WSS New Zealand Introduces LRE Program

Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) New Zealand has announced the signing of its first Liferaft Exchange Program (LRE) contract with Neptune Pacific Line.

“When we introduced them to the LRE concept they were extremely interested to see how it could work for their business," says Nigel Smith, General Manager WSS New Zealand and Pacific Islands. "Despite initially looking to replace just one of the older liferafts onboard, when we explained the benefits of signing up for a complete set of five rental liferafts, they realized the potential cost savings and efficiencies and changed out the entire vessel.”

WSS New Zealand’s first assignment for Neptune Pacific was an exchange in Shanghai, where the crew were working to a very tight schedule with little more than 24 hours to deliver the complete set of five liferafts before the vessel sailed for Australia.

According to Smith, the smooth exchange was carried out as a result of an effective working partnership between WSS New Zealand and other regional Wilhelmsen Ships Services offices in Singapore and Shanghai.

 “The New Zealand market has been a mature market for some years now with very little innovation," he said.  "However , the introduction of the WSS LRE programme has seen some dramatic changes.  Our clients are now aware of a viable and extremely cost effective alternative to the traditional approach of owning liferafts.  The interest this has generated in NZ and the Pacific Islands has been extremely positive and we expect to see more contracts in the coming months as our clients see the potential cost and time savings our LRE systems can achieve for them."