Mastering Fleet Management

Fleet management software developer Tero Marine has served the shipping industry for nearly three decades with a product range led by its software suite TM Master, now a leading fleet management brand with more than 2,000 licenses worldwide.
The Bergen, Norway-based company and its fully integrated marine information system TM Master have managed to stay competitive amidst an explosion of companies providing fleet management and software solutions to the maritime market. Serving a clientele that includes navy, commercial shipping, workboat and offshore vessel operators, Tero Marine strives to assist ship owners and managers from planning through execution.
TM Master facilitates storage, editing and retrieval of information through a database shared by four modules: TM Maintenance, TM Procurement, TM Human Resources and TM Quality & Environment. (See module functions in Table 1.)
“The integration of all the different modules in TM Master makes it a really strong tool for supporting ship owners or managers’ operations, regardless of the size of their fleet,” said Jan Erik Haarvei, CEO of Tero Marine. “The fully integrated suite makes planning and execution of very different operational tasks possible by the use of one tool only: TM Master.”
Together, TM Master’s modules help to protect users’ vessels, crew and cargo, all the while facilitating efficient operations and reducing expenditure, an endeavor that appears to be gaining greater significance throughout the industry now more than ever as owners and operators increasingly seek options for trimming costs.
“We know that we are under constant scrutiny to deliver high product value, and in 2015 this is more important than ever,” Haarvei said. “We have to prove to our clients that TM Master helps them [perform] ship operations smarter, by showing them that it really is reducing costs, increasing efficiency and improving control and safety.”
Adding to this notion, Haarvei stated the recent decline in oil price has been a “strong indicator” in the OSV market, for example, an area which forms a piece of Tero Marine’s core market. “A large chunk of our revenues comes from the OSV business,” Haarvei said. “In a time when the oil price slides, and future fleet demands are uncertain, focus is now on exploration, production and supplier costs. Ship companies will turn every stone to cut costs, and Tero Marine will have to prove that TM Master is worth the investment. We are confident it will pass the test. In fact we believe that our software is part of the solution to the challenges our customers face, as TM Master has a proven track record as a cost-saver.”
Citing an example, Haarvei  said Tero Marine recently held its first user conference in Singapore where a client in the region presented a study focusing on how TM Master has helped improve its operations.
“[The client] set up TM Master on 10 vessels and three shipyards, with access from three office locations. The main goal was to have one single centralized system for maintenance, inventory, procurement logistics and cost control. In addition to all this, they also use [Tero Marine’s] crewing module, integrated with the rest of the system.”
“The way this client has integrated TM Master in their operations is quite impressive, and for us a case study that truly shows the possibilities within our software,” said Haarvei. “When a client saves millions of dollars every year by using TM Master, we know that our product delivers on the promise we are making.”
Haarvei said Tero Marine is targeting growth by evaluating its global strategy to bolster ambitions in new target areas. Presently 60-70 percent of its clients are in Europe, though the company has a presence on every continent, with offices and representatives in Norway, England, Singapore, Brazil, United States, United Arab Emirates, Russia and the Philippines. “We are growing steadily in the APAC region and in South America,” Haarvei noted. “These regions will be very important for us in the years ahead.”

Table 1

Procurement
TM PROCUREMENT helps users stay on top of fleet-wide procurement activities, saving cost and time.
•    On board procurement with full purchasing functionality
•    Approve requisitions received from a vessel
•    Replication engine that ensures that the ship is notified of any changes
•    Advanced and reliable replication
•    Cross fleet KPIs

Maintenance
TM MAINTENANCE helps plan and manage scheduled, preventive, corrective and condition-based maintenance.
•    Record, schedule and manage all data pertaining to maintenance activities
•    Cross fleet KPIs
•    Cross fleet job standardization
•    Analysis of maintenance history and reporting
•    Manage components, spare parts and consumables

Human Resources
TM HUMAN RESOURCES is a tool for crew management, and supports personnel work both on board as well as onshore.
•    Personal data, incl. medical information like vaccines and health certificates
•    Employment history, education, courses and certificates
•    Plan future crew changes and activities
•    Hours of work, hours of rest
•    Approval and reporting

Quality & Environment
TM QUALITY & ENVIRONMENT ensures that quality management is implemented throughout the organisation.
•    Incidents and failure reporting
•    Consequence evaluation
•    Forecasting; see future needs for spare parts, manpower, maintenance
•    Document handling throughout your entire fleet
•    Voyage E-log reduces reporting requirements



(As published in the May 2015 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News - http://magazines.marinelink.com/Magazines/MaritimeReporter)