This type of restriction seems a bit over the top.
I wonder if the hordes of Chinese âinspectorsâ stayed on the dock or are they all isolated and quarantined in some sterile booth in the port and only emerge to greet new arrivals before returning to their cocoon?
He could have used a sounding tape to measure freeboard from the safety of the aft deck, subtracted that from the keel to freeboard to get the draft. That information (keel to freeboard) should be in the drawings. Perfect? No. But better than hanging over the side. Iâve used that method a bunch of times for finding approximate drafts while loading, and even final drafts when the draft marks were faded or fouled, when it was dark, when the pier shape didnât permit observation of the draft marks. A little math goes a long way. Sorry, canât blame China for his stupid.
China have strict rules and enforcement, but they also have few cases and deaths from Covid-19:
Iâm not sure how one person walking on a pier well away from anyone else would infect anyone. Whatâs more to the point, remote reading draft indicators have been around for more than 50 years and by now they should be mandatory and accurate. I can think of more than a few casualties that may have been prevented if they were fitted and dependable.
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How about a rescue boat drill/draft readingsâŚKill 2 birds with one stone.
A draft survey in Visakhapatnam many years ago the surveyor, a port official and I were rowed around the ship while we argued over centimetres. The port official had enough gold braid to put a Thai admiral in the shade and was there to check that we were not one centimetre over the maximum draft for the port.
He died due to doing something dangerous.
There are numerous ways this could have been done in a safer way e.g. the pilot ladder could have been deployed on the sea side so he would have fallen in the water, they could have used a drone to read the draft marks, they could have attached a camera to a rope and lowered the camera down to record the draftâŚ
A lot of over the side work involving people is now only allowed with people using proper certified climbing gear like rope access technicians use. Harnesses, helmets and ropes designed for working at high. Certified securing points etc
Unsafe things like going over the side on a rope ladder, bosuns chair or stage are quite rightly banned because the equipment in uncertified and unsafe.
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Yah⌠if you believe anything the Chinese say, I have a bridge to sell youâŚ
Come onâŚ
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I believe nothing that anybody say without checking (if possible)
PS> That includes what you say, since I donât know how you get your information. (from Fox News??)
So you admit you donât know where I get my news, but immediately suppose Fox News? Nice try, but no.
And I still donât believe a word China says.
I admit itâs not my job, Iâm working on landâŚ
But it seems to be a point, also for ex.:
So, why not???
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I did not assume, or supposed, I asked (even double ?? to be sure)
But you are right, I donât know where you get your news from. (Frankly, I donât care)
Since I donât have any way of checking, I have to accept that it is not Fox News.
No real Mariner only believes the auto draft gauges. Every real Mariner goes on the dock and checks drafts.
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Yes, he could have found a safer way to do this but thatâs not the point.
This completely irrational fear of COVID is having secondary effects of turning many people into a bunch of ninnies and/or power hungry assholes. What exactly was the risk to others here?
The absolute safest would have been to be able to go on to the damn dock and read them from there as has been done since draft marks have existed. Shouldnât have to say this here but having accurate drafts is very important for both stability and navigational reasons.
Whatâs next⌠airline pilots not allowed to do pre-flight walk-arounds? How safe would that be?
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China has been looking for a way out of the Zero Tolerance Policy for some time.
They MAY now have found a way to ease the worst effects of that policy, both on public perception, their acceptation of the policy and the economic impact:
PS> That doesnât mean that they will lift all restrictions anytime soon, though.
Definitely not while the Winter Olympics and Para-Olympics are still being held.
So the Fox news comment was just you being a sarcastic asswipe?
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imagine being a retired man with nothing better to do with his time than to sling sarcastic underhanded remarks on an online forum. I hope my retirement is much more fulfilling.
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Oh sorry, didnât I pay enough respect to Fox News, or the opinion of an imaginary comedy figure that try to sell me a bridge?
Maybe this bridge??:
Seriously dude â go fuck yourself.
And the only comedy I see is around here is anyone thinking itâs even remotely believable that a nation with three billion people only had four thousand some-odd deaths in a global pandemic.