessel, Supplier
Analysis, All RFQs, All POs. We have also improved the user inter-
face of Transaction Monitor and we are delighted to unveil a new
filter that now allows you to search by Buyer Contact Name. We have
also improved the efficiency of Transaction Monitor by archiving
transactions that are older than two years old. These can now be
found under the Transaction Monitor tab but are only available as
read-only. If you have any questions about WebReporter or
Transaction Monitor, contact us on [email protected]. 4. MLC
(2006): What you really need to know? September 2013 4 The MLC is
now in force and we are being asked lots of more and more detailed
questions by operators and flag states. Obviously, different
operators will have differing challenges and MLC compliance will be
different on a cruise ship to a bulk carrier. But, overall, the new
convention neces- sitates a huge culture change in how we manage
people and look after their needs in our industry. Here are some
things that need to be looked at and taken into account by opera-
tors: Food Preparation / Galley Cleanliness This is a huge area of
concern, and in my opinion the Masters / Superintendents still do
not take this seriously enough. This is a high risk area both from
the health perspective and PSC problems yet it is, if not simple,
fairly low cost to ensure compliance. The cooks are often not
trained properly even to the very basic standards. A com- pany
approached Lloyds Register the other day to see if we wished to
work together (not sure that we can) but they are perfectly correct
that there is a big issue in this area. I expect that they will be
very busy in the next 6 months when vessels get detained. You may
remember that when a vessel gets detained for Fire/Safety issues
they often must go through training before the de- tention lifted,
well this is where these guys hope to cash in through training crew
from detained vessels. Purchasing Food This is another area that is
often poorly overseen on board. It is often not easy to return
goods (or so the chandler will tell you) but as can be seen from
the lat- est issues with refrigerated containers, the claims are
spiralling due to lack of control through the full supply chain.
Food delivered to vessels is often too ripe to last the voyage -
frozen food espe- cially; meat is well below the temperature
allowed; and the ordering is not controlled properly usually due to
the poor on board stock control including regard for use by dates.
Cooks must be trained in creating effective menus and think about
food for more than one day at a time. Poor ordering either creates
excess cost to the company or a poor standard of food on board.
Managing Agents keeping the allot- ments / pay remittance for
excessive time Whilst non-payment of wages is not a big issue, late
payment by manning agents after the Owners have deposited the cash
is a problem. Just think, a large manning agent may have 1000 2000
seafarers on vessels at any time, if we take an average allot- ment
of US$500 per month then this is US$500,000 to US$1,000,000 sent
each month by the Owners. If the manning agent delays the payment 2
weeks then just think of the interest they gain.. Hours of work and
rest A lot has been written about this but it is still a big issue.
The whole area of work and rest creates difficulties balancing ad-
equate rest with compliance to ensure that shipboard management can
control this area. This may require the industry chang- ing its
whole approach to people manage- ment and working culture. Internet
on board for crew use The interesting point has been made by the
crew themselves is that whilst they want internet on board so that
they can contact their families they are not sure that full
internet access at all times is a good idea. They have seen on the
few ships that have this that there is then no personal contact
between the seafarers as they are all in their cabins and always on
the com- puter (sounds much like William my teen- age son!).
Officer / Crew Certificates Someone should develop a good system
and sell to the Flags to get everything in the same format,
probably a pipe dream but it would bring this area into the 20th
century (I know we are in the 21st Century but shipping is that far
behind in some ar- eas!). Tony is Lloyds Registers Marine
BusinessManagerSEEurope&EMEA Regional Marine Consultancy Manag-
er based in Piraeus he is also Lloyds Registers lead manager on MLC
relat- ed services and global delivery. Lloyds Register has now
completed more than 1,000 MLC related inspections for the
international shipping industry. With the MLC (2006) Convention now
in force and vessels actively being detained, Capt. Tony Field,
Lloyds Register, looks at some key areas requiring attention for
purchasing managers and technical superintendents. Galley
cleanliness is a big area of concern for owners 5. Social Media:
Has Shipping missed the boat? Are you using two or more different
purchasing systems, or same pur- chasing system but with more than
one installation for your fleet? This situation can arise either as
a result of acquisition of new ships or due to tran- sitioning from
an old to a new purchasing system. ShipServ can help present a
single interface to your suppliers with our User- Based Redirect
(UBR) module. To implement UBR, multiple different installations of
ShipServ MTMLink-FX communication software are set up on your
network, each handling a different system but running under one
TradeNet ID with different MTMLlink FX users. However, when the
transaction reaches TradeNet, the supplier will only see a sin- gle
TradeNet ID. Furthermore, supplier re- sponses will automatically
be routed to the user who has initiated the transaction. This helps
keep your changes transparent to both suppliers and us- ers and
helps simplify their handling of your account. The diagram right
il- lustrates a two system implementation for a shipping company.
If you have any fur- ther questions, then please contact support
@shipserv.com September 2013 5 Solve multiple system problems with
UBR Does Social media really work in the shipping industry? Do
Likes, Followers, Fans convert into real dollars? These were some
of the most heard ques- tions around the bars, exhibition halls,
and conference venues this year as sceptics maintained that social
media held little value for a people-based industry such as
Shipping. ShipServs 2012 Internet and Social Media Use in Shipping
survey of leading shipping companies and major suppliers showed a
continued general trend of increased social media usage but there
were still doubts over its effectiveness from senior manage- ment.
Leading Mar- ketingconsultan- cy Stark Moore Macmillan has now
published a full blown report into the social media trends in
Shipping and at first glance the sceptics look to have won the
argument. Its Missing the Boat? A Comprehensive Evaluation of
Social Media for Maritime Businesses report investigates current
trends in social media and just how mari- time companies can use it
to their benefit. According to Stark Moore Macmillan the number of
maritime organisations on so- cial platforms is still small with
the majority being publishers, journalists and non-com- mercial
entities. Maritime companies have to add the intri- cacies of the
B2B maritime marketplace to the equation when using social media
such as a far longer and more traditional sales cycle, more
difficult higher-value purchases and the importance of reputation
and ex- pertise within the industry. One of the key recommendations
for maritime companies involves using social media not as a
standalone tool that prom- ises to grow your sales, but as part of
an integrated digital strategy that is closely linked to the
companys sales goals. As the report states: Its not fans, follow-
ers or retweets, but opportunities, leads and sales conversions.
The report concludes that there are ad- vantages both strategic and
tactical -if implemented as part of broader marketing plan. At a
strategic level, it is digital not social which is the trend with
the most powerful influence within the maritime industry. Digital
encompasses much more than so- cial and it offers more
opportunities to the maritime industry. It includes everything from
changes to navigation and communications, to crew retention and
welfare as well as new oppor- tunities for suppliers. Social media
is merely the tip of the iceberg. At a tactical level, social media
can be a good channel for maritime professionals to research their
customers, competitors as well as enhancing their companys reputa-
tion. After all, as the report says B2B is an area where reputation
and developing relation- ships plays an essential role and this is
even more evident in the maritime industry. To order a copy of the
full report and get 50% off the price visit www.stark-
mooremacmillan.com/shipserv/miss- ingthe-boat and use the discount
code shipserv2013 in the order form. 6. As one of the first ship
supply com- panies to sign up with ShipServ at the beginning of the
last decade, theWilwel Group, consisting of The Wil- liams &
Wells Company & Alliance Supply Management, has always been an
innovator and leader in the field. Its Houston subsidiary Alliance
Supply Management has been targeting the off- shore market since
2000 but the operation outgrew its current premises and moved to
new facilities in the area in 2011. Despite the difficult shipping
markets since 2008 we have still seen growth and we just outgrew
our previous facility, so it made sense to move to a larger
premises where we could process orders more effi- ciently, said
Mark Pontiff, EVP and General Manager of Alliance Supply
Management. The Wilwel group is a family-ownedbusi- ness that has
been providing ship supplies to the marine industrysince 1906from
its office in New Jersey.The group has eight offices around the
world including Hong Kong. The US Gulf is a great place to be for
the shippingindustryparticularly with the explosion in the
offshore/workboat market and our new facility allows us to be
respon- sive to clients, said Mr Pontiff. IT and technology have
always played an integral part to the business- its in-house
software was developed back in the 1990s to assist in the
warehousing and logistics process of ship supply. Clients have been
impressed with our technology but its important that we always try
to put into perspec- tivetheir exactsupplyneeds. With an emphasis
on technology it was no surprise that the senior management of
theWilwel Group were quick to pick up on e-commerce and signed up
with ShipServ in 2002 and it has now been rolled out across the
group includingASM. We saw an opportunity toprocessmore RFQs&
Ordersand we have now fully in- tegratedShipServinto our work flow
and it has definitely improved our cycle times, said Mr Pontiff.
E-commerce has helped us reduce processing time and saves us
directly input- ting all quotes and order informationinto our
system. Over the last ten yearsWilweland ASM have both seen
buyersbecome more famil- iar with the benefits of e-commerce and in
particular how they can reduce transaction inefficiencies that come
with manual typ- ing, Tracking and tracing of information flow is
vitally important to both us and our clients so more and more
buyers will look to use it. Asusersget more experiencedin the
benefitsof ecommercethen hopefully issues such as data quality will
beimproved along the way, said Mr Pontiff. Keeping ahead of the
game Factfile: Company Name: Alliance Supply Management ShipServ
Categories: Ship Chandlery, Mooring Ropes, Wires & Cables,
Pneumatic tools and Safety Website: www.wilwel.com Trade with
Alliance Supply Management TNID: 51545 Connect speaks to US Gulf
ship supplier, Alliance Supply Management about their new facility
in Houston and how they have been using technology for over ten
years September 2013 6 ASM opened its new facility in Houston in
2011 to deal with increasing demand from the offshore market in the
region. Tracking and tracing of informa- tion is vitally important
to both us and our clients 7. Moving around a company shows a great
deal of versatility and Eu- gene has now had three different roles
in her seven years at ShipServ. As one of the first employees in
the Ma- nila office when it opened in 2006, Eugene began life in
the company as the first Cus- tomer Service Manager for the
Customer Service Centre (SC) in Manila. But she was no stranger to
the shipping business as she had previously worked for Aboitiz
Jebsen, the Philippines-based Ship Manager including a period of
time in the purchasing department. Eugene next spent time as
Marketing Campaigns manager, running a number of different
campaigns to both suppliers and buyers and overseeing the
validation of suppliers on ShipServ Pages. Her current role which
she took up in 2011 is that of a Senior Manager for the Service
Delivery Centre where she leads and manages a team of 16 dedicated
and committed Service Delivery Executives. The Service Delivery
Centre, provides first to second levelof customer support to the
ShipServ client base both maritime buyers and suppliers, said
Eugene. As part of the Global Service Deliv- ery Team, her team are
at the forefront of delivering quality service and support and most
importantly, customer happi- ness throughout the life cycle of a
client in ShipServ from pre-sales, implementation and post sales.
My favourite part of this role is being part of the solution (to a
problem) and the never-ending learning process. We all learn
something new with each new customer is- sue or concern raised.
Bill Gates (of Microsoft) was telling the truth when he said that
Your most un- happy customers are your greatest source of learning.
You ask anyone from the team, and Im pretty sure that everyone from
the Serv- ice Delivery Team can resonate with Bill Gates. Away from
ShipsServ, Eugene is a mem- ber of Toastmasters International,
where she enjoys delivering speeches and pres- entations. She also
enjoys singing and ball- room dancing as well as doing yoga and tai
chi. Major buyer clients to sign up to ShipServ this year include
AET, BeltShip Management, Socatra, Hornbeck, Atlantic Towing, and
APL with over 200 vessels in total. Major suppliers that have gone
live with integrations include Rolls-Royce and Scandia September
2013 7 Under the Spotlight: Eugene Loreitzo Senior Manager, Global
Service Delivery Welcome to our new clients Contact US AsiaPacific
[email protected] Phone: +852 2501 9222 Support hours: 0900-1800
Hong Kong 0100-1000 GMT Americas [email protected] Phone: +1 732
738 6500 Support hours: 0830-1700 US East Coast 1230-2100 GMT
Europe [email protected] Phone: +45 33 32 31 20 Support hours:
0830-1700 CET(DK) If you have any questions about the issues
covered in this newsletter, please do not hesitate to contact your
Service Delivery Manager or our Customer Support Centre on the
numbers above. We welcome suggestions for the next ShipServ Connect
please email us at [email protected]. We each learn something
new with each new customer issue or concern raised
