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Debt Management

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fleets. This trend will continue. The
consolidation of owners and managers has

already impacted on ship suppliers,
reducing their numbers in many ports. All wanted

of these changes to the shipping industry

have increased the need for ship suppliers
to have a formal credit policy in place.
R
In case you're thinking, "We don't have
time for that!” it is worth remembering the

future time saved whenever a systematic
approach to a frequent task is adopted. estrictions for safety and security reasons mean it is

This applies to one-man businesses as increasingly common for ship suppliers to be
much as to multi-nationals. It is always prohibited from delivering to vessels from shore-side.

possible to deviate from a policy but you The result is suppliers being required to make more deliveries
should be able to explain the reasons for by boat. This is often arranged by a third-party such as the

doing so. If you often need to deviate from ship's agent, acting upon instructions from the ship owner or

the policy, then it probably needs changing. manager. We would be interested to learn of any cases in which
That's the trouble with an informal the boat provided was not suitable, resulting in risk to the

(unwritten) credit policy. Everyone thinks suppliers' personnel and/or the goods to be delivered? We
they keep to it, whereas everyone deviates recently learned of a case where goods were lost overboard,

from it!which the customer then refused to pay for. Clearly, all parties
In the next issue of The Ship Supplier, have responsibilities in such cases; including the supplier to

we'll look at what to include in a formal ensure that the goods are corrected packed, so we would like
Credit Policy document of not more than to hear your experiences? Email us your feedback:

two pages in length that everyone in your editorial@elabor8.co.uk
company can use.
u

2014 Issue 63
The SHIP Supplier 49