The complete chief officer 22 stores and storing

This is an extremely important time for any ship, particularly if storing is done on a 3
monthly or, worse, 6 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 do 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 do
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

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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to use is years out of date or not compatible with your needs.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
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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,

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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 6 months for the last 5 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'!

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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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