My Experience as an Engineer, as a Mariner.

[auto_luver]

They are not Pirates but just petty thieves.

This kind of theft happens in many ports.

Heard about such theft stories in Chennai port too.

FYI,

Piracy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

People knew about piracy just recently when some people from somalia started attacking ships and hijacked them, But the piracy actually means robbery on ships. Hope above link will clear your Idea about piracy.

 

[autosafari]

FYI,

Piracy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

People knew about piracy just recently when some people from somalia started attacking ships and hijacked them, But the piracy actually means robbery on ships. Hope above link will clear your Idea about piracy.

Dear auto_lover,

Stories about Pirates and Seamen were one of my favourites during school days. That was more than a quarter century ago.

I enjoyed reading "Sindbad the Sailor" thirty years ago.

Somalian kids are recent entrants in the list of Pirates.

15 years ago, pirates were a major threat to merchant vessels in Malacca Straits.

Vikings were (amoung other things) pirates too and that was more than 1000 years ago.

Pirates were there even in 14th century BC.

Piracy as per the wikipedia link given by you is 'typically an act of robbery or criminal violence at Sea'..

Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear.

So piracy and pirates are different from 'petty thieves trying to board a vessel to steal something and running away when somebody see them'.

 

[nozzlering]

Thanks auto lover and auto safari. Difference between pirates and petty thieves is very clear now.
Belly bulge being directly proportional to hierarchy fits well in most of the professions; well, most of the time.
We reached Singapore, berthed. And after a hectic day, we set sail towards China. Singapore has always been a busy port of call for the ships. This is the place where all the spares and stores come. This is the place where we recieve fuel for our ships (we call it bunker). Though we fortunately did not recieve any bunker here, the amount of stores recieved and some maintenance jobs kept us busy all day.
Since Singapore is a shipping hub, traffic of ships is mind boggling too. Navigators have to be very careful. And we have to make sure that power and propulsion systems and auxiliaries work without fail. We are out of traffic now. People are taking rest after a long and tiring day. But things are going to get worse in China. Ports will be frequent. And our passage will be full of fishing boats who decide to go to any direction. They dont care about any ship. And in case of any mishap, the bigger vehicle is at fault. The same principle applies here as well. So we have to be extra cautious. So the period will be stressful and tiring. Though we dont like it, we have got used to it.
Here are few fotos I took yesterday.

A large container ship


Funnel of a ship (our own Shipping Corporation of India's tanker)


Name of the SCI tanker


Onw can never get tired of shooting clouds.


Another pic of sun tring to force its light through a cloud


A 40 ft container.

 

[nozzlering]

Welcome to China. As I mentioned earlier, doing ports in China gets nightmarish, most of the times. Within a month, we will be doing about 15 ports in China. Arrival/ departure, spares, stores. And to add to it, minimal port stays. So going out on shore leave is very difficult. All in all, we get totally tired, stressed out. I have not slept properly in last week.
Here I would share some of the information, which will be amazing to many of us.
How do we start a ship's engine?
A ship's engine is huge. The cylinder head itself weighing about 5 tons (and above). Huge mass! So how do we start it? Definitely not by a battery starter. The engine is turned by compressed air. There are large compressors and air bottles which store compressed air at around 25 bar.
How do ship's go ahead or astern?
No reverse gear. There's a mechanism that lets us to run the engine shaft in clockwise or anticlockwise direction. Some ships' propeller vanes can change angle. Here engine runs in only one direction.
Where do we get drinking water?
We produce water onboard. Raw material is sea water. We have a freshwater generator onboard which produces crystal clear drinking water. Some of the newer ships use RO plants too.

 

[Gurrala74]

Welcome to China. As I mentioned earlier, doing ports in China gets nightmarish, most of the times. Within a month, we will be doing about 15 ports in China. Arrival/ departure, spares, stores. And to add to it, minimal port stays. So going out on shore leave is very difficult. All in all, we get totally tired, stressed out. I have not slept properly in last week.
Here I would share some of the information, which will be amazing to many of us.
How do we start a ship's engine?
A ship's engine is huge. The cylinder head itself weighing about 5 tons (and above). Huge mass! So how do we start it? Definitely not by a battery starter. The engine is turned by compressed air. There are large compressors and air bottles which store compressed air at around 25 bar.
How do ship's go ahead or astern?
No reverse gear. There's a mechanism that lets us to run the engine shaft in clockwise or anticlockwise direction. Some ships' propeller vanes can change angle. Here engine runs in only one direction.
Where do we get drinking water?
We produce water onboard. Raw material is sea water. We have a freshwater generator onboard which produces crystal clear drinking water. Some of the newer ships use RO plants too.

Hey Nozzle this is interesting !!

Is that 25 bar is good enough ?? what is the max pressure these compressors generate ?? as I have worked for the things who generate 400 to 600bar

How a ship break works

 

[nozzlering]

Here, physics fundas come into action. the 25 bar pressure acts on a large area on the piston crown, enough to swing the engine into action. Even a minor pressure of 1.5 bar in a large dia sea water line is too much to handle.
These air compressors generate about 30 bars. but the volume is enormous. In one of the fotos in earlier posts, you can see two big cylindrical things. The air is stored in theses bottles.
We have hydraulics machineries/ tools which work upto 1500 bar.

A ship is huge and so is its momentum. Its stops gradually, over miles.
Speed is reduced and then it stops on its own.
While manoeuvring at port, running in reverse direction gives braking effect.
Emergency braking is given by giving short compressed air shots in reverse direction.

 

[sethumurugan]

Welcome to China. As I mentioned earlier, doing ports in China gets nightmarish, most of the times. Within a month, we will be doing about 15 ports in China. Arrival/ departure, spares, stores. And to add to it, minimal port stays. So going out on shore leave is very difficult. All in all, we get totally tired, stressed out. I have not slept properly in last week.
Here I would share some of the information, which will be amazing to many of us.
How do we start a ship's engine?
A ship's engine is huge. The cylinder head itself weighing about 5 tons (and above). Huge mass! So how do we start it? Definitely not by a battery starter. The engine is turned by compressed air. There are large compressors and air bottles which store compressed air at around 25 bar.
How do ship's go ahead or astern?
No reverse gear. There's a mechanism that lets us to run the engine shaft in clockwise or anticlockwise direction. Some ships' propeller vanes can change angle. Here engine runs in only one direction.
Where do we get drinking water?
We produce water onboard. Raw material is sea water. We have a freshwater generator onboard which produces crystal clear drinking water. Some of the newer ships use RO plants too.

Here, physics fundas come into action. the 25 bar pressure acts on a large area on the piston crown, enough to swing the engine into action. Even a minor pressure of 1.5 bar in a large dia sea water line is too much to handle.
These air compressors generate about 30 bars. but the volume is enormous. In one of the fotos in earlier posts, you can see two big cylindrical things. The air is stored in theses bottles.
We have hydraulics machineries/ tools which work upto 1500 bar.

A ship is huge and so is its momentum. Its stops gradually, over miles.
Speed is reduced and then it stops on its own.
While manoeuvring at port, running in reverse direction gives braking effect.
Emergency braking is given by giving short compressed air shots in reverse direction.

Mr. Nozzlering, as you said it is really amazing to such factors [Head itself is around 5 tonnes]. And here we have our gurrala to ask peculiar questions and yes it was also very informative. Am sure I would n't have asked such questions. Thanks Guralla sir. Just based on what I have seen at Kanyakumari boat [ which takes you to vivekanda rock], will you be able to port such a big ship exactly where you want to port [or Park]?

 

[nozzlering]

Yes, a ship can be berthed at exact position. Infact berthing a ship is a combined effort of ship's crew, tug boats and port traffic control. All work in unison.

 

[Gurrala74]

Here, physics fundas come into action. the 25 bar pressure acts on a large area on the piston crown, enough to swing the engine into action. Even a minor pressure of 1.5 bar in a large dia sea water line is too much to handle.
These air compressors generate about 30 bars. but the volume is enormous. In one of the fotos in earlier posts, you can see two big cylindrical things. The air is stored in theses bottles.
We have hydraulics machineries/ tools which work upto 1500 bar.

A ship is huge and so is its momentum. Its stops gradually, over miles.
Speed is reduced and then it stops on its own.
While manoeuvring at port, running in reverse direction gives braking effect.
Emergency braking is given by giving short compressed air shots in reverse direction.

Nozzle, thank you for the information and I understood that how air bottle are being used. I have some experience making and supplying air bottles with Titanium and SS to defence. Yes we can get 1500 bar easily with hydraulics, but I worked in pneumatic compressed generates 400 to 600bar which is a very difficult job to handle, if something goes wrong it is just like bomb

Mr. Nozzlering, as you said it is really amazing to such factors [Head itself is around 5 tonnes]. And here we have our gurrala to ask peculiar questions and yes it was also very informative. Am sure I would n't have asked such questions. Thanks Guralla sir. Just based on what I have seen at Kanyakumari boat [ which takes you to vivekanda rock], will you be able to port such a big ship exactly where you want to port [or Park]?

Sethu sir,

Unfortunately I am a mechanical engineer, so i keep eating the brains of others like this as I worked in those areas.
Regarding the boat which used at kanyakumari would be very small in front of the ship which nozzle is sailing. I never had this experience of going in that boat to Vivekananda rock, as I am afraid of water sir !!

 

[sethumurugan]

Sethu sir,

Unfortunately I am a mechanical engineer, so i keep eating the brains of others like this as I worked in those areas.
Regarding the boat which used at kanyakumari would be very small in front of the ship which nozzle is sailing. I never had this experience of going in that boat to Vivekananda rock, as I am afraid of water sir !!

Ya Ya. I know you are a Mech. Engineer. Just kidding. Yes, I have been to ship couple of times which was berthed in chennai port [University on ship with 500 students across the world will be part of that] and some commercial ship when i was too young. But regarding boat to viveknada rock, I would have gone in that say roughly for 50 times. Even in last March I was there. Am also afraid of water, but I manage somehow.

 

[nozzlering]

Hi folks. For a while, got out of frenzy in Chinese waters. Last night we reached Busan, Korea. But, again, we are going back to China. This rush is going to be there for about a fortnight more. Then after crossing piracy area, we'll be in western Europe. And then my time onboard finishes. And I will be back with my family. Though its just a few weeks, it seems like months at times. Well, onboard we're facing serious challenges. And slowly, but definitely we've overcome most of it. I hope to handover the responsibilities to next guy in a good shape.
So, we all know about Korean cars. And I saw today. The volume that's being exported, is enormous. The cars are transported from one country to another (sometimes within a country) by big ships called car carriers. Its very much similar like multilevel parking. Thousands of cars can be transported at a time. And loading and unloading is done by a gang of men who have expertise in driving cars. They do it without a scratch, and at lightning speed.
I took few fotos today, and really got a little time to write something. Hope you like them.

Huge container terminal at Busan


Thats our looong ship


Cars and trailers, dwarfed by a ship.


Thats a car carrier ship I was talking about.


All these cars and much more, will be loaded on this ship.


Thats a navigation bridge. Ship is controlled from here.


Thats a ship's steering wheel. Can fit in our cars too!!


Nice view

 

[nozzlering]

Thats one big trailer with one container. And this ship carries more than 6500 of these.

 

[nozzlering]

Guys. Do go through post # 56 on last page. As a new page has started, its highly likely that you miss that post. Worked a bit on that.

 

[rafian]

Guys. Do go through post # 56 on last page. As a new page has started, its highly likely that you miss that post. Worked a bit on that.

I can't thank you enough for enlightening us on the shippy topic. Please continue to post pictures and descriptions, and share your knowledge.

Have a safe journey. God Bless. Cheers.

 

[sethumurugan]

Thats one big trailer with one container. And this ship carries more than 6500 of these.

That was great share. BTW, I recently came to know a ship can carry nearly 5k to 6k containers. Daily we travel on the road which carries container lorries to Ennore port and Chennai port and invariably it will have a heavy traffic jam on daily basis. some times some buses reach factory only by noon for morning shift.

During one of the traffic jams, I was discussing with a lorry driver why this is happening. he then told us that around 4 to five ships will come at same time and then those ships has to be loaded with containers. since it is 4 or 5 ships the number of containers goes upto 30k. I was shocked to know that a ship can carry such huge numbers.

BTW, what cars are that parked there?