What bid2board is

The problem it was built for

Arranging marine technical service has traditionally meant email and phone calls: find suppliers who cover the port, describe the same machinery fault to each of them, chase quotes that arrive in different formats, and compare them by hand with no record of what the last job cost. Ship managers lose time and visibility of the market; suppliers who are capable but not already known never get asked.

bid2board moves that exchange onto a platform. The request is described once, in structured form, and reaches every supplier the platform can match to it. The offers come back comparable. The history stays.

What a ship manager can ask for

• Service request. A service request, for technical work on a specific piece of machinery: overhauling, reconditioning, repairs, upgrades, inspections.
• Troubleshooting request. A troubleshooting request, for diagnostic and advisory help. The ship manager chats with suppliers who can advise on the fault rather than collecting priced offers for a job that is not yet defined.
• Requisition request. A requisition request, for spares and stores rather than labour, with its own offer flow.

Machinery details are kept per ship, so a request does not start from a blank page the second time. The equipment hierarchy covers the usual departments: automation, hull, cargo handling, electrical and the rest.

How an offer becomes an arranged service

• The manager creates a request: ship, equipment, service, port, dates.
• The platform matches suppliers on equipment, service, port and any certification the manager requires, and notifies them.
• Matched suppliers send offers, as a lump sum, as man-hours, or as an underwater offer for in-water hull and propeller work.
• The manager accepts one offer, and both sides confirm it. Only then is the service arranged.
• The work is completed and the manager rates the supplier. The rating feeds the scoring other managers see.

What bid2board is not

• Not a chandler or a supplier. bid2board does not sell parts or perform service. The suppliers on the platform are independent companies and the contract for the work is between them and the ship manager.
• Not a planned-maintenance system. It holds the machinery details needed to describe and match a service, not a vessel's full maintenance plan or class records.
• Not a freight, chartering or port-agency platform. The subject is technical service on machinery, not cargo or vessel movements.
• Not an open marketplace where anyone can list. Supplier profiles are reviewed before they go live and before they appear in the directory.
• Not free for suppliers. Suppliers hold a subscription; ship owners and managers use the platform at no cost.

The company

bid2board was founded in 2020 in Piraeus, Greece, by a team that had arranged marine technical service for several years. The office is at Afentouli 2, 18536, Piraeus, Greece, and the phone number is +30 210 6773242. The company publishes its quality and information security policy, and the platform's uptime is reported publicly at stats.uptimerobot.com.

Where to read more

• For ship managers, and for service suppliers, each from that side's point of view.
• The supplier directory, the public profiles of approved suppliers.
• Support and FAQ, the questions both sides ask most often.
• Guides, step by step, from setting up an account to handling a service request.
• The blog, and about us.
• Contact, to reach a person.

Questions people ask

What is bid2board?

bid2board is an online marketplace for marine technical service. A ship owner or manager describes the service a vessel needs, the platform matches suppliers that can perform it, those suppliers send priced offers, and the manager picks one. It was built in Piraeus, Greece, in 2020 by people who had arranged marine service by email and phone for years.

Who uses it?

Ship owners and managers, the marine service suppliers who quote for their work, and brokers acting on a manager's behalf. A supplier joins to be found and quoted; a manager joins to stop chasing quotes by email.

How are suppliers matched to a request?

On the equipment, the service and the place. A request names the machinery item and the service needed, the port and the dates. The platform matches suppliers whose profiles say they perform that service on that equipment and who either work in that port or travel to it. The manager can also require a specific certification, a Classification Society or maker approval, and restrict the request to local suppliers only.

What kinds of offer can a supplier send?

Three, because marine work is not priced one way. A lump-sum offer is a fixed price for the job. A man-hours offer prices the time and the rates. An underwater offer covers in-water hull and propeller work, which has its own equipment and service combinations.

What happens after an offer is accepted?

The manager accepts an offer, then both sides confirm it. Only after both confirmations is the service arranged. When the work is done the service is marked completed and the manager rates the supplier, and that rating feeds the supplier scoring other managers see.

Who pays for it?

Suppliers pay, through a subscription; ship owners and managers do not pay to use the platform. A supplier whose subscription or invoices are outstanding keeps a profile but cannot act on service requests until they are settled.

Can I see the suppliers without an account?

Yes. Approved suppliers with an active subscription have a public profile, and the supplier directory lists them with the equipment categories they cover and the ports they work in. No account is needed to read a profile.

Who is behind bid2board, and where is it based?

bid2board is a product of bid2board, based at Afentouli 2, 18536, Piraeus, Greece. Reach the team through the contact page or on +30 210 6773242.