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Remote Support During Lockdown Saved ~$37,000 for a Supply Vessel

Marine

Remote Maintenance Services

Caterpillar C18 Engine

On 20th May 2020, the chief engineer of the vessel sent a SOS email to Neptunus for resolving a critical problem on the auxiliary engine of the subject vessel. The engine was frequently tripping & the vessel engineering team could not fix it onboard.
Though this was an auxiliary engine, for operation of Bow Thruster (BT), it was necessary to have this engine in proper running condition, else the vessel could have been de-hired leading to substantial loss.
Due to lockdown situation, Neptunus’ service team was unable to travel to attend to this problem

Neptunus has been a preferred partner to Triton for engine maintenance across their multiple vessels
Neptunus’ service team assessed the situation, studied the symptoms after discussions with the vessel engineering team and quickly made a “checklist” to trace the possible root-cause
Accordingly following was checked by the vessel engineering team
a. After restarting the engine, what is the voltage value?
b. Had they flashed the Exciter?
c. What is the winding resistance & insulation value?
d. Have they done the visual Inspection of the rotating rectifier assembly?
Within 12 hours of first reporting the problem, the root cause was found in the loose bolts of the rotating rectifier assembly & problem was resolved soon after. The engine started running smoothly without tripping.

If the problem would not have been resolved immediately, the vessel could have been off-hired. So with a timely solution, Neptunus saved potential loss of revenue of ~$ 35,000 (assuming 7 days of off-hire)
The remote support provided by Neptunus’ service team also saved the additional charges of alongside-docking of vessels and deployment of service engineers, totaling to ~$ 2,000.