This is an extremely important time for any ship, particularly if storing is done on a monthly or, worse, monthly basis I say worse because it is almost impossible to evaluate needs for months ahead except in the most general terms The only answer here is to over-order, which you will anyway, regardless of the storing schedule From a management perspective, the best system is where those onboard have a budget and are responsible for ordering their stores This gives you a choice of where you order, who you order from and what you order Inevitably, if the opportunity presents itself, you will find that for small orders such as tools you will get better quality and prices from the local shops than from the chandler A by-product of having your own budget is that you can appreciate the price of the stores and take better care of them If your ship husbandry is good you might even have something left over at the end of the financial year to buy a few goodies for the ship It is wise not to have much left in the kitty as you might find your budget cut for the next year! To properly order stores you must know what you have onboard The only way to this is to make an inventory, unless you happen to have joined a ship with an ongoing inventory system When the opportunity arises, generally in poor weather that precludes work on deck, take the opportunity of finding out what stores you have This can be an enlightening experience, even on a small ship On a large ship with more places to 129 put things, it can be quite a problem Usually you are faced with dozens of mops and deck scrubbers for which you have little use and find that the paint you thought you were going to use is years out of date or not compatible with your needs The foc'sle usually reveals things that even those onboard have forgotten what they are used for Drag it all out, keep what you want and what is usable and have the rest ready for disposal You will also be able to see the condition of the decks, which might in itself be an unpleasant surprise You will find that every locker, particularly if the ship is old, will have something to reveal Having taken your inventory, empty the cabins of their gear Spanners in drawers, PPE gear stuffed in wardrobes, even your own cabin can have a treasure chest if your predecessor was the 'every finger a marlin spike' type 22.1 Tools Tools are expensive and need to be looked after An unfortunate but frequent attitude about tools is to feel that they are not yours, you didn't pay for them so, if they go missing, order some more No wonder so many companies get heartily sick of continually paying out for the same tools every stores list Why is it that a set of screwdrivers can last years ashore, but only months at sea? The tools belonging to the deck department are nominally in your charge and so it is your job to see that they are looked after After your clearout you will be surprised at what you have gathered It should all be listed and then stored to one area If it is a very large ship 130 there is nothing wrong in establishing two separate stores or workshop areas, forward and aft, as long as you keep track of what belongs where The best method for tool storage is to draw outline spaces on the painted plyboard At the end of the day the spaces for tools should be filled again Be prepared to enforce this Checking at 2000 hrs when you come off the bridge, and then turning out the crew to find the missing tool, will always get the message across 22.2 Power Tools Once again you will come across the 'it's not mine' attitude, which can cause so many problems to the maintenance of the ship Tools are put aside at the end of the day without being cleaned or, worse, faulty tools are not reported, so that when they are next needed they fail If this is the pattern you find you must instil a more careful attitude in your crew Power tools and their spares should be kept apart in their own separate boxes and cleaned after use They should be part of your maintenance programme If there is no written procedure laid down for this, establish your own 22.3 Disposable Items A little care can save on ordering and expense These are items such as paintbrushes, rollers, deck brooms, mops buckets etc For some reason the word disposable seems to have reached new heights at sea, with crew translating this into 'one use only' Paint the deck then bung the roller in the trash can instead of cleaning it! 22.4 A Storekeeper Many years ago, when we had properly sized crew for the size of the ship, in addition to the Bosun a storekeeper, or lamp trimmer as he could be called, was carried and it was his duty to look after the stores, issue them, collect them and care for them He was the one who got the paint and equipment ready in the morning so that you could immediately start a job without wasting time getting ready At the end of the day he was the one who cleaned the gear, such as paint brushes, and stowed them away ready for the next use, 131 ensuring that the crew could work right to the end of the day instead of sloping off and spending 30 minutes 'cleaning' The value of such a man cannot be overestimated I would suggest that, if the size of your crew allows, you consider designating one of the crew to take on this position It does not mean that he is lost for the day, just that he starts a little earlier to prepare the paint, tools or whatever is required for that day and then, in the evening, continues a little longer cleaning and stowing the equipment away If you are unable to pay overtime, you could compensate him for the extra work in time off when the other crew are working At least then you are going to have your equipment looked after and have someone responsible for it The other option is to have the Bosun take on this responsibility Either way, if you are going to have the job done, someone will have to be responsible 22.5 The Running Inventory Once you have your store rooms, cupboards and lockers emptied out and all the rubbish discarded, it makes sense, while you are putting the stores back, to try to separate the items Put the cleaning and domestic in one, maintenance in another and tools in another On the back of the door or access make out a printed list of the items in that particular store with a space for the number of each item present, those issued, those received and those remaining If you can train your crew, or whoever is the storekeeper, to maintain these lists, it will provide you with an indication of the stores you are using and their consumption rate This is important when you are making up your stores order 22.6 Stores Ordering The Captain or Chief Engineer will probably assemble the full list of stores required if sending to the company or putting out to a chandler for pricing In addition to your own list you will need to collect the requirements of the Bosun, the navigating officer and whoever is dealing with medical supplies If you are looking after the catering department general stores you will need the requirements of the Chief Cook as well Laziness often creeps into this ordering, so the fact that they have ordered 12 mops and 200 bars of soap every months for the last years will account for the fact that you have a locker somewhere onboard containing over one hundred mops and a few thousand bars of soap Individually these are not expensive items, but collectively they are a waste of money in stores not required and money tied up in carrying unwanted goods across the world and back It is not your money either, which is probably why this situation occurs At least by emptying your storerooms you will have found the soap and mops and will not be ordering any more for a while! 22.7 Storing Procedures The location where you take on stores will affect which stores you receive and what their condition is The perfect situation is one where you can specify the time you will receive the stores, where you have a berth that your stores crane can reach because the berth storing area is free from obstructions, the weather is good and you have sufficient time in the port for stores to be checked and missing or defective items replaced I can already hear some Chief Officers muttering 'in your dreams'! 132 To have such conditions is almost unheard of Many berths or terminals are not 'ship friendly' Some even refuse to allow crew to store the ship or use the ship's crane In other ports the crane will not reach or it is on the wrong side, the rain is pouring down, the berth is covered in coal dust and the ship is sailing in a few hours You could be struggling at night to load your stores from a boat while under way through the Singapore Straits Whatever the difficulties, you must manage the situation and somehow get the stores onboard The problems arising from this type of storing are numerous, not the least of which is that stores often disappear into the ship without being checked properly The hammers that you cannot find will appear a month later from the linen store and the screwdrivers that are so essential have disappeared into the engine room Wrongly supplied items often cannot be returned for replacement If you know when your ship is berthing and roughly know your ETD, then at least you can specify when the stores are to be delivered It is guaranteed that, whatever time you state, they will arrive during a mealtime! 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