WSS develops Asian hub

Being one of the world’s leading ports, and located on one of the world’s strategic shipping routes, means that Singapore is a major hub for providing services for ships calling or passing.

Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS), not surprisingly, has a substantial presence, and its southeast Asia headquarters in Singapore. In particular it provides safety services, including lifeboat and liferaft servicing and rental. This includes supporting its safety service agreements (SSA) with shipowners and ship managers in Singapore.

The SSA programme provides standardised solutions for customers’ fleets, offering fixed prices for inspection at agreed ports for relevant systems and portable equipment. It provides a single point of contact, with customer support available in the local language and the same time zone.

WSS has also developed a ship spares hub operation in Singapore, covering the Asia region, which includes handling the logistics of getting spare parts onboard ships.

A recent example of the company’s close links with Singapore-based shipowners was the renewal of an SSA with Masterbulk, an owner based in Singapore – though it too has Norwegian roots.

The agreement has been extended for at least two years.

Josephine Tay, WSS account manager in Singapore, said, “The WSS safety service agreement significantly reduces administration costs for customers and this agreement allows Masterbulk to receive safety service due dates well in advance, enabling them to budget and plan ahead with greater accuracy.”

WSS has recently restructured its organisation in Asia, based in Singapore, in an effort to strengthen its presence and level of service to shipowner customers. The restructure has involved a number of senior personnel changes, including Graham Hunter becoming technical sales director based in Singapore. Part of the changes involves WSS increasing its presence in China, with new offices opening in several ports.

Bjorn Tonsberg, regional vice president, said: “We are reviewing the way we do things and rebuilding the organisation to meet the challenges that the next few years will bring. Constant improvements to better serve our customers are the only way forward. With this in mind we are optimising our sales structure and investing in competence development to take advantage of opportunities in emerging market segments such as offshore and traders and charterers.”NS