The world relies heavily on the barge transport industry to ship everything from food to petroleum. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway alone transports 100 million tons of cargo annually. These vital transport systems run on the hard work of thousands of boat workers. The proper management of these crews is crucial to the marine transport industry and, ultimately, the people who rely on the goods it transports.
For barge companies, providing good crew management is often costly and time consuming. This is because many companies are used to approaching crew management with the tools and methods of the past…but it doesn’t have to be this way. Newer technologies are making it possible for barge companies to provide smoother crewing activities, while saving time and money in the process.
Crewing Challenges
A boat crew for barge transport consists of people in a variety of roles (captain, engineers, deckhands, maintenance workers, chefs, etc.) all with varying schedules, covering different watches, and all with different pay rates. This can make crewing a challenging job, prone to error and confusion. Issues often arise in some of the following areas.
Complex Scheduling and Timekeeping
A boat crew for barge transport might work in shifts of around 12 hours for shorter trips, or they might live on board for several weeks at a time and work in watches. Those working on board are often transported to and from the barge by the barge company and this time is generally compensated, as well. All of this can result in a complex scheduling and timekeeping system.
Many crewing activities are still recorded manually and entered into spreadsheets. Schedules are often communicated through email. When schedules are not followed carefully or typos and mistakes are made in emails or spreadsheets, this can lead to delays and result in higher costs for the barge company.
Minimizing Errors
When timekeeping and payroll integration is done manually, it is subject to a fair number of mistakes by human error. Typically, the spreadsheets used to track timekeeping are manually entered into the payment system. This can result in over or underpayment for employees, missing overtime, or errors in pay for employees utilizing split pay for longer rotations. These errors result, not only in frustration for the crew, but also in additional time spent on backtracking to fix the issue.
Outdated Systems
While there was a time when spreadsheets and email were the wave of the future, they are now pretty dated. One frequent problem introduced by the use of spreadsheets is a lack of version control. This occurs when one version is emailed to someone who makes a new change, creating a new version, but then fails to send an update to everyone with the prior version. This can result in multiple versions in circulation, compounding issues with any errors, and lead to a lot of confusion down the line.
To combat problems like this, most industries have moved to more efficient methods, like automated tracking and time management software.
Efficiency
The manual entry and review of crew scheduling and timekeeping can be a time-consuming process. Furthermore, these methods usually mean that review can only take place at the end of the pay period when the spreadsheets are sent in. Managers must meticulously review two weeks worth of timekeeping for all employees, which can be more difficult and time consuming than reviewing one day at a time.
The Importance of Efficient Crew Management
The boat crew is the lifeblood of barge transport operations. A properly trained crew is critical for ensuring safe handling of cargo, navigation, maintenance of the barges and boat, and every other aspect of marine transport. These workers also have to endure long hours and precarious working conditions, which is part of the reason there is an ongoing challenge for barge companies to attract talent and retain the crew they have in the marine transport industry.
To keep barge operations running smoothly, barge companies must provide exceptional crew management, which involves making sure these essential employees get paid accurately and on time and making operations, like embarkation and disembarkation, as smooth as possible. Streamlining scheduling and pay activities will lead to a better and more efficient work environment for everyone, but barge companies can also reduce the time and money spent on trying to recruit new barge crew workers.
Streamlining Crew Management with Crew Management Software
To keep up with competitors, barge companies may find themselves looking for ways to improve efficiency and save money. Luckily, improvements to crew management can be easy to implement with a few changes.
BargeOps is well aware of the crewing challenges faced by barge operators and the importance of crew retention. A lot of the typical crew management problems, like those mentioned above, can be solved, or greatly improved, with the help of automation. Crew management software, like BargeOps Crews, streamlines many of the activities related to scheduling and payroll to save time and money for barge operators and simplify operations for the crew. In particular, BargeOps Crews can benefit management and crews by:
- Replacing manual processes, like filling out spreadsheets and sending emails, with automated systems and communications.
- Allowing for the review of time cards daily instead of every two weeks with a simple user interface and automatic updating.
- Managing timecards and complicated pay scenarios, like split pay, with ease.
- Managing crews that are live-aboard or shift-based.
- Integrating time card management and payroll with a streamlined payroll export.
- Handling crew rotations, travel arrangements, scheduling, and embark/disembark processes.
Crew management software can also be integrated into other operational software, like BargeOps Onshore, creating a seamless experience for everyone. Contact us today to set
