Process family
Ship repair process: six yard SOPs from vessel arrival to handover
The ship-repair job as six linked yard SOPs: vessel arrival and docking, dry docking, project kickoff, subcontractor onboarding, repair quality inspection and handover, with the permits, emergency line and change order alongside.
Ship repair is the yard's core job: bring a vessel alongside or onto the blocks, turn the owner's specification into work packages the workshops and subcontractors can execute, prove every repair to QA, class and the customer, and send the vessel away with a closed punch list and a dossier. This family orders six SOPs in that sequence and adds the permits, the 24/7 line and the change order that run beside a docking.
The chain opens before the vessel is near the quay: arrival and docking checks draft, beam and length against the berth plan, books pilot and tugs, holds at anchorage until the weather and tidal window clears, and ends with a signed arrival checklist and a handover meeting to the project team. If the job needs the dock, dry docking verifies the block plan against the vessel's docking drawing and checks stability before any repair team is authorised in. Project kickoff then turns the specification into work packages by discipline, fills capacity gaps with subcontractors, and confirms scope, schedule and price with the customer before a package reaches a workshop.
Subcontractors arrive through onboarding: insurance and competency records verified, a pass-or-fail safety induction, and a permit decision before hot work or confined space entry. Every completed repair goes through quality inspection: technician self-check, independent QA/QC, NDT for weld and structural work, class surveyor endorsement where relevant, customer acceptance. Handover reviews outstanding items against scope, tests the repaired systems, and closes the agreed punch list with customer sign-off before undocking. A finding discovered mid-repair goes through change order approval, which decides whether it is in scope and gets the customer's approval before the work is done.
The permits onboarding points to are the yard's own hot work and confined space SOPs, the ship-repair versions of the general permit-to-work family. The emergency repair request is the separate 24/7 route, where a defect on the duty line is triaged by urgency and either mobilised at once or quoted first. Note what is not here: the yard's own tender for a planned docking has no template, so the family starts at arrival rather than at the bid, and the defects-liability period after departure is not drawn. Electrical scope on the same vessel is marine electrical; the yard is one of three personas under marine, offshore and industrial services.
The sequence
Step 1: Vessel arrival and docking SOP (ship-repair yard)
A vessel arrival and docking SOP for a ship-repair yard: pre-arrival berth checks, pilot and tug booking, the weather and tidal go or hold decision, pilotage, mooring, and a signed handover to the project team.
Step 2: Dry docking and undocking SOP: block plan to refloat
A shipyard SOP for dry docking and undocking a vessel: block plan verification, controlled dewatering, a stability check, dry-period repair work, and refloat, with an owner and workload hours on every step.
Step 3: Ship repair project kickoff SOP: specification to work packages
A ship repair project kickoff SOP: specification intake, mechanical/electrical/hydraulic review, PM assignment, work-package breakdown, subcontractor gap-fill, scheduling, and a confirm/revise kickoff before work reaches the workshops.
Step 4: Shipyard subcontractor onboarding SOP: induction to checkout
A shipyard subcontractor onboarding SOP for ship repair yards: document and insurance verification, a pass/fail safety induction, access and PPE issue, a hot work or confined space permit decision, supervised work and checkout.
Step 5: Shipboard repair quality inspection SOP
A shipboard repair quality inspection SOP for ship-repair yards: technician self-check, independent QA/QC inspection, conditional NDT verification, class surveyor sign-off, and customer acceptance before the record is filed and closed out.
Step 6: Vessel repair handover SOP: completion review to departure
A shipyard SOP for vessel repair completion and handover: outstanding-item review, testing and commissioning, QA documentation, customer and class inspection, punch-list closure, and undocking, with an owner and workload hours per step.
Also part of this family
- Hot work permit SOP: gas test, fire watch, and closure — A hot work permit SOP for ship repair: gas-test the atmosphere, assign a fire watch, get dock master and HSE sign-off, then hold a mandatory post-work watch before the permit closes.
- Confined space entry SOP for ship repair yards — A confined space entry SOP for ship-repair yards: risk assessment, isolation and ventilation, atmosphere testing, permit issue, standby and rescue readiness, entry, and permit closeout.
- Emergency repair request SOP (24/7 triage to release) — How a ship-repair yard turns a defect reported on the 24/7 duty line into a triaged, quoted or mobilized repair: urgency triage, customer approval, mechanical/electrical/hydraulic mobilization, function test and vessel release.
- Change order approval SOP for a ship repair yard — A change order approval SOP for ship repair: a mid-repair finding is assessed against original scope, estimated, submitted to the customer for approval, executed, QA/QC inspected, and filed on closeout.