All that poor skipper can do is wait for warmer weather, or find it by steaming south. No hope of trying to remove that amount of ice mechanically.
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With the Coastal Standards unique cargo transfer system I am wondering if the operation is tide height critical for on/ off loading ops.
Thanks.
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Not for the docks we visit. As part of the ship design process our people studied all the docks we call at and made sure the elevators were designed to handle the tidal ranges.
I sailed on a vessel with a side loader . It was designed for coastal trade in Norway and about 2 metres tidal range was the most it could handle.
Handling of palletised cargo through side gates were first introduced by Fred Olsen &Co for their combine fruit and passenger service between London and the Canary Isles in the 1950s and 60s:
Source: Fred. Olsen & Co. and the Millwall Docks | Isle of Dogs – Past Life, Past Lives
It became common on coasters and short sea ships from the mid/late 1960s.
Popular brand of side gates and pallet elevators is designed and supplied by TTS a branch of McGregor:
https://www.macgregor.com/Products/products/tts-products/Side-loading-system---Conveyor-system/
The 11 Coastal Express ships serving on the Norwegian coast has two side ramps and lifts to/from the cargo decks. Here from the oldest ship on the service, M/S Vesterålen handling cargo during a short stop at one of 34 ports along the route, brom Bergen to Kirkenes v.v.:
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She is now the Sara Express and operate in warmer climes:
Correction:
It is newer Herm J:
But still in warmer climes:
Original picture was taken in St Petersburg, Russia in Jan. 2006:
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/photos/of/ships/shipid:144180/shipname:SHIPLILLY%20REINVENTIO?order=date_uploaded
The sixth episode of Coastal Transportation’ Youtube series comes out tomorrow. This one will feature mariners talking about what they do for a living.
Here’s a preview
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The sixth episode of Coastal Transportation’s Youtube series is available. Click on the link below. From the show notes:
With her cargo of precious frozen seafood aboard, the crew of the Coastal Standard departs Dutch Harbor, Alaska for Seattle. On their way home the crew members have time to talk about their jobs.
The chief engineer takes great pride in maintaining the frozen cargo at optimum temperature, and in keep in his engine room spotless. So it is with the deck crew; whether it’s doing body work on the forklifts or painting the handrails on deck, they take pride in their work.
The captain and mates explain how they navigate the vessel, and discuss their work schedules.
Bonus episodes coming soon.
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A short bonus episode: A chief engineer talks about a lifetime at sea, what he does, and why he finds it fulfilling.
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New season on the channel.
Beginning this month: four episodes highlighting CTI’s annual safety training program.
Before beginning on their first voyage of the year, CTI’s mariners receive four days of training in, among other things, firefighting, abandoning ship, and dealing with medical emergencies.
The company has its own facility for training in firefighting, medical emergencies, and hazardous atmospheres. Abandon-ship training is either done off the actual boat, or off the company training boat. As you will see here, the abandon ship training if often done blindfolded.
Here’s the first episode.
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Here’s the second episode of, When Disaster Strikes.
This abandon-ship training in this episode takes place in Puget Sound. One advantage of open water training is the crew can set off parachute flares. Do that on the Canal and you risk landing a flare on traffic on the Ballard Bridge.
One disadvantage of training out on the Sound is that disembarking from the training boat is unrealistically easy. Disembarking from a freighter on the Ship Canal means climbing down a Jacobs ladder in a survival suit to board the raft, which is the riskiest part of abandoning ship.
This day’s abandon-ship training took place in calm conditions. The previous week, a SCA was forecast and the USCG nixed our plans for open-water training, hence the reason we did it on the Ship Canal.
The instructor you see in the abandon-ship portion is a CTI captain. Long before he worked for us, on his first voyage to sea as a fisherman, his boat sank. Him and three other guys spent 48-hours in a life raft before they were spotted and rescued. Some introduction to a life at sea! But he stuck with it, and there is no better trainer for teaching someone how to survive at sea than a guy who has actually done it.
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Back in the day when airline cabin attendants were called air hostesses and it was a glamorous occupation for young women our national airline used to do training in life rafts.
The navy used to facilitate the exercise and the area used usually experiences small waves.
The beautifully made up ladies that boarded the life rafts were no the same as those that emerged.
Seasick, mascara running and had virtually lost the will to live.
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Even pros get sick. There are always a few mariners who are immune to seasickness on a boat yet in just a 2- or 3-foot sea will get sick in a life raft. A different sort of motion, I guess. Also, that pungent vinyl odor in the raft.
We’ve found out that the seasick pills in the rafts we use are pretty powerful. Supposedly it is the same stuff as in Bonine: meclizine. But it must be the full-strength stuff, because it will put even a big guy to sleep in short order, at least in a raft. The captains have decided that if they ever have a panicky crew member in a life raft, or one that is acting -out, giving them a few of these “seasick pills” would not be a bad idea…
Pity that meclizine is not very effective against seasickness.
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I thought everybody was supposed to take one as soon as they got into the raft anyway.
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Having seen the effects, I would, as captain, not take it myself unless I was deathly seasick.
It’s extremely effective actually.
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Makes you sleepy as shit though
US Navy 1970 found both meclizine and dimenhydrinate (Dramamine) much less effective than a number of other drugs, particularly scopolamine, scopolamine + dextroamphetamine, and promethazine + dextroamphetamine.
There’s a sideways graph in this one showing meclizine with an effectiveness of 20 (head rotations before vomiting), scopolamine or dextroamphetamine alone in the range of 100, and scopolamine + amphetamine around 200. The previous abstract mentions promethazine + dextroamphetamine as also being very effective, and I found it so over years with various people who came cruising with me in Maine on a 32 foot sloop. I knew of it because I was stationed at Pensacola Florida when/where the research was done and read of it in a local publication. This of course was long before scopolamine patches became available.