Messages

1

Shipping News and information / Re: P&O Ferries to register entire English Channel fleet under Cyprus flag

« on: February 02, 2019, 10:17:20 PM »

They still have some container ships and 1 tanker (on charter to the UK MOD) which are UK flag.

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Shipping News and information / Re: P&O Ferries to register entire English Channel fleet under Cyprus flag

« on: February 02, 2019, 02:36:16 PM »

The latest to leave UK flag is Maersk, again blaming Brexit - it was announced by the head of the Nautilus Officers Union yesterday.
As well as transferring their ships to an EU flag, they're also ceasing UK cadet training and recruitment immediately.

3

Shipping News and information / Re: Ships radar antenna - Kiel Canal

« on: May 22, 2018, 09:21:28 PM »

Radars are of little/no use in canals and locks anyway.

4

Shipping News and information / Re: Great Britain are to build new 5 type 26 frigates to replace type 23's.

« on: September 11, 2017, 05:51:08 AM »

Indeed. In exactly the same way that twelve Type 45 destroyers were announced and of course thirteen Type 26 frigates were announced.....

5

Shipping News and information / Re: Great Britain are to build new 5 type 26 frigates to replace type 23's.

« on: September 09, 2017, 03:37:12 PM »

Another small correction is that 8 T26 have most certainly not been ordered, only 3 have.

6

Shipping News and information / Re: S Korean cargo ship Stellar Daisy vanishes in South Atlantic

« on: April 06, 2017, 10:56:54 PM »

The South Atlantic great circle route is a very lonely place to die, poor sods.

7

Shipping News and information / Re: Dry cargoes

« on: July 10, 2016, 12:35:00 PM »

Copra is something that hasn't been mentioned so far. Not only is it prone to self heating/combustion, any bulk copra cargo always comes with hordes of Copra Bugs (Necrobia Rufipes). They're nasty little beetles which get into everything - bulkheads, linen, food stores etc and can give a little nip. It wasn't unusual to find them in your bunk.
They're durable little blighters which would eat anything and which (like cockroaches) always seemed to survive regular fumigation.
Often found in ships of China Navigation or Bank Line!

8

Shipping News and information / Re: RMS ST HELENA London visit

« on: June 10, 2016, 06:42:58 PM »

Probably laid up with no work.
Weirs rarely bought something brand new, normally something at a knock down price!

9

Shipping News and information / Re: RMS ST HELENA London visit

« on: June 10, 2016, 03:50:43 PM »

As well as hearing about a replacement cargo ship some weeks back via Galley Radio there is apparently moves afoot to construct a pier which that vessel can moor alongside, so negating the need to use lighters for all cargo transfers.
That in itself should be an interesting exercise for the civil engineers, bearing in mind the constant swell experienced on the island.

10

Shipping News and information / Re: RMS ST HELENA London visit

« on: June 10, 2016, 11:27:20 AM »

On the BBC today that opening of the airport has been postponed "indefinitely".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36493860

Looks like the RMS might continue for a while yet (hopefully).

11

Shipping News and information / Re: Cargo ship detained in Brisbane after crew unable to use navigation equipment

« on: May 31, 2016, 09:35:55 PM »

The Torres Strait pilot probably didn't notice because he would have had his own laptop/GPS receiver and was navigating using that.
I first saw this setup in the late 90s when transiting the strait and it was the subject of much wonderment on our part because it was the first time most of us had seen an electronic chart!

12

Shipping News and information / Re: RMS ST HELENA London visit

« on: May 22, 2016, 03:19:01 PM »

It'll be sad to see her go, the end of an era - the very last British liner.

13

Shipping News and information / Re: Stability of the HUGE cruiseships

« on: May 17, 2016, 01:22:36 PM »

Aside from machinery and bunker fuel etc, modern cruise ships have a number of enormous fresh and grey/black water (aka sewage) tanks low down in the hull (as might be expected for the thousands they have onboard). These help to keep the centre of gravity low.
All the same, it is those tanks which present the usual stability issues found in cruise ships, principally with regard to longitudinal forces and stresses on the hull.
Another stability issue which plays a part are angles of heel caused by the wind. Due to their slab sided nature (many thousands of square metres) even moderate winds will exert forces which will heel a cruise ship over a number of degrees. Naturally this is not ideal for old ladies with dodgy hips and in those (many) ships where internal furniture and fittings are not routinely adequately secured.
These angles of heel are corrected regularly when underway, sometimes using dedicated heeling ballast tanks but also by juggling around the aforementioned fresh/grey/black water in the double bottoms.

14

Shipping News and information / Re: SAFMARINE MERU ablaze following collision with NORTHERN JASPER

« on: May 14, 2016, 05:53:45 PM »

Electronic wizardry is all well and good provided it is used properly and responsibly, often it is not.
I was never a sailor, that non de plume is reserved for those who pretend to go to sea in grey ships and yacht clubs. However, I was and still am a seaman.

15

Shipping News and information / Re: SAFMARINE MERU ablaze following collision with NORTHERN JASPER

« on: May 13, 2016, 10:08:18 PM »

Well how can it be proven if the OOW knew the rules?

By an oral exam he/she passed. Not much use now is it?

I meant an AID like TCAS and regular simulator sessions so as to improve the standard that is out there now. We can't turn back time and re-train these people from day one, but if we can build in a higher level of redundancy going forward then surely this would be safer?

I agree that many of the college courses and cattle farms of officer production lines are wholey inadequate. I should know I went to one! You have a mix of sub standard courses built on tonnage tax etc and young men and women who are maybe not adequate for the job. ( not all, some) 3 years later you get a sub standard officer with a sub standard education but a college and shipping company who are quids in. I agree, wrong motives=wrong outcome.

Unless the fundamentals of business change its going to take a mighty leap for necessary changes to take place.

John

If someone truly knows the rules inside out (word perfect) to start with and is examined on them constantly as a cadet both at sea and at college and then in Orals, then they stick with you for life. So they should, as they are absolutely fundamental and the overriding component of the job of any OOW.
You keep using that word aid. You should know as well as I do that any of the grand systems you refer (which don't exist) will never be used merely as an aid, they will be in fact be relied upon by the idiots out there. Accordingly I'm very resistant to anything that will take their eye off the ball even more.