If a ship on its way to Mauritius is suddenly
only travelling at half power
because a cylinder liner is defective, this
can have incalculable consequences for
the ship operator - both monetarily and
in terms of reputation.
In these emergency situations, our
clientele, which includes shipping companies
and ship managers, relies on MBS
Logistics as a competent partner.
"We bring the small sealing ring to every
port on board a ship, to every corner of
the world or to specific coordinates at
sea, just as we do a 70-tonne ship's propeller
when necessary," explains Thorsten
Schmidt, who is also responsible for
Ship's Spares in Hamburg, among other
things. "Although the majority of our
work relates to transports that can be
planned for our customers' ship's parts,
there are always unforeseeable emergency
situations that then require immediate
transport planning in the closest
cooperation with our customer to supply
the ship. It's exactly this mix that never
lets the job become a routine and presents
us, as well as the customer, with
new challenges."
With Ship's Spares Services, MBS
Hamburg offers, among other things, a
global "door-to-deck" delivery service.
This covers warehousing, transport, supply
chain management, ship supply and
marine and offshore support. How much
time is available then determines, in addition
to the budget, which means of
transport can be used for delivery. "We
take responsibility for the entire supply
chain," says Schmidt, "this already begins
with the takeover at the supplier and
ends with the transfer to the ship."
Since MBS added the emergency logistics
product MBS Anytime to its portfolio
in 2017, MBS Hamburg has also been
working with colleagues from Anytime
departement in Cologne.
Incidentally, the ship that was on its
way to Mauritius was one of the most
recent thrill projects that MBS Hamburg
was able to bring to a happy end. "This
was at the Corona peak time, where air
traffic was on the ground. We had to
bring a cylinder liner to Mauritius so that
the ship could continue from there at full
speed again. The corresponding spare
part was stored in our warehouse in
Shanghai and flights from there to Mauritius
were not possible at the time. Our
customer then found a supplier in Rotterdam
who had the relevant spare part
in stock in Rotterdam. Through communication
with the supplier's after-hours
service over the weekend, it turned out
that the cylinder liner could already be
taken over on following Monday. Thanks
to our good contacts with the airlines, we
were able to book an appropriate flight
in this case despite the weekend and
offer our customer a solution. We then
won the bid.. On Monday we took over
the goods in Rotterdam, on Wednesday
they were in Paris, from there they were
flown as express freight to Mauritius and
from there to the port. At the port, a barge
was loaded to deliver the spare part
to the ship. The ship then used its own
crane to take the cylinder liner on board
on Sunday.
It is clear that the transport costs
exceeded the value of the spare part several
times over, but the losses for the
shipping company would have been immense
due to the loss of charter and port
berthing fees," says Thorsten Schmidt.
What makes Ship's Spares in Hamburg
so successful? "We think in a customer
and service-minded way. Proactive
communication is our top priority. We
inform our customers about every step
that is relevant for them. In addition,
we not only have our own office-based
warehouse in Hamburg, but can also
provide our customers with worldwide
depots. Likewise, the use of our efficient
network also guarantees that we can offer
our clientele a service that spans the
globe. In addition, we have very high quality
and security standards that convince
our clients. And of course our availability,
which we guarantee 24/7. I have already
heard from customers that no one
answered the phone at our competitors,"
says Schmidt with a twinkle in his eye.
"That doesn't happen with us." ■
Kontakt / Contact
Thorsten Schmidt
Niederlassungsleitung
Branch Manager
MBS Logistics Hamburg
thorsten.schmidt@mbslogistics.com
Photos: © istockphoto - nightman1965
INSIGHT 4 . 2021 15
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