Riding squads or docking? Choosing the cheaper repair
Some steel and machinery work belongs at sea with a riding squad. Here is where the line falls for commercial tonnage.
What a riding squad can genuinely do
Internal steel works, ballast tank treatment, deck and hatch repairs, and much machinery overhaul can be executed while the vessel trades, provided the class scope allows it and the safety case holds.
The saving is not the labour rate — it is the off-hire that never happens.
Where docking remains unavoidable
Anything below the waterline, full hull coating, rudder and propeller work, and sea valve overhaul belong in dock. Attempting them afloat produces partial results and a second visit.
The hybrid plan usually wins
The most economical programme for most managers is a riding squad closing internal items through the trading period, so the docking itself can be short, focused and priced with confidence.