A study by insurer The Swedish Club has found most damage to ships' auxiliary engines is down to human error.
And most of this damage is done immediately after maintenance work.
"A key finding is that 55% of casualties occur within only 10% of the time between overhaul, corresponding to the first 1,000 hours or so of operation after overhaul. In most cases the damage occurs only a few hours after start up," it said.
The report also finds that boxships have a significantly higher claims frequency due to the larger number of installed engines on these vessels.
In addition the engines have "considerable output, leading to higher repair costs compared with other vessels," it said.
The club added that problems with auxiliary engines are a significant segment of machinery claims, both in number and in cost.
Peter Stalberg, senior technical adviser at The Swedish Club, said: “Auxiliary engines run at high revolutions and have a common lubrication system for both cylinder and crank case lubrication.
"They are not under the same strict regime from the classification society as the main engine, and maintenance is often carried out by the vessel crew.
“We see incorrect maintenance and wrongful repair in all too many cases, and poor lubrication management is also a major contributing factor to auxiliary engine break downs."
He said that with an average repair cost of more than $345,000, prevention is better than cure.
