Industry overview
What is shaping shipbuilding
Shipbuilding and maritime services depend on a deep supplier ecosystem, skilled workforce and port infrastructure, with long project cycles and strict standards.
- Supplier capability limits how fast yards can scale
- Skilled trades are scarce and ageing
- Port users judge performance on turnaround and reliability
Client background
A mid-sized shipyard, working in Maharashtra. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.
- Organisation
- A mid-sized shipyard
- Sector
- Shipbuilding
- Team engaged
- Finance & Accounts
- Services
- MIS & financial reporting, Accounting & finance consulting, Data analytics & dashboards
Client challenge
Each vessel took more than a year to build, and costs were only compared with budgets at milestones. Overruns were discovered too late to correct, and management could not see where money was going.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: project cost reporting for a shipbuilding programme.
- Establish accurate, reconciled numbers management can rely on.
- Put a reporting and compliance rhythm in place that runs on time.
Target audience
Scope: Six vessels under construction.
Audiences we typically reach in shipbuilding
Shipyards and project managersMarine equipment suppliersSkilled workers and traineesPort users and shipping linesMaritime regulators
Geographic coverage
Coverage: Maharashtra. Market: India.
- India
Research methodology
A structured finance engagement: review the current process, set up controls, run the routine and report.
- 1Brief
- 2Cost structure redesign
- 3Project dashboards
- 4Insight
We restructured accounts with vessel and work-package codes, linked material issues and labour hours to each vessel, and introduced monthly cost-to-complete reviews. Dashboards compared progress and spending by vessel and package. Project managers and finance staff were trained together, so that cost codes were applied consistently from the shop floor to the accounts.
MIS & financial reportingAccounting & finance consultingData analytics & dashboards
Sampling strategy
- Every ledger, entity and transaction stream in scope was covered, with sample-based checks during review.
Data collection
- Source documents, bank statements and ledgers were collected through a secure shared workspace.
Data quality & validation
- Maker-checker review on all entries
- Bank and ledger reconciliations
- Client approval before every filing or report
- Supporting documents kept for every figure
Data analysis
- Variance analysis against budget and prior periods
- Ratio and trend analysis
- Cash-flow view for management
Key findings
- Management could see emerging overruns months earlier, especially in outfitting and rework, and took corrective action.
Monthly visibility turned project costs from a surprise into something managed.
Recommendations
- Build on the core insight: monthly visibility turned project costs from a surprise into something managed.
- Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: management could see emerging overruns months earlier, especially in outfitting and rework, and took corrective action.
Business impact
- Learning from completed vessels improved the accuracy of new bids.
- Rework costs, previously hidden in general overheads, became visible and were addressed through better coordination between design and production teams.
Deliverables & next steps
- Insight report and management presentation
- Interactive dashboard
- Monthly MIS pack and reconciled books
- Compliance calendar and filings
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: what do stakeholders expect from new projects?
Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.