Maritime Transportation And Shipping Talk

Using Motorola Transportable Mobile Telephone as a permanent installation onboard ships can be a way of reducing cost of communication through Satellite. The system set up is fairly easy to set-up and following is needed; A) Transportable Mobile Telephone. B) Magnetic Antenna C) Voltage Transformer to fit Power Supply onboard with an output of 12V D) Fax connection adaptor. E) Cigarette lighter output adaptor. As a second option to this, you could also install a regular cordless home telephone and connect to the system. This will give you the mobility onboard so you don’t have to carry the Transportable around with you. The reason for a Transportable Telephone is simple, it is the only Mobile Telephone that has output of 3 watt for transmission and therefore gives you a reach of up to 50 nautical miles from shore, depending of the weather conditions and the placement of the antenna. Installation diagrams are available upon request.

Technorati Tags: Mobile telephone, Shipping talk, communication

A few newly required people to the marine purchasing scene have no knowledge of what a Bowsing Tackle is nor what the purpose of it is. I will try to enlighten them on the use of it and also explain how it is put together. A Bowsing Tackle is simply two wooden blocks double or triple whatever your preference is. Mostly used is a 2-sheave block in each end. A rope suited for the size of sheaves ties them together. Running freely through the sheaves in loops it becomes a handy and powerful pulling tool. Knowing the law of weight reduction versus pull strength when using this type of a pulley you can understand the handiness of it. As a Bowsing Tackle it is used for holding your lifeboat in place alongside the ship when lowered from the Davit. It simply pulls the lifeboat up close to the shipside so people can enter safely into it while hanging from the Davits. Once all is onboard you simply loosen up the rope and the lifeboat will swing out from the shipside so you can safely lower it down into the water. This way the whole operation becomes safe and you avoid swinging the lifeboat abruptly.

There are a couple of well-known brands names available on the market. One being better over the other in performance is hard to say. It can be a discussion that ends up being whatever you prefer on your ship. Looking at the pricing one versus the other I think that difference is too big to neglect. I will not name any names of the products as that is not the purpose here but it’s safe to say that one lives of the reputable name and the other on pricing. How do you get best performance out of the hatch cover tape? By making sure that the hatch cover is free of any salt deposit from sea-spray and dry before laying the tape down you will have a better stick once the tape is heated with a torch. Applying some pressure in for of a steel roller at the same time as the tape is heated ensures optimum adhesion. There is also important to use the right tape for the application. Koaming-aide goes where it’s supposed to be used only and that is around the hatch koaming. Also if the opening between the hatches is close to 4” you would not use a 4” tape, as it would leave too little left for adhesion. If you use regular insulation foam (the expanding kind on spray bottles) in conjunction with your hatch cover tape you will optimize your chances of keeping the cargo dry during those bad days with lot’s of water spray on deck.

What is Bio Diesel Bio Diesel is extracted fats and oils from non edible animal by-products. Whatever is not eaten by humans,from pigs,chicken,beef and fish are used for raw material. This methyl diester product is a Boi-Fuel that is a renewable resource. The product burns at 150deg.C. Compared to 50deg.C.for regular diesel. It is less Toxic than salt so therefor the name Bio-Diesel. Some Cruise Boats in Saint Lawrence River did a test run for the season and it showed a reduction in emission of 350 tons less Carbon Dioxide equivalent to 119 vehicles driven for 20,000 kilometer each for one year. According to U.S National Bio Diesel Board this fuel is the most tested alternative fuel on the market. If mixed by regular Diesel this becomes a viable fuel and will certainly help reduce the overall emission of Green House Gases. Added into the Farm Industry also and Getting the Governments on-line should prove that this product has a future and hopefully will be here to stay.

Technorati Tags: Bio-fules, Alternative Fuel

I wrote about the Port Security a couple of years back and again a few days ago. The rest of the world is catching up as there has now been published a book on the subject. It has the title of Risk Management In Port Operations, Logistics and Supply Chain Security. Haven’t red the book yet but I would think it might be interesting reading. For the regular Jo working in the ports and other related industries I guess life goes on as usual just getting harder to do your job.

To keep these big cargo ships going around the clock all year a solid back-up organization is needed. The owners or managers need a chain of suppliers lined up for the various requirements from the ship staff. A ship will need provisions for their crew, spare parts for their machinery and other operation consumables. At all times these things ahs to be pre-arranged prior to port arrival and also well in advance so when needed parts are readily available onboard. This has to be well planned so that the ship will not be laying idle due to missing parts. In shipping more than any other industry time is Big Money. You will understand why when you see some of the transport contracts (charter party) that are signed for various cargoes. It can be a substantial amount of money involved and many times there is penalties for delay of cargo. It all depends on the various elements in the contract.

The process of ordering, “Spares” and “Stores” is generally the responsibility of department heads onboard the ship. The Chief Engineer looks after the engine room department, the Steward looks after the accommodation and food and the Chief/First mate together with the Captain looks after deck department and all related to the cargo operations and navigation. After orders has been sent from the ship to the owners or managers office they are in turn processed and sent out to the various suppliers fro price bids or quotations. As most ships are equipped with e-mail it all becomes a simple task really to have this kind of communication. Being a supplier and receiving these kinds of request entails that you have to have some experience within your field. Knowing what the ship is asking for is of the highest priority. Making sure that there is no misunderstanding and if need be communicate with the ship or owners/managers in order to sort it all out. Wrong supply can be a very expensive affair. Not only for supplier but also for ship if it delays the operation.

We are quickly heading into the winter season on the river and in the Seaway. This means the we will once again get ships tying up in the ports all over eastern Canada. As a foot note to this, I just posted some older articles from the arcives on the original shippinb talk. I wanted to make some references to them here since I am dealing with these new issues of port security again. As you can see from the articles, it’s not a new issue.

Technorati Tags: port security, seaway

It’s happening again! More security checks and this time its not just any kind.

Full background check this time, all links to the past will be verified. Fingerprints and Photo to go with it goes without saying. A new ID card will be issued for all people that are working in the ports. Hmm!  Wondering were it will end up, the information that is?

Must be something they try to prevent. I guess they compare the security to the prisons. Wonder why they have a drug problem in prisons today? Must be the good security that they are trying to copy.   I like to hear from you with comments on this one. Where are we going with all this new security? After working around in various places of the ports for nearly 30 years I find this is a bit over the top. If you work in the marine industry and want access to any port facility you will soon find out what I’m talking about.

The days when a ship got in port and stayed for a few weeks are long gone, we all know that. Time in port nowadays are reduced to hours and you would be lucky if there is a chance of getting ashore for some local shopping or simply have some R/R. If you are on a tanker than you can completely forget anything that has to do with shore leave. If your ship is going to the USA, a chance of you getting ashore doesn’t exist anymore. Security since 9-11 has eliminated any such thing as putting your foot on the dock or even going for a walk.

ShippingTalk is up and running. The site is all about marine and offshore-related issues. This was the opening statement when I started the site back in May 2005. A lot has changed since than. The site was taken down for a while until I had decided where I was going with it. Had a serious problem with “Spam” and in the end it was so bad that the server just came to a screaming halt. Anyway here we are and I’m going to give this a try all over again. This time we will be doing some prevention for a few things. I guess this is called going through the learning process.

As I said in my opening post, some changes are coming but they will be bit by bit. A lot of them you want even be visible to you as they are back in the script of the site. Some will but as I said they will be gradual so no reason to drop your visits.