Why a dry dock needs one record, not a dozen tools
A dry dock is the largest planned expenditure in a vessel’s operating life, and it is usually run across a dozen disconnected tools. The specification lives in one spreadsheet, quotations arrive as PDFs by email, approvals happen in inboxes, and the final account is reconciled weeks after the vessel has sailed. By then nobody can say with certainty which version of the job list a yard actually priced, or why a line in the settlement differs from the budget the owner approved.
DDMAN closes that gap by keeping the whole docking as one continuous record. Each stage hands on to the next without re-keying, so the yard appointed in the tender is the same yard the accountant settles with, and the scope the owner approved is the scope the yard quoted against.
Without a platform
- Specs, quotes and approvals spread across spreadsheets and inboxes
- No single view of which vessel docks when, across the fleet
- Quotation comparison done manually, yard by yard
- Approvals chased by email, with no audit trail
- Variations discovered at final account, not during the dock
- Yard performance judged on memory, not evidence
With DDMAN
- One workspace per docking, with every document attached
- Fleet-wide dock schedule visible at a glance
- Structured RFQ and quotation comparison against the spec
- Sanction and approval flow with a complete audit trail
- Live budget-versus-actual while the vessel is still in dock
- Objective yard evaluation and feedback captured per project
Eight stages, one continuous record
Each stage hands on to the next without re-keying. The yard’s final invoice is settled against the owner-approved job scope and the yard’s own quotation — not against a fresh spreadsheet built at the end.
Role-aware
Owners, managers, yards and staff each see their own view of the same docking, on the same live data.
Traceable
Who asked for what, and when, is kept against every job and every decision — months later it is still clear.
Document-ready
Eleven branded, business-critical documents are produced from the same data, never retyped.
See DDMAN in motion
A short walkthrough of the platform — the docking record, the job list, the tender going out, the yard comparison, and the account coming back in.
DDMAN — DryDocking Management
Platform demonstration. For a walkthrough against one of your own dockings, book a session with the team.
Inside each stage
Stage 01 · Plan
Fleet & vessel register
The vessel is entered once and carries everything.
- Vessel particulars — IMO, type, flag, class, tonnages and ownership, read by every document the platform issues.
- Drawings & documents — a mandatory drawing checklist per vessel, shared with yards as a branded package with secure, time-limited links.
- Class & surveys — survey status, certificates and the class survey report turned into a clear, colour-coded summary.
- Full docking history — a vessel keeps every docking it has had. One is current; the rest stay readable, so this year’s tender can be weighed against the last one.
- Codes you can file against — docking codes are generated, never typed, so two dockings can never collide.
Stage 02 · Job list
Job list & specification
The scope, agreed once and then locked.
- Standard scope per vessel type — opening a docking brings in the full standard job list for that vessel type, grouped into the specification’s own sections. Nothing typed from scratch.
- Owner & manager suggestions — the owner and the vessel manager add or revise jobs, and the reason for every addition and revision is recorded.
- Finalise and lock — finalising fixes the scope, so the list the yards quoted is the list the owner approved.
- Codes that carry meaning — section codes tie every job back to the Master Tender Specification, and additional jobs carry their own series, so last-minute growth work and its cost stay separate from standard scope.
Stage 03 · RFQ
Tendering
An RFQ that states the terms, not just the scope.
- Commercial terms up front — payment schedule, quotation validity, guarantee, liquidated damages and governing law go out with the job scope, so every yard quotes on the same basis.
- Choose the level of detail — priced line by line by each yard; owners can view the cost per job or per group of jobs.
- What the yard receives — a unique fillable branded PDF, a priceable workbook and the drawings package, with a warning if an invited yard has no contact on file.
- Deviations made visible — each yard answers the terms, and each answer is recorded term by term, beside the money.
Stage 04 · Quotes
Quotations & comparison
Ranked on the evaluated cost, not the quoted bottom line.
- Prices in, however they arrive — a returned filled PDF or a priced workbook comes straight back in, matched job by job on job number and description, never by row position.
- Job-by-job comparison — every job, every yard, side by side: cost after discount, additions, contingency and total, each yard named above its own columns.
- Evaluated cost — off-hire and the fuel burnt over those days are added to the yard’s price, and contingency is carried into the total the owner approves.
- Decided as a package — price, past yard evaluation, days at the yard and payment terms together.
Stage 05 · Award
Award & contract
One action closes the tender.
- Award — the winning yard is recorded on the docking, and every other quotation moves to rejected automatically.
- Notify — an award letter is issued to the winner and a regret note to the rest.
- Contract — signed on the terms already agreed during the tender.
- Agreed rate card — the specification’s full tariff schedule (steel by weight, staging by volume, labour by the hour) sits in the contract, so additional jobs are priced against agreed rates.
- Terms carry across — binding on every approved job and on any additional job, which prevents renegotiation once the work is under way.
Stage 06 · Execution
Execution & progress
What actually happened, recorded as it happens.
- Progress & Gantt — per-job progress with the status following the percentage, on a Gantt view of the whole yard period.
- Daily yard reports — a record per job, per date, in the yard’s own format, from the first day to completion, with jobs carried forward.
- Photographic evidence — as-found, in-progress and completed photos per job, plus a daily photo report with editable descriptions.
- Variations & re-measurement — what changed against what was quoted, with the pricing basis and the effect on redelivery recorded.
- Checklists & kick-off — pre- and post-docking checklists, kick-off meeting minutes and yard evaluation, each with an Excel round-trip so they can be filled offline.
Stage 07 · Reports
Reports & documents
Everything the docking has to issue.
- Eleven branded, business-critical documents, from the job list annex to the final invoice.
- Every one carries the docking number and year, so a document can never be filed against the wrong docking.
- All generated from the same data — never retyped, never out of step with the record.
- Issued under your own name, logo and address.
Stage 08 · Accounting
Accounting & close-out
Settle the yard, then total the docking.
- A two-tier final account — first the yard settlement, job by job, budgeted against settled with the variance and a comment explaining it; then the total cost of the docking — paint, owner’s costs and off-hire — measured against the budget the owner approved.
- Every figure has a source — each number says where it came from: the quotation, a variation, a re-measurement or a recorded actual.
- Yard dates — arrival, completion of repairs and departure, on both the account and the report.
- Yard evaluation — the yard self-evaluates and the attending vessel manager reviews it; both records stay in the portal for future tenders.
- Close-out — the docking is closed by an administrator once the account is agreed.
The evaluated cost tells the truth
Off-hire, and the fuel burnt over those days, are added to the yard’s price — because days the vessel is not trading are a real cost to the owner. Contingency is carried into the total the owner approves, rather than discovered later.
The consequence is straightforward: the cheapest bid does not automatically win. A yard that is a little dearer but two days faster, on better payment terms and with a stronger evaluation from the last docking, will often be the cheaper outcome — and the comparison shows exactly why, in the open.
A 360° docking — paint, spares, stores and requisitions included
The steel is only part of the bill. Hull preparation and coating, and the items the owner supplies rather than the yard, decide as much of the final account as the repair jobs do — and they are the two things most often tracked outside the system, in a separate sheet nobody reconciles. In DDMAN they sit against the same docking and the same job list, so paint cost and owner-supplied items land in the same account as everything else.
Four things that usually escape the record
Each one raised against the job it belongs to, priced into the same budget, and visible to the owner, the manager and the yard at the same time.
Paint & hull
- Blasting areas by area and paint grade, with total m² and the SA 2.0 / SA 1.0 split in both percentage and square metres.
- Quotation-request particulars: sailing speed and activity, trading route, cathodic protection, period of service, docking location, blasting preference and scope.
- Paint scheme, scheme duration in months, maker, number of coats — and who orders the paint: owner, manager or yard.
- Paint-maker comparison side by side, with blasting and purchase cost rolled into the docking budget.
Spares
- Raised as a requisition against the job that needs it, never as a loose line item.
- Marked arranged by the yard or supplied by the ship, so responsibility is never assumed.
- Requisition number, named supplier and remarks held with the job.
- Visible on the job list, so a job is never reported ready when its spare is not.
Stores
- The same register, kind Store — consumables, chemicals and yard-period stores.
- Ordered ahead of arrival and tracked to the vessel, not to a mailbox.
- Supplier and delivery held against the docking, ready for the account.
- Carried into the total cost of the docking alongside paint and owner’s costs.
Requisition & services
- Spares, stores and repair services (RS) raised through one requisition register.
- Every requisition carries its status, from raised to delivered, with the supplier named.
- Nothing waits in an inbox: an item that has not moved is visible before the vessel sails, not afterwards.
- Procurement at scale? It hands over cleanly to VS Marine Procurement.
Pending
Ordered
In transit
Delivered
Eleven documents, generated — never retyped
Everything the docking has to issue comes out of the same record. Every document is branded in your name and carries the docking number and year, so it can never be filed against the wrong docking.
Job listthe agreed scope, Annex A
RFQ scopefull detail or by group
Quote workbookpriceable, imports back
Yard comparisonjob by job, yard by yard
Bid summarythe commercial evaluation
Budget proposalthe owner’s approval letter
Cost proposalscope, services and ranking
Daily reportthe yard period, day by day
Final reportthe docking, start to finish
Final accountsettlement and total cost
Final invoicewhat is actually billed
What owners get out of it
8Stages held as one continuous record, with no re-keying
11Branded documents generated from the same data
360°Paint, spares, stores and requisitions inside the account
YoursWhite-labelled — your name on every document and email
Every yard quoting on the same basis
Award decided on evaluated cost
Scope locked once the owner approves
Photographic evidence per job
Every figure in the account has a source
Yard evaluation kept for the next tender
How DDMAN reaches you
Varuna Sentinels B.V. builds the software. You run your dockings on it. DDMAN is leased to shipowners, ship managers and partners who operate their own dry-dockings on it — and every document and email your team issues goes out in your name.
Varuna Sentinels B.V.
The software provider. Builds the platform, ships releases, secures and maintains it — and is named once, discreetly, in the footer.
You — the lessee
Shipowner, ship manager or partner. Your name, logo and address appear on every document, email and screen.
Your yards and owners
They see you as the sender, and replies come back to you. The platform is never in the middle of your commercial conversation.
Where your data lives
Two ways to take DDMAN on lease. Both options run the same software and look identical to the people using them — they differ only in where the database lives, and therefore in who is responsible for it.
Option A
Data on Varuna’s server
Live the day the lease is signed — no install, no infrastructure.
- Varuna runs backup, recovery and monitoring
- Upgrades land automatically; always current
- Your data is isolated from every other lessee
- Hosted in the EU; Varuna acts as data processor
- Support can investigate directly
Option B
Data stays with you
Your own install, on your own infrastructure.
- Your operational data never reaches Varuna
- You run backup, recovery and monitoring
- You choose when to apply each release
- Varuna has no access to your system at all
- Support is advisory: you send logs
What the provider carries
Security, data and continuity — set out in writing as part of the lease.
Application security
Dependency patching, vulnerability management, enforced authentication and role-based access control.
Data protection
Your data is yours. Encrypted in transit and at rest, with a full export available on request or at exit.
Backup & recovery
Automated backups with defined recovery objectives and periodic restore testing. Under Option B this is yours.
Availability
Monitored uptime, with planned maintenance announced in advance. Under Option B this is yours.
Releases & support
New features and fixes on one current version, with release notes and a named channel for your administrators.
Audit & continuity
Who did what and when, retained and queryable — plus a documented handover and data return if a lease ends.
Works alongside your compliance data
A dry dock is also a compliance event. Hull coatings, hazardous materials removed or installed, and survey records all change during the docking — and all of them belong in the vessel’s Inventory of Hazardous Materials. The Dry Docking platform sits alongside VS IHM Maintenance and Circular Maritime Economy, so what happens in dock flows into continuous IHM maintenance instead of being rediscovered at the next Port State Control inspection.
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