Marine hand tools suppliers: what ships replace, and the paperwork for torque tools

Engine-room tools are usually raised by the chief or second engineer, deck tools by the bosun through the chief officer. That is practice, not a written rule. What drives the reorder is written down: the UK Code of Safe Working Practices for Merchant Seafarers tells crews not to use damaged or worn tools, not to use hammers with split or loose shafts or chipped heads, and to scrap spanners with splayed jaws or any that slip.^[1]

The same code asks for enough spanners of the right size and warns against improvising — a pipe slipped over a spanner as an extension handle is the example it gives. A ship that follows it orders complete size runs, not single pieces, and replaces them as they wear.^[1]

Special environments add special tools. In battery rooms the code warns that metal tools laid on batteries can cause sparks or short circuits and recommends insulated tools. On tankers, work that might cause sparking is done only when authorised, after the area has been tested and found gas-free — which is why tanker requisitions carry non-sparking and stainless tool lines.^[1]

Torque wrenches are bought to a standard. ISO 6789-1 covers indicating (Type I) and setting (Type II) hand torque tools and their conformance testing and marking; ISO 6789-2 covers their calibration and the calculation of measurement uncertainty.^[2,3]

IMPA section 61 is the largest of the twelve on these pages. Wrenches and spanners lead it, followed by non-sparking tools, hose bands and pipe clamps, socket wrenches, stainless-steel tools, grinding wheels and abrasive discs, punches and stencils, and files. Hammers, screwdrivers, pliers, grease pumps and branded ranges fill the rest.

A requisition line names the IMPA code, and the code carries the size — 17 mm, 3/4 inch, 300 mm — and often the pattern: combination, ring, open-ended, 12-point. Where the engineer writes a brand, it is usually because the existing set is that brand; say plainly if you quote another.

Price in the unit posted — piece or set — and if you quote a set against single-piece lines, list which sizes it holds. For non-sparking tools, name the alloy; for stainless tools, the grade. A quote that answers the specification on its face saves the engineer a round of questions.

Hand tools travel with pneumatic and electric tools and measuring tools on the same engine-room requisition. On GeoMarineHub, choose section 61 among your categories and activate the ports you deliver to; lines from the section posted there reach you, and bids stay sealed. Register as a supplier — free.