Pandemic-related issues over the past couple of years have created multiple challenges for vessel maintenance, including disruption to supply chains and the availability of parts and personnel. While Wärtsilä’s large, well-distributed inventory and wide field service footprint have ensured a continued availability of these vital resources for our customers, it is highly recommended to plan maintenance schedules well ahead of time. This helps to further mitigate operational risks and minimise costs.
The grounding of much of the global airline fleet during the last two years has led to an almost 40% reduction in passenger aircraft belly cargo capacity, which is frequently used to transport spare parts. Road transport difficulties and reduced manufacturing output from spare parts suppliers have also contributed to supply-chain insecurity, resulting in longer lead times, delays and increased costs.
At the same time, demand for sea freight has increased, leading to a spike in costs and capacity shortcomings. For example, transpacific rates from Asia to the US are now around eight times higher and lead times almost twice as long as they were pre-Covid.
All these factors – combined with the general challenges caused by Covid, which have meant vessels are often out of synch with their parts logistics and maintenance schedules – have led to deferred overhauls and a maintenance debt for vessels’ power trains. With other ongoing fluctuations in the legal and political environment internationally, this situation is likely to continue for some time.
“Despite this very challenging situation, Wärtsilä has maintained 24/7 service provision and availability throughout the pandemic. As an OEM we’re able to maintain a large, well-distributed inventory, and thanks to the economies of scale of our operations we’ve also been able to mitigate many of the rising costs caused by these challenges.
We’ve also taken several measures to maintain our service levels, including recruiting and training more field service personnel and increasing our safety stock to ensure we can continue to meet growing demand.
To serve our customers better, we have also created maintenance schedule predictions based on public vessel data (AIS) and are proactively reaching out to customers based on these schedules.”
- Gianluca Bertossi, Director, Global Parts Management & Supply Management
Taking a proactive approach to maintenance planning is needed now more than ever. Overhauls that are carried out in a timely manner will contribute to reduced costs by improving your vessels’ fuel economy and minimising unplanned downtime.
“By starting the conversation as early as possible, we can work together to tailor your maintenance schedules, avoid over-scoping and incorporate any adjacent modernisations well ahead of time.
For instance, keeping your running hours updated on the Wärtsilä Online portal allows us to proactively consult with you on upcoming maintenance needs. With this information, coupled with your maintenance history, we can ensure that you stay on schedule by securing the required transport, labour and parts.”
- Juha Kelkka, Director, Transactional Sales Team
Maximise vessel uptime with accurate scheduling that puts the right parts and people in the right place at the right time.
Ensure access to the experts and parts that you need by booking them early.
Optimise logistics costs and improve delivery reliability.
Reduce maintenance costs by combining repair schedules with modernisations and upgrades. Avoid possible over-scoping and minimise surprises with robust planning.
Reduce carbon emissions by using sea transport instead of air.
If you log your vessels’ running hours on Wärtsilä Online or share them directly with your Wärtsilä contact, we can notify you well in advance about upcoming maintenance needs and start planning together with you in good time. This helps you to avoid the additional costs and operational challenges associated with last-minute decisions.