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KPI project gains momentum

KPI project gains momentum

The international KPI Project, started by InterManager but now an industry-led initiative, is going from strength to strength.

So far, 120 companies have registered with the Project, now managed by the independent KPI Association, and KPI data is being uploaded from more than 1,600 vessels into the web-based InterManager KPI Environment (IMKE) system. To date more than 5,000 sets of data have been submitted for each KPI category — enabling meaningful analysis to provide industry rankings for each measurement.

Captain Kuba Szymanski, InterManager Secretary General, said: “This is fastest growing IT shipping project ever. Within 16 months from launching it we have 1,600 vessels already taking part. This is unprecedented – the biggest IT databases have taken years to achieve a figure like this. With this speed of growth we are on target to reach 2,000 by the end of this year.”

“It is interesting to note that around 72 per cent of those submitting data are owner related – that is in-house managers, owners or owners who also offer third party management – with only 28 per cent currently ‘pure’ third-party ship managers.”

Of the vessels submitting data tankers form the largest sector. Take-up is now also being seen from the passenger vessel sector:

Tanker: 41%                            Container: 28%
Bulk Carrier: 14%                    Gas Carrier: 5%
Passenger Ships: 1%               Other: 11%

Capt. Szymanski commented: “It is no surprise to see tankers leading this table as Tanker Management Self Assessment (TMSA) and Intertanko benchmarking have been operating in the shipping industry for several years now.”

The findings are providing interesting reading. Capt. Szymanski said: “We are starting to see some very interesting trends – trends which, in some cases, bust old myths and some which put a completely different angle on the shipping industry we thought we knew. We can see which sector of the industry has safer records, which are exercising better retention rates and which are embracing KPI concepts faster than the others. The interesting trends are only suggestive at the start, based on the available data and are not necessarily conclusive.”

The KPI Association plans to create regional MOPS centres (Managing Organisational Performance in Ship Management) in key strategic locations, in order to assist shipping companies close to their bases. “We are aiming to model it on the successful Bergen Marine Research Cluster which is a great example of co-operation,” explains Capt. Szymanski.

InterManager itself is also increasing in strength. The organisation this month topped 100 members with an additional Associate Member joining to bring a total of 58 alongside 42 Full Members (ship and crew managers).