Performance Measurement of Marine Vessel Maintenance Operations; A Case Study of Kuwait Shipping Companies

Organisations that operate complex, high cost assets must develop effective and robust maintenance strategies in order to ensure that their commercial operations realize optimum revenue streams. Maintenance cost is usually significant within these organisations and cannot be ignored by the organization management and for that reason it is one of the essential measurements of the organization and success. Measuring the maintenance performance is used as indicator for potential organizational development and has a great effect on the performance of the entire organization. In the marine industry in particular, maintenance performance measurement (MPM) requires the consideration of a large number of variables and factors which can often be difficult to define and assess. In order to accommodate the complex set of criteria that needs to be assessed in the measurement process, this paper sets out a methodology to capture the necessary data as part of a wider asset management strategy. In this paper an interpretive approach is adapted to identify the ship maintenance performance measurement (SMPM) indicators. A case study is carried out on three Kuwaiti marine shipping companies which cover different trade interests ranging from small transport ships to large oil tankers. Semi-structured interviews are conducted with six senior staff experts from the three shipping companies. The interviews are conducted at the strategic, corporate and tactical managerial levels. The paper identifies and investigates the relevant measuring indicators and concludes on the importance of the maintenance performance measurement. The outputs from this research draw on maintenance and asset management theories generally and can be transposed to other disciplines where complex, high value assets require significant maintenance management.