SPARE PARTS BUSINESS IN DREDGING

In the business of dredging, one key factor is time. To maximize profit and minimize cost in every aspect of a dredging business, you must have to be time conscious from the project planning to logistics, transportation of the equipment, decoupling and coupling of the equipment if it is to be conveyed by road, to the launching of the dredger, to the project execution which is the actual dredging, one must be very time conscious so as not to pay more than there is to be paid for in the project or in the hiring of equipment like lowbed, flatbed, cranes, bulldozers and excavators.

To help you achieve all these, you can engage the services of a good dredge consultant familiar with all these technicalities and knows ways around them. During the project execution, you can't underestimate the importance of timing because most of the dredging parameters are calculated on hourly basis. From the amount of sand, distance or depth that is dredged per hour based on what one is dredging for, to its financing.

I am re-echoing timing as it has everything to do with the topic of the day, which is the timely supply and procurement of spare parts. As a businessman, dredge spare parts is a lucrative business when supplied on time. To deal on dredge spare parts, one has to be patient as it is not a business that will make lots of customers queue up at your shop scrambling for one spare part or another and it is capital intensive. However, once a spare part is sold it makes up the period of inactive time.

Also, there are some parts that sell more frequently like grease packing, anchors, sling wire, side winch rollers, bolts and nuts, floaters and PVC pipes, gaskets, cutter teeth, fuse, solenoids, fuel pumps, transfer pumps, fuel and oil filters, water separator filters, air filters, hydraulic filters, marine rope, etc.

I can vividly remember back in the day when I was still a novice in the business of dredging as a dredge engineer onboard an Ellicott 1170 dredger, a particular part (paraflex coupling) stopped my team and I for working for close to 2 months as it got spoilt and after searching the whole country for this part without success, the company director (was so frustrated due to the fact that every milestone has a time frame) had to import the part from the U.S. Due to logistics, the spare part was further delayed before arriving the country. Fortunately, I improvised one myself which was made locally here in Lagos two days after I had designed it and we were able to complete that milestone within the time frame.

As a dredge owner, can you imagine paying staff salaries in the region of tens of millions for about 3 months while your equipment is on downtime and not making you any money during that period? It is quite painful that I am sure of.



What I am trying to say in essence is that if it was being sold by someone at that time within the country, it would have generated a lot of money as several other companies experience this same problem. To my advantage, I have sold more than 7 pieces of my locally designed coupling to serve as an alternative and it pays well. So it is a very good source of wealth when you can invest in the spare parts aspect of this dredging business. Do not worry about customers as I will refer them to you once you can reach me on contact@chineduetokwudo.com.ng or chineduetokwudo@gmail.com.