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The seven steps a ship manager's purchase passes through, who owns each one, and where purchasers lose time.
A spare part ordered by a chief engineer can pass through the vessel, a technical superintendent, a purchaser, an approver, a forwarder or port agent and accounts payable before the supplier is paid. Each hand-over is a chance for re-keying, waiting and lost context. Mapping the process step by step is the first move towards running it faster and with better control of what you buy and what you pay.
Shore-based purchasing rarely has to deliver to a moving customer. A ship manager buys for vessels that change port, in many currencies, from suppliers spread across the world, often with technical sign-off before the order can be placed.
Deliveries go to a port, a warehouse or an agent and must meet the vessel's schedule.
Parts are identified by maker part numbers and, for stores and provisions, IMPA Marine Stores Guide codes.
Maintenance and spare parts for critical equipment fall under the vessel's safety management system, which the ISM Code requires.
The same item is often bought by several vessels from different suppliers at different prices.
The names differ between companies, but most ship managers run a version of the same sequence.
Requisition: the vessel raises a request from the parts catalogue, and it is validated on board before it is sent ashore.
Purchaser review: the purchaser checks the request, merges it with other open needs and decides how to source it.
Sourcing and supplier onboarding: quotations are requested; new suppliers are onboarded with background and sanctions checks.
Quotation and technical review: quotes are compared on price, lead time and delivery port, and the superintendent confirms technical fit where needed.
Approval and purchase order: orders above set thresholds go to the right approver before the purchase order is issued.
Delivery to vessel or warehouse: the order is tracked through forwarders and agents, including back orders and partial deliveries.
Invoice to payment: the invoice is matched against the purchase order and the confirmed receipt, exceptions are resolved, and the invoice is posted for payment.
Delays usually sit between owners, not inside a step. Write down who acts at each point and what they need to act.
Vessel (chief engineer, master): raises and validates requisitions and confirms receipt on board.
Technical superintendent: reviews technical fit and urgency for critical or high-value items.
Purchaser: sources, compares quotes, negotiates and issues the order.
Approver: signs off orders above the agreed threshold.
Logistics, forwarder or port agent: moves the goods to the vessel or warehouse.
Accounts payable: matches, resolves exceptions and posts the invoice.
When we map the process with purchasers, the same time sinks come up again and again.
Re-typing requisitions from emails or vessel forms into the purchasing system.
Chasing quotations by email and copying them into spreadsheets to compare them.
Looking up what the company paid for the same part last time, if anyone recorded it.
Chasing approvals and answering the same status questions from the vessel.
Following deliveries and back orders across several agents.
Resolving invoices that do not match the order or the receipt.
Delta BI's Finance Automation runs this procure-to-pay workflow at a ship-management company, on top of the systems it already used. Measured at that client, the workflow freed around 36% of purchasers' time. Purchasers also gained one view of products and prices, which gave better control over spend and supported supplier negotiations, and an AI layer now helps purchasers in their daily work. Results depend on the starting process, so measure your own baseline before setting targets.
You do not need to replace your purchasing or finance systems to improve the process. Start small and measure.
Walk one real purchase end to end and record every hand-over, wait and re-key.
Agree approval thresholds and owners per step before automating anything.
Clean the parts catalogue and the supplier list; they drive every later step.
Connect to the systems you already run instead of adding another place to type.
Record purchaser time per requisition before and after, using the same definition.
Next steps
The Finance Automation page shows the full requisition-to-payment workflow and the results at the ship manager running it. Bring one recent purchase to a walkthrough and we will map it with you.
Start with the decision
Tell us about your challenge. We will reply to arrange an assessment and identify a practical route to delivery.
Request a data assessment