SQTalkers in the shipping / maritime industry

[kapitan]

Okay, let me give you folks a grand tour of one ship that I am involved with.... not the one above.... this lady is 25 years old....

Of course, the brains of the ship...


Down one level, we have the recreation area for the crew and the dining room...

[kapitan]

What do lonely seamen do when they are out at sea???

They can work out in the gym....


Or they can play pingpong...remove the table and they can play squash.... you cannot see it, but there is a basketball hoop on one of the bulkheads...


Then they can sweat it out in the sauna...

[kapitan]

Of course, a ship exist to carry cargo... here is the space when empty...



Here are some cars loaded ex Germany... bound for Canada.... place your oreders yet ???





A M3......

[kapitan]

and this would be the heart of the ship.....

[StarG]

kapitan, any chance you can claim a 'missing baggage' at destination and send it my way?
I particularly like the one in the last pic of post #33.

[jhm]

In fact, I'm responsible for fixing one vessel whose Vietnamese captain decided it would be a smart idea to sail right into Papua New Guinea for Christmas. Literally - right into the island itself. Smart chap, he is... don't think he got a Christmas '07 bonus!

In coming up to ten years now, my only total loss so far was a cruise ship which struck a reef near a Greek island. It was a Friday afternoon and I remember a trainee popping into my office and excitedly told me that the ship was on the BBC news (listing heavily, all pax evacuated and then sinking overnight).

Fortunately, I've also been fortunate enough to go on board a fair few fine vessels, most recently the M/V "Startramp" two days after delivery from Surabaya (she was at the back of Sentosa to get supplies).

Only two ship visits for me (both times were post-finance closing celebrations) - a booze cruise sailing between Helsinki and Tallinn (with a Russian vodka dinner where everyone got absolutely hammered) and lunch on board a really very nice small luxury cruise ship which at that time was visiting Monaco.

florianwagner: Don't be too sorry you ain't in this industry. There's a saying commonly associated with the wives/partners of shipping expats in Singapore (in reference to their husbands): Great job. No life.

Isn't tht so true! For juniors like myself anyway. Thankfully, with the widespread availability of Internet access in hotels and PDFs, I can do pretty much most of my job with a laptop and a mobile phone, e.g. a vessel delivery which I coordinated just before the New Year from my hotel room in Singapore and then, after a flight, Colombo.

[Kyo]

10 years and you still consider yourself a junior?

I'm now into my 3rd year and still learning something new everyday. I haven't had a total loss yet *touch wood*.

We tend to have our own company cruises from time to time, one was a Christmas one, and the other was just to take clients out for a night. Quite fun considering we're only a small 'boutique' broker shop.

Last two weeks we have been renovating our office, so I got to work from home / anywhere with an Internet connection.

It's fun working in the nude.

J/k..

[N_Architect]

Floating prisons

Of course, a ship exist to carry cargo... here is the space when empty...

Saw your post couple of weeks ago while in the States, was so hectic I started a reply post and then left it in the middle...

Not that now things are better, but here we go:

Did few surveys on such vessels back in 2002/3.

Car carriers are called 'floating prisons' by sailors. Vessel sails (say) from Ulsan, South Korea loaded with (say) 4,500 Hyundais and Kias. After 23-25 days of sailing it will reach (say) the port of Piraeus, Greece. There it will stay for about 6hrs, unloading (say) 3,000 cars and taking bunkers. It will then sail for another port in (say) Italy, where it will unload the rest in a similar pattern. Then the trip back home starts, another 25days of sailing.

Having a 6 month contract as a sailor on such a ship will make you miss the light of day and real human life like you've never experienced before.

Being in the industry in the last 11 years, I really admire all those people who are sailing with ships, either as seagoing engineers or masters or able seamen. This is a really hard life, away from their families and 'real' life in the shore.

N_Architect

[kapitan]

Saw your post couple of weeks ago while in the States, was so hectic I started a reply post and then left it in the middle...

Not that now things are better, but here we go:

Did few surveys on such vessels back in 2002/3.

Car carriers are called 'floating prisons' by sailors. Vessel sails (say) from Ulsan, South Korea loaded with (say) 4,500 Hyundais and Kias. After 23-25 days of sailing it will reach (say) the port of Piraeus, Greece. There it will stay for about 6hrs, unloading (say) 3,000 cars and taking bunkers. It will then sail for another port in (say) Italy, where it will unload the rest in a similar pattern. Then the trip back home starts, another 25days of sailing.

Having a 6 month contract as a sailor on such a ship will make you miss the light of day and real human life like you've never experienced before.

Being in the industry in the last 11 years, I really admire all those people who are sailing with ships, either as seagoing engineers or masters or able seamen. This is a really hard life, away from their families and 'real' life in the shore.

N_Architect

It is not as bad.... time spent at sea, yes it is boring, I did that some years back, having spent about 15 years at sea....

Our ships, each crew member onboard has their own personal email account which they use to communicate with their friends and family members. Some of the ships are also internet connected, via satellite, for them to keep connected with the world. Our older ships do have one or two days off in Europe for maintenance, with assistance from shore service companies.

Senior officers have a 4 month contract and 4 months leave.... ok, the rest are 6 months, but we are looking to see if some changes can be worked out.

[andySYD]

Definitely one interesting thread, learn something new every day. I am always interested in different industries and how it works. Thanks guys.

[jhm]

I did that some years back, having spent about 15 years at sea....

Hence your handle ?

The only contact I have with a Master in my line of work is (i) just before handing over money for a ship, phoning one up to check that his ship is still afloat (rather a silly exercise IMO so I don't do it); and (ii) following closing, sending a formal notice to the Master for him to frame and hang up in his bedroom (i.e. cabin ) which gets ignored 99% of the time.

[kapitan]

Ok, more pictures of ships....

I was in Vietnam last week to have a look at how the repairs are going on on one of my company's ships when I saw this at a dry dock beside us.....




Ok, what's going on here..... ????? Well, the ship is being elongated, the purpose being to increase cargo carrying capacity, which is cheaper and faster then building a new ship. How its done, is by cutting the ship into two and adding a new section in the middle, weld it up and off she goes, about a 60 days project.

The below picture is the new section that was put in place, with the front section pulled out of the dock then push back in.


This is the 14th ship being elongated at this shipyard. The first 12th were ships from other companies. The 13th is a sister ship of the one in the picture.... which met with an unfortunate accident. Apparently some naval architect miscalculated ballast water needed to hold the half vessel upright and because of insufficient stability, she toppled over....



She was finally put upright and elongation was completed, but understand there were further problems, which I will not further elaborated. BTW, they are our competitors....

[N_Architect]

Ok, more pictures of ships....

I was in Vietnam last week to have a look at how the repairs are going on on one of my company's ships when I saw this at a dry dock beside us.....

Interesting pics, thanks for sharing, kapitan.

[inkoherent]

Wow, didn't see this thread earlier. I actually work in a public sector agency that deals with this industry! Not much work travel for me, however.

[kapitan]

Wow, didn't see this thread earlier. I actually work in a public sector agency that deals with this industry! Not much work travel for me, however.

Maritime Port Authority......