“In the vast majority of cases in which new port cranes deliveries are negotiated, the issue of providing maintenance service together with the crane delivery is becoming a more topical subject.”

Mr Boström says there are two main drivers behind this increasing tendency to outsource maintenance: number one,the rapid growth of the container terminal throughput, and number two the fact that crane technology is becoming increasingly advanced.“This is recognised by the management of most container terminals, regardless of their ownership structure.” Outsourcing is nothing new: ports and terminals have outsourced maintenance for years.As Mr Boström points out, even organisations that have well performing in-house technical departments have used external companies both for selected specialist jobs and also to cover temporary peaks in the workload.

“But with today’s fast-growing container handling business, some terminals may find it hard to find the increasing number of service people needed, and also to make the required investments in developing their skills to match the state-of-the-art technology. “Instead of allocating managerial resources to this, they may turn to external companies who are specialised in new technology and have skilled maintenance crews.”

However, a change in the “make-or-buy” policy requires new skills in itself, says Mr Boström. “Quality control and performance measurement become new focus areas. New cost elements have to be included in the managerial accounting – the cost of down-time and lifecycle costs being typical examples. The whole concept of maintenance management has to be reevaluated and this may be a challenging learning curve.”

The demand for maintenance professionals appears to be growing faster than the supply in some parts of the world and this naturally lowers the entry barrier for new players, so that port operators must make careful choices. “In outsourcing activities, the price-qualityperformance issue is always a consideration of the buyer,” says Mr Boström. “In the long-run, quality also means safety and reliability.” Another specialist, Kalmar Industries says that all its main customers are either testing the outsourcing concept or are already outsourcing on a regular basis.

The company has been “reaffirming its commitment to its customers’ needs”by expanding its service network to ensure it is close to its customers, says Rob van Hove, Kalmar’s vice president of maintenance. Kalmar says that outsourcing maintenance offers customers clear benefits – flexibility, cost reduction, fixed costs, one point of contact for equipment (sales and after-sales), fewer people in the customer’s organisation, improvement of performance (in a number of cases) and expertise on products that are getting more complex over time.

However, there are pitfalls, says Mr van Hove. “It is important to choose suppliers wisely. Some suppliers are unreliable or take a short-term view, while others claim to have the appropriate knowledge to provide a given service, but do not. “Also, customers must clearly define with the supplier the level of service expected.”