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Dry dock planning is the process of preparing, scheduling, and managing the full scope of work required during a vessel's scheduled dry-docking — a period when the ship is removed from the water to enable underwater hull inspection, structural maintenance, propeller and rudder servicing, antifouling coating application, and the class surveys and statutory inspections that require the vessel to be out of water. For most commercial vessels, dry-docking occurs every two and a half years, with a full Special Survey every five years, making it the single most complex and expensive technical event in the ship's operational cycle.
The planning process begins months before the vessel enters the shipyard — sometimes more than a year ahead for major Special Surveys. It involves a large number of interdependent workstreams: agreeing the scope of work with the classification society and flag state, selecting and tendering to shipyards, coordinating technical superintendents and specialist contractors, procuring hundreds of individual spare parts and materials, and planning the sequence of work to minimise the time the vessel spends out of service. Errors or delays in any of these workstreams can translate directly into dry-dock overruns — each additional day in the yard costs tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue and continued yard fees.
Dry dock planning is deeply connected to the vessel's Planned Maintenance System and its class survey records. The dry-dock work scope is driven by outstanding maintenance jobs, class survey requirements, Conditions of Class, outstanding recommendations from previous surveys, and any major defects identified in the period since the last docking. A PMS that accurately captures all of these — accessible and complete months before the docking — is the foundation of effective dry-dock planning. Without it, the technical team is planning with incomplete information, and the risk of costly scope surprises is high.
The commercial stakes of a dry-docking are substantial. A vessel earning $40,000–$80,000 per day on a time charter generates no revenue while in dry dock. The direct cost of the dry-dock itself — shipyard fees, labour, materials, and contractor costs — typically runs into hundreds of thousands to several million dollars depending on vessel size, work scope, and yard location. An unplanned extension of two or three days can cost more than months of inadequate planning preparation. This is why effective dry-dock planning is treated as a major project management challenge, not just a maintenance task.
The classification society dimension adds regulatory urgency. Every vessel has a mandatory dry-docking schedule — missing a scheduled docking or failing to present the vessel for required class surveys results in suspension of class, which means the vessel cannot trade legally. This makes dry-dock planning non-optional; it happens on a fixed schedule that the technical team must plan around. The objective is to make that mandatory event as cost-effective, scope-controlled, and time-efficient as possible — and to use it to reset the vessel's technical baseline for the next docking cycle.
Dry-docking also provides the only opportunity to perform inspections and repairs impossible while the vessel is afloat: hull cleaning and recoating, propeller reconditioning, shaft seal replacement, sea chest overhaul, rudder stock inspection, and hull plate thickness measurement. The quality of work performed during a docking — and the quality of planning that precedes it — directly affects the vessel's performance, reliability, and fuel efficiency for the next docking cycle.
Effective dry dock planning involves several parallel workstreams managed over a timeline of six to twelve months before the docking date. The scope development workstream compiles the complete list of work to be done: outstanding PMS maintenance jobs best performed in dry dock, class survey requirements, Conditions of Class, outstanding survey recommendations, owner-initiated improvement projects, and known hull or structural work from thickness measurements. This scope document drives everything else — budget, shipyard selection, procurement, and timeline.
Shipyard selection and contracting is a critical parallel activity. Yard availability, capability, cost, and location must all be assessed in the context of the vessel's trading pattern and the work scope. For complex work, tendering to multiple yards is standard practice. The contract must define the scope clearly, establish pricing for the major work items, and include provisions for out-of-scope work — work discovered during the docking that was not in the original specification — which is one of the most common sources of cost overruns.
Procurement planning for a dry-docking is extensive. The scope can include hundreds of individual items — spare parts, consumables, structural steel, piping, anodes, coatings, electrical components, and specialist equipment — all of which must arrive at the shipyard before they are needed. Delivery sequencing is critical: materials needed in the first week must arrive before the vessel; materials needed later can arrive during the docking. Any procurement delay that holds up yard labour — whose daily cost is fixed — disproportionately inflates total docking cost.
The five-year class survey cycle — Annual Survey, Intermediate Survey, and Special Survey — is the regulatory framework within which dry-dock planning operates. The Special Survey, conducted every five years and typically combined with a dry-docking, is the most comprehensive examination a vessel undergoes: hull structure, machinery, electrical systems, and all safety equipment are surveyed in depth, and many items must be opened and inspected by a classification society surveyor. Planning for a Special Survey must begin at least a year in advance to address all outstanding class requirements before the surveyor arrives.
The connection between the dry-dock work scope and the PMS is direct. A PMS that accurately records all overdue maintenance, upcoming class-related items, and outstanding survey recommendations provides the technical superintendent with the complete picture needed to develop the dry-dock specification. Conversely, a poorly maintained PMS produces a work scope that misses items — which then surface unexpectedly during the docking as costly out-of-scope work. The quality of PMS management between dockings is therefore a direct driver of dry-dock cost and efficiency.
Integration between the dry-dock project plan and the procurement management system is equally important. Each item in the dry-dock specification that requires materials should generate a procurement requirement with a defined delivery date. The procurement team can then work backwards from the delivery date to determine lead times and place orders accordingly. A fleet management system that connects the technical scope, procurement planning, and work schedule in a single environment makes this coordination manageable; managing it through spreadsheets and email inevitably creates gaps that become delays.
Infoship provides the technical data foundation that effective dry-dock planning requires. The PMS module gives the technical superintendent a complete view of all outstanding maintenance jobs, upcoming class-required tasks, and Conditions of Class — filterable by vessel and date window. Certificate tracking shows every survey due date and outstanding class recommendation in one place, with alerts as deadlines approach. This means the dry-dock work scope can be developed from a complete, accurate, and current data set rather than assembled from paper records and crew verbal updates.
The integration between Infoship's technical management and procurement modules makes procurement planning for dry-docking significantly more manageable. Technical requirements identified in the dry-dock scope can generate procurement requisitions directly within the system — capturing equipment reference, part number, quantity, and required delivery date. The procurement team can track all orders against the docking schedule, flag delivery delays before they become critical path issues, and maintain a consolidated view of procurement status across the full docking project. After the docking, all work records, survey findings, and new class conditions are updated in Infoship — ensuring the vessel's class status and maintenance baseline are current from the moment it re-enters service.
