German propulsion specialist attracts additional partners to support customers in Europe and North America.
The German propulsion system supplier Schottel is further strengthening its after-sales repair, service and maintenance strategy, which is based on being as close as possible to its global customer base. The company currently has more than 100 service locations worldwide supported by over 170 service technicians.
Michael Sabel, head of field service and repair, says: “No matter where vessel operators need support, we are close by. To keep downtime to a minimum our experienced service engineers are located all over the world and have extensive product knowledge so that they can quickly repair propulsion units onboard the vessel.”
In recent months the Schottel service support network has been expanded further, with a new subsidiary in South Korea and additional service partners in Canada, France and Spain.
Sabel adds: “Our newest partners include Seaspan’s Vancouver Drydock and McRae Electric on Canada’s West Coast, Vulcan Espanola in Spain and Sud Moteurs in southern France. They are valued colleagues who ensure that customers benefit from the highest levels of expertise and short service response times.”
Sud Moteurs is a specialist repair yard with a wide range of capabilities when it comes to vessel overhauls and the repair and overhaul of propulsion systems. This work can be done to OEM repair standards in the company’s workshops in Brest, Marseille and La Ciotat.
Vulcan Espanola has a long established presence in the Spanish ship repair market, having been set up originally in 1969. José Ignacio Cuenca Pérez, managing director, says: “Our service experts help to keep Schottel equipment operational, regardless of location and needs. Whether it be standard inspections, overhauls, repairs, or retrofits, combining short reaction times and local people creates a beneficial situation for everyone.”
In addition to 15 different subsidiaries worldwide, Schottel has contract workshops where trained personnel carry out repairs in line with its quality standards. Sabel adds: “Thanks to our decentralised logistics approach. OEM spare parts, with good levels of long-term availability, can reach our regional service partners as quickly as possible. Furthermore if local teams run out of people, the Schottel service team always ensures there are enough engineers on the project to keep to the customer’s schedule.”
Schottel offers a range of lifecycle service maintenance agreements, which includes support from its repair workshops as well as interactive remote service arrangements, and crew training at one of five training centres worldwide. Sabel says: “Service agreements can be individually aligned to improve the availability of the vessel, achieve cost predictability, benefit from long-term forecasting of maintenance costs and share risks by setting joint performance targets with guarantees.”
He continues: “Every day more than 10,000 vessels with propulsion systems from Schottel are sailing worldwide. Whether they operate tugs, offshore vessels, ferries or cargo ships, our customers’ requirements for repairs are as varied as the vessels themselves. That is why we give owners the opportunity to choose the right solution for them, taking into account various factors including, but not limited to, speed, complexity and budget.”
Also on offer is a thruster replacement program including, for example, a Thruster Pool for smaller Schottel Transverse Thruster (STT) units. “Alongside this we concentrate intensively on repairs and overhauls at the customer’s site. Components such as gearboxes can be reconditioned in one of the nearby workshops and can be quickly reinstated,” says Sabel.
The past year has seen Schottel carry out a number of interesting repair, maintenance and upgrade projects. In one of these Schottel carried out a 10-year docking during which a spare thruster unit was to be installed. The company’s Danish representative planned the project in consultation with the team at Schottel’s headquarters in Spay. Thereafter a service technician at the Dutch shipyard where the docking was being carried out took on the role of supervisor and oversaw the repair job on site. Sabel says: “It turned out that a bearing also had to be overhauled. We were able to do this at short notice thanks to our nearby subsidiary. Despite this unscheduled repair, the docking was completed on time and the ship was able to resume operations.”
He concludes: “This project was only possible thanks to the close cooperation between various parties, and the density of our service network.”
