Wilhelmsen Ships Service in the UK has secured a Service Agreement using its brand new “Ships Agency Re-Defined” initiative to provide husbandry services to K Line LNG Shipping (UK) Ltd, London The Agreement covers eight managed Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carrying vessels and will cover port calls mainly in the UK, Europe, USA, South Africa, UAE and Korea.
‘Ships Agency Re-Defined’ is a unique global network service which standardises pricing, service, administration and supply throughout the world, resulting in simplified multiple port calls for the customer. Wilhelmsen Ships Service’s Global Agent in the UK, one of several located in different time zones around the world, will coordinate activities from the company’s Dartford office. In line with the expectations of this new approach to ships agency, the contract is expected to reduce administrative and operational tasks for K Line and improve their efficiency.
“The customer benefits from access to our integrated operational system and business, by being able to follow the progress of port calls and view the electronic distribution accounts. In normal agency work this would take several months to finalise,” explains Chris Simmons, Sales Manager for Southern UK at Wilhelmsen Ships Service. “Our ability to provide consolidated accounts streamlines the process, giving up-to-date data to the customer.”
The agreement is valid for 24 months with an estimated total of 450 port calls in the period.
K Line LNG was quick to realise the benefits of this new Ships Agency Re-Defined offer. In addition to this agreement, the customer has also decided to make use of Wilhelmsen Ships Service’s new Ships Spares Logistics offer. This is a unique service with a single point of contact for managing the delivery of spare parts from manufacturer to vessel, with total visibility on data and associated prices. Two vessels belonging to K Line will benefit from this service.
K Line LNG Shipping (part of the K Line group) manages one of the most sophisticated and modern fleets of LNG carriers worldwide, transporting cargos for the RasGas and Snøhvit projects as well as for the spot market.
Wilhelmsen Ships Service supplies Unitor marine products, technical services, ships agency services and maritime logistics. Both the new offers Ships Agency Re-Defined and Ships Spares Logistics were launched only in June, and have been received enthusiastically in the industry.