A dry docking RFQ that Indonesian yards can price accurately has six parts: vessel particulars, a scoped work list with quantities, a unit-rate schedule for growth work, terms and milestones, required attachments, and evaluation rules. Owners who send a two-line “please quote docking” email get quotations that cannot be compared and invoices that cannot be controlled. This guide walks through the structure line by line — written from the tenders our desk runs for owners across Indonesian yards, tugboats included.
Why the RFQ decides the invoice before the dock does
Every docking has two price lists: the tendered scope and the growth work discovered once the hull is dry. Yards compete hard on the first and recover margin on the second — unless your RFQ has already fixed the rates at which growth work will be priced. That is the core insight: an RFQ is not a request for a number, it is the contractual skeleton of the project. The effort of writing quantities and unit-rate lines pays twice: comparable quotations now, and a defensible invoice later. The cost structure this protects is broken down in our USD docking cost guide.
The six sections, line by line
| # | Section | Must contain |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vessel particulars | Name, flag, class & survey status, LOA/beam/draft, GT, docking plan availability, last docking date |
| 2 | Fixed scope | Numbered work list with quantities: washing, blasting m² by standard, coating system & coats, steel kg by location, valves by size, anodes, shaft/propeller items |
| 3 | Unit-rate schedule | Rates for growth work: steel per kg by zone, blasting/coating per m², staging, machining hours, welder hours, crane hours, lay days |
| 4 | Terms & milestones | Currency (USD), payment schedule, dock dues basis, off-hire/delay terms, warranty period |
| 5 | Attachments | Docking plan, last gauging report, valve list, paint scheme, photos of known damage |
| 6 | Evaluation rules | Quote validity, breakdown format required, site-visit window, decision date |
Writing the fixed scope: quantities, not descriptions
The difference between “blast and paint hull” and “spot blast Sa2 estimated 240 m², full coat antifouling 1.850 m², two coats at 125 μm DFT each” is the difference between a guess and a price. Where you lack exact numbers, give best estimates and say so — yards adjust from a stated baseline far more honestly than from silence. For a tugboat, a competent fixed scope typically runs 30–60 numbered lines: docking/undocking, hull treatment by area, sea valves listed by size and count, tailshaft survey items, anodes by type and count, chain and anchor work if due, plus the machinery items joining the docking. Pull quantities from the last docking’s final invoice — it is the best single source document an owner has.
The unit-rate schedule: your growth-work insurance
Growth work is certain; its price need not be negotiable at discovery time. Demand rates per unit for every foreseeable category — steel renewal per kilogram (differentiated: shell, deck, internals, tank), pipe renewal per inch-metre, blasting per square metre by preparation standard, coating per square metre per coat, staging per cubic metre, mechanic and welder hours, crane hours, and additional lay days per day. Two disciplines follow at the dock: no growth item proceeds without a written variation order referencing these rates, and quantities are remeasured jointly before invoicing. This is precisely where owner-side supervision earns its fee — the wider method is described in our shipyard selection & vetting service page.
Common RFQ mistakes Indonesian tenders expose
Five patterns recur. Omitting class status — the yard cannot stage survey items without knowing what is due, so it prices defensively. Vague paint lines — “antifouling as before” invites substitution; specify system, coats and DFT. No dock-dues basis — ask explicitly what the daily dock rate is and when it starts and stops, or extensions become disputes. Ignoring formalities — for foreign-flag vessels, state who handles the repair-call customs chain; see our note on payment structures in shipyard payment terms in Indonesia. And requesting no breakdown — a single-figure quotation cannot be evaluated, negotiated or supervised; require the yard to answer in your line format, and treat refusal as a vetting signal. Which yards to invite in the first place is its own discipline — the national capacity map in the National Yard Register is the shortlisting start point.
From quotations to contract: closing the loop
With three or four conforming quotations in hand, normalise them: same scope lines, same assumed growth quantities priced at each yard’s unit rates, deviation and off-hire days added per yard location. The evaluation number is total project cost, not the quotation footer. Then convert the winning quotation into the contract by attaching the RFQ scope and unit-rate schedule as annexes — the tender documents are the protection; a contract that abandons them for the yard’s standard terms resets everything. Our desk runs this full sequence — RFQ drafting, tendering, normalisation, contract annexes and dock supervision — as one service for owners docking anywhere in Indonesia.
Want your next RFQ built properly? Send vessel particulars and your last docking invoice — the desk drafts the RFQ, tenders it to matched Indonesian yards and returns a normalised USD comparison. WhatsApp +62 811-3823-875 · sales@komodoluxury.com.
Frequently asked questions
What should a dry docking RFQ contain?
Six sections: vessel particulars with class status, a quantified fixed scope, a unit-rate schedule for growth work, commercial terms in USD, technical attachments (docking plan, gauging report, paint scheme), and evaluation rules requiring a line-by-line breakdown.
Why is the unit-rate schedule so important?
Because growth work is certain once the hull dries out. Pre-agreed rates convert discoveries into priced variation orders instead of mid-dock negotiations where the yard holds all leverage.
How many yards should receive the RFQ?
Three to five yards whose dock capacity and workshop capability match the vessel and scope. More dilutes attention; fewer weakens comparison. Shortlist from capacity data, then vet before inviting.
What if a yard will not quote in my format?
Treat it as a signal. A yard unwilling to price transparently at tender time will not become more transparent at variation time. Conforming quotations are a condition of consideration.