Maritime Transportation And Shipping Talk

What is marine transport logistics? It is the planning and performance of sending a shipment from point a to point b in time and at a reasonable cost. Complete logistic service is when the whole process is undertaken.

He wanted to have Ship Spares In Transit sent by container ship and was looking for a marine transport logistic company that could handle this kind of shipments. These are some of the demands that is put forward when the question becomes getting the parts to the ship in time. This is another way that ship spares in transit are shipped not using couriers or other air transport.
A few years back I was approached by a ship owner about getting this large anchor from overseas to reach the vessel. The ship had lost its anchor off the coast of Australia and needed a replacement put onboard and installed as soon as possible. The first thing we did was to look at voyage plans for the next little while to decide where we would send the anchor giving us enough time to do the transport by ship. Once this was done we had to make sure that we would be able to install the anchor at the location where the ship was heading. Getting the anchor loaded on deck of a ship so that we could remove it easy on arrival was not a problem. A great cooperation from ships officers made the whole thing easy for us. Both loading and unloading went without a hitch. We needed this speedy unloading as we had determined that the port we were going to use for the installation would be a close call time wise for getting the anchor unloaded, cleared customs and hooked up in time. This type of installation needed the Class (Lloyds or Veritas) on site to put their stamp on the new certificate after installation. Installation took a couple of hours and after the sealing of the anchor shackle with led, Class put their punch stamp on it and all was green light.
By doing all the preparation prior to shipping and being able to move on time the ship was not having any delays and possible time off hire from their charter.
The logistics work that went into this operation was done in such a way that there were minimal chances for delays to vessel operations.

It is also called Container Stuffing in some circles.

Packing a container all depend on what you are shipping in it. We know that the bottom line is to use all available space. Most would probably pack all just solid from floor to roof and leave it at that. Hopefully your shipment is not sensitive to humidity and don’t require any air circulation.

Having a shipment that require air circulation and humidity as low as possible is when you will need some special equipment and a different way of storing the container. International import and export rules makes use of wood palettes almost impossible since all wood has to be of approved type and marked stating that they have gone through the heat process as part of fumigation and are free of any bugs and safe for export use. Plastic palettes have replaced most of the wooden ones. You also have a system developed by IKEA that has become very popular in shipping circles. Easy to use and complete recyclable plastic and of course they are very lightweight. The system was named Optiledge and has become seemingly popular with some. Whatever you are using the main thing is that your shipment is elevated from the floor of the container. Many containers have a baffle system inside so a natural airflow is accomplished. The floor and sealing will still need some separation and free space for air to flow.
Drying up your container and maintaining it dry during transport has been left to a desiccant in most cases. The product is usually available in powder or matting form. I guess you have seen these small bags with a granular product usually found inside the packing box for electronics.
They call it stuffing containers and I guess that means that it is really stuffed in place, one box at the time.

It has been all over the news these last few days. A ship had an oil spill in the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Looking at the international scene this spill is just a minor little thing. The amount of oil that leaked out into the Seaway was not a lot but as with any oil hitting water surface, it spreads very fast and makes the whole thing look far worse than it really is. When you look at the local scene in the river of Saint Lawrence this is a major spill. It was major enough to shut down the traffic in the Seaway for a few days. The risk was also there for local water filtration plants to be contaminated and that would have affected several local communities water supply. As the Saint Lawrence Seaway have an emergency response team already in place, the response time was fairly quick and the contamination was brought under control fairly quick. The traffic was back up and ship was moving again by 1600hrs local time today Thursday July, 2010.
Looking back at this event we should ask some question, not to put blame but to see if things like his can be avoided in the future.
As in many maritime disasters the first thing that is looked at is the people onboard the ship. Did they react properly and quickly enough? What was the cause of the puncture in the fuel tank? Was this a double hull ship and fuel tank? It the ship lost engine power, what was the reason? If it was engine failure, was this a problem that was recurring or was it simply a new and unforeseen problem? Could it have been avoided with better maintenance?
Understanding that the current owner has recently acquired this ship is there a history of mishaps with the ship that they should be aware of?
I hope that whatever enquiry the authorities have after this is over that measures will be taken for this not to be repeated anytime soon
You can read the latest about Navigation Resumes In Seaway’s South Shore Canal