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Look at life aboard the pared down 15,000-TEU cost cutting Ebba Maersk

MAERSK's thorough cost cutting has its pros and cons at the shipboard level as Linton Nightingale of Containerisation International discovered on a thorough-going visit to the 15,000-TEU Ebba Maersk.

Some pros are surprising - surprisingly easy and surprisingly rewarding like nearly halving electricity consumption by turning out the lights when rooms, including holds, do not require power.

"Turning off lights and computers; every crew member is aware of our objectives and is happy to participate in all these things," said the Ebba Maersk's chief engineer John Broholm.

Engineers thrive on getting more from less, optimising consumption without affecting safety or the good life aboard.

'When the economic crisis hit, we really started looking at how much energy do we actually need to run everything optimally," said Chief Broholm.

'When I started sailing, lights and ventilation in the cargo holds were on 24/7 even at sea. The Ebba Maersk had a basis load consumption of electrical power on board of 1,900 kilowatt-hours.

"We found that it was possible to nearly halve the consumption of electrical power, to around 1,000 kilowatt-hours," he said.

The developments were constantly reported back to Copenhagen to see whether specific changes could have a negative or positive impact.

Capt Roel van Houte said the company budget is now at the forefront of everything connected with the day-to-day running of the ship.

Said second engineer Henrik Jensen: 'It is all about changing people's attitudes. Everyone is aware the industry is having a tough time of late and that they must pull together."

However, saving money does have its drawbacks and crewmen were keen to vent their frustrations, said the CI report.

Chief Broholm admitted that the crew sometimes struggle with the maintenance of the ship and, while the group may say they do not want to sub-optimise anything, sometimes they have little choice.

'It is frustrating because things should be the best of the best, as they were 10 years ago," he said.

'Everything we do should be the best and it is tough, because if you walk on the line, then it is easy not to do your job properly."

'Everything we do should be the best and it is tough, because if you walk on the line, then it is easy not to do your job properly."

Mr Jensen says that every once in a while this means that he slacks off on his own expectations, but he understands the financial constraints.

'Of course there are some things that I don't agree with but if the owner wants things done a certain way then I, like everyone else, accept it," he said.

Mr Jensen felt the company over does the amount of safety gear they must wear.

'I'm afraid that if this continues then they will create an environment where we feel bullet proof with all our gloves, helmets and papers in order.

'When we go out of the control room and into the workplace we will feel like Batman and then suddenly we will be hit by reality.

'This is the only part that I am reluctant about, that we will end up in situations when we are wearing the hard hats, the long sleeves and gloves and something happens. What will be next - body armour?

'I believe in safety and I believe in the equipment, but I believe the equipment needs to be the proper tools for the proper job," Mr Jensen said.

Corporate cost cutting has also cut time in port. Efficient and prompt turnaround times have never been so important.

Being late is not an option. Operating on the Asia-Europe trade and calling at the biggest box ports in the business means that piers are now fully booked, so arriving on time and leaving on time is vital.

'The interest of the port is to deliver a high performance and they cannot afford to have ships alongside longer than necessary," said Capt van Houte.

'Combine this with all the other work that must be done in port and it makes it difficult to get everything organised," he said.

This includes preparing the required port documents to be presented to the authorities.

For example, when he is in Felixstowe, he will already be working on what is needed for in Rotterdam, and when there he will be working on documents for Hamburg.

'You have to make sure that during the voyage you don't get in a position where you haven't finished your work," he said.

Ditto for the engineers for whom port calls are indispensable for essential repairs when maintenance is not possible at sea.

But some maintenance jobs are prohibited in some ports so the crew must plan a meticulous schedule sometimes months in advance, which not only has to take the port rotation into consideration but also the strict arrival and departure times.

'For instance, in Felixstowe we cannot carry out checks on the main engine. Here they say as long as we have cargo on board then we are not allowed to do any maintenance on the engine, which will not make us able to sail within an hour. And that is something we see in more and more ports around the world," he said.

'It's a long port stay, which is nice, but we're not allowed to do anything," said Chief Broholm.

But that doesn't mean the problem can necessarily be resolved in Rotterdam. While the crew may not have any problems in terms of immobilising the engine they still have the bunkering of the vessel to contemplate and a much shorter port stay, as being Europe's busiest box hub there is a much greater volume of traffic that needs to be moved in and out of the harbour each week.

These maintenance and time restrictions mean that it is simply not possible to drop some ports from vessel networks when they are formulated or revised, no matter how great the external pressures are to save money by limiting the number of port calls.