Have an Iridium, VHF or SSB
Here’s what you need to do:
That’s pretty much it.
(This tip was suggested by Jean Pierre de Lutz. in his post “Sailing in Severe Weather Lessons Learned“.)
Video: [Continue Reading →]
CommentsTags: · abandon-ship, boat, boating, cfm, diy, Gear, kit, Maritime, safety, safety-at-sea, ship, solas, survival
The Ship Residence - High upon a promontory on South Bass Island in Lake Erie at Put-in-Bay, Ohio, sits the Owners and Captains Quarters of the former Great Lakes Shipping Boat, The Benson Ford. The boat was built by Henry Ford and named after his grandson many years ago. After fifty years of service on the Great Lakes, the Benson Ford was scheduled in 1986 to be scrapped at the Port of Cleveland, Ohio. On the top front section of the boat were the walnut paneled state rooms, dining room, galley, and passenger lounge designed by Henry Ford for his own pleasure while traversing the Great Lakes on business. (Source: Sea-Fever)
Ship Drydock Design - The scheme is a retirement home for elderly fisherman that also houses a working men’s club for members of Newcastle’s fishing community,” Pearson writes. “As a reflection of the separation and torpor of this unique society, the scheme takes the notion of the ship in an architectural context, to create an ersatz environment which interacts with the city around it as if it were a dry docked vessel. The environmental technologies and the ways in which the notional ship has been translated into an architectural system are the focus of this study.” (Source: BLDBLOG)
BIG’s Maritime Museum - BIG [the Bjarke Ingels Group], has recently won a competition [by unanimous decision, even though they apparently didn’t adhere to the design brief - ninjas in true form] to design the Danish Maritime Museum in Helsingør, DK. While searching for an appropriate site for the proposed project, the firm discovered an abandoned 150m long, 25m wide, and 9m deep concrete dry dock within eyesight of Kronborg Castle . (Source: MNY)
Floating Islands - A design by Vincent Callebaut Architectures, Floating Islands is a flexible masterplaned multi-energy town. By using current power generators and other green technology this is a futuristic design for green living. Callebaut’s vision is “creation which consists in mixing a scientifical and cultural survey with a computer programmatic approach in order to transcribe in architecture landscape distortions or ecosystem abstractions. Each architectural project at any scale, wants to anticipate through this digital hybridization, the future lifestyles by inventing new imaginary worlds. More poetic worlds. More equitable worlds. More natural worlds. Actually, more humanistic worlds! ”
Performing Arts Center, Seoul - ” Whereas the orchestra is in rehearsal, we continue our walk towards the places switched by the sound of the soprano and the violins. The both performing rooms of 1500 seats each are megaliths submerging from the floor. They are located at the extremities of the island and each of them is isolated from the road by two blocks gathering together annex functions like workshops and rehearsal rooms, public sanitary, offices and technical spaces. Their double layer of concrete protects the shows from feared sounds of low frequencies coming from the freeway traffic. They are very white and diffuse a extraordinary light ! The roundness of these hulls makes us think of the most beautiful ships and plays with the shadows of the linen seams which projects itself at the surface. ” (Source)
Nantes Slavery Memorial, France - Bonder + Wodiczko are received an ACSA award for their work on the design of a memorial to the abolition of slavery [Memorial à l’abolition de l’esclavage] in Nantes, France. Visitors to the memorial will walk along an altered landscape, littered with plaques commemorating each ship that carried slaves into Nantes [the plaques will display the name of the ship, the date, the number of slaves on board, and the number of slaves who lost their lives on the voyage]. Having walked along the length of the glass [which you can see actually slips through the ground plane], visitors descend a monumental staircase into a subterranean passage where these three aforementioned witnesses - the river, the quay, and the sky - meet [through the reflection from the glass] in one confined space. (Source: Architecture.MNP)UPDATE: Reader Submissions
Milwaukee Art Museum - The Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion, the first Calatrava-designed building to be completed in the United States, first opened to the public May 4, 2001. On that date the museum opened the new exhibition galleries, larger museum store and auditorium in the Quadracci Pavilion along with the completely renovated and reinstalled permanent collection galleries. (Via Joe Smith)
Canada Place - Constructed for Expo 86 as the pavilion for Canada and was the only venue for the fair that was not at the main site on the north shore of False Creek. It can be reached via the SkyTrain line and the nearby Waterfront Station subway terminus. The striking white sails of the building has made it a prominent landmark for the city, as well as drawing comparisons to the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia. (Google Earth View)
CommentsTags: · architecture, design, Maritime, ocean, ship
(Note: This post originally appeared on gCaptain Jan ‘08)
Three years ago at the World Expo in Aichi Japan SkySails promised a revolutionary design with the ability to reduce fuel consumption aboard ship by up to 24%. Last week the dream became reality. BBC News tells us:
There is something rather magical about being up on deck of a giant cargo ship as it pushes its way out to sea. Ten thousand tonnes of metal heaving through the water, the ship’s giant masts glistening in the winter sun. But there is something even more magical about being aboard MS Beluga SkySails. On the face of it, this vessel - which is carrying parts of a timber production line to Venezuela - looks like any other cargo ship.
MS Beluga SkySails believes its fuel bill will be cut by £800 ($1,560) a day. “We can demonstrate that you can combine economy and ecology,” Verena Frank of Beluga Shipping explains. “Economy, because you can reduce fuel consumption and fuel costs, and on the ecological side of things, we reduce emissions.”
The kite is controlled by computers. One computer helps it to fly in figures of eight in the sky - maximising the power it produces. Another computer adjusts the kite’s direction. If the project is successful, expect to see even bigger kites soon - some up to 5,000sq m (53,820sq ft) in size pulling ships across the seas and oceans. Read More…
Also be sure to watch National Geographic’s Profile of SkySails.
CommentsTags: · alternative energy, Beluga SkySails, co2, design, Environment, global warming, Maritime, naval architecture, ocean, ship emissions, shipping-industry, Ships, skysails
The U.K.’s Daily Mail has the story of Second Mate David Blair, the lucky Merchant Mariner who was pulled off the Titanic just prior to her infamous voyage.
(Note: We are republishing this post on Today, the 96th Anniversary of the tragedy.)
Blair was replaced with the more experienced officer Charles Lightroller, Chief Mate of the Olympic, by White Star just four days prior to the tragic events and hours before departure. In the rushed turnover he made a seemly small but potentially critical mistake.
For those readers not familiar with the duties of a merchant officer, turnover is a critical time aboard ship. Today most mariners work an equal time-on time-off scheduled. For example, you may work 3 months aboard a ship then have the next 3 months off meaning there are two officers assigned to the ship in each position. The turnover between the two, however, is often a hurried process. The industry has built in many ways to avoid problems but the fact is you have one person excited to go home and another just starting a long hitch and sometimes “things” are missed.
So the day Blair signed-off he likely briefed Lightroller on his duties and operational specifics then gave him written notes and any items needed for the job. The mistake? Blair accidentally took the key to the binocular locker home with him.
The Daily Mail tells us;
Blair’s rush to leave Titanic he carried this key off with him in his pocket and forgot to hand it to his replacement, Charles Lightoller.
“Had Lightoller had the key then there probably would have been a pair of binoculars in the crows nest.
“It is supposition but, in lookout Fleet’s own words, they would have seen the iceberg sooner with the binoculars.
“It is the key that had the potential to save the Titanic.”
Senator Smith, chair of the inquiry, asked Fleet: “Suppose you had glasses … could you have seen this black object [the iceberg] at a greater distance?”
Fleet replied: “We could have seen it a bit sooner.”
Asked “How much sooner?”, he said: “Well, enough to get out of the way.”
I must stop the story and make it clear this mistake was just that ….a small error… therefore should Blair be blamed for the accident? Of course not. While some point to the ship’s excessive speed, the vessel’s design or the positioning of the ship’s compass as the cause of the incident the facts clearly show the titanic sunk as a direct result of the accident chain. In other words the titanic sunk, not due to one large error but a combination of small errors that linked together caused the tragic circumstances. Remove one small link in the chain and the incident is avoided.
It is interesting to note that a string of small errors caused by human error is the cause of most large maritime incidents. The lesson to be learned….. next time you make a mistake aboard ship listen for the voice in the back of your mind and quickly ask yourself; is this an isolated incident or indication of larger problems?
Ship incidents caused by Error Chains;
(This article was originally posted Oct 2007)
CommentsTags: · binoculars, chief_mate, critical_mistake, crows_nest, daily_mail, History, Incidents, key, management, Maritime, merchant_mariner, sea, second_mate, Ships, sinking, titanic, white_star
Introducing gCaptain’s Google Toolbar buttons.
How do you get them?
Once installed, how do they work?
Our suggestion:
CommentsTags: · blog, boats, custom_search, custom_search_engine, discoverer, gCaptain, google, google_coop, google_cse, google_toolbar, Maritime, maritime_industry, maritime_industry_search, maritime_news, ocean, search_button, shipping, Ships, toolbar_buttons
In October of last year the Shipping & Transport College of Rotterdam held the International Maritime English Conference. A key topic of debate was the IMO’s current review of the STCW Convention and its focus on global assessment goals for non-native english speakers. This is of particular concern considering the growing shortage of qualified mariners combined with the unusually high incident rate seen in recent months.
Clive Cole of World Maritime University and Peter Trenkner of Wismar University have proposed implementing a Yardstick “against which student performance can be measured while at the same time providing goals for the tasks and requirements of the seaboard ranks”. Here is the plan as laid out in their position paper:
>The Yardstick >
>When developing the Yardstick below the authors deliberately did not include the identification of Maritime English communication requirements of the different shipboard rating ranks, i.e. the STCW95 Support Level, but restricted themselves to the personnel covered by the STCW95 Operational and Management Level educated and trained at higher MET institutions.
>
>The shipping industry, however, may wish to have a Yardstick available for shipboard rating ranks, too. In this case an appendix would need to be developed together with the industry as the Maritime English requirements set out in the STCW95 (Part A, Chapter II, Table A-II/4 and A-III/4) regarding ratings are comparatively vague and need to be considered in the review of STCW95.
>
>Furthermore, requirements concerning general English language proficiency have not been included
>
>expressis verbis
>
> as in the authors’ understanding a certain command of general English is a basic prerequisite in this respect (cf IMO SMCP 2002).
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Click HERE to download the full report.
CommentsTags: · english, language, language skills, Maritime, merchant-navy, shipping
CommentsTags: · friend ship, london olympics, Maritime, merchant-marine, podcast, sleep, watchstanding
The data visualization above represents the worlds 10 largest container shipping companies by TEU capacity. We created this chart using IBM’s Many Eye’s project which we enjoy using since it gives us a clear, easy to understand and interactive picture of numeric data. Plus it looks pretty cool.
Want to know which company has the largest number of ships or the highest percentage of the overall market? If so then click on the picture above for the interactive version.
For those who prefer more traditional data:
| Company | TEU capacity | Market Share | Number of ships |
|---|---|---|---|
| A.P. Moller-Maersk Group | 1,665,272 | 18.2% | 549 |
| Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. | 865,890 | 8.6% | 299 |
| CMA CGM | 507,954 | 5.6% | 256 |
| Evergreen Marine Corporation | 477,911 | 5.2% | 153 |
| Hapag-Lloyd | 412,344 | 4.5% | 140 |
| China Shipping Container Lines | 346,493 | 3.8% | 111 |
| American President Lines | 331,437 | 3.6% | 99 |
| Hanjin-Senator | 328,794 | 3.6% | 145 |
| COSCO | 322,326 | 3.5% | 118 |
| NYK Line | 302,213 | 3.3% | 105 |
(Source: 2006 BRS Report)
CommentsTags: · apl, ap_moller, china-_shipping, cma_cgm, Container Ship, containers, container_shipping, cosco, Data, data_visualization, evergreen, hanjin, hapag-lloyd, ibm, Interesting, maersk, many_eyes, Maritime, Maritime Expert, nyk_line, senator, shipping, shipping_companies, Ships, teu, Web 2.0
We recently ran across some interesting statistics from a 2005 joint study on manpower from BIMCO and the ISF.
Q: How many officers are currently employed aboard ships?
A: Approximately 466,000
Here’s a chart of the numbers;
Regarding this chart the study notes:
An updated estimate of global seafarer supply has been produced based on the most recent national statistics provided by authorities in almost all principal labor supply and other maritime countries. The worldwide supply of seafarers in 2005 is estimated to be 466,000 officers and 721,000 ratings. The OECD countries (North America, Western Europe, Japan etc.) remain an important source of officers, although Eastern Europe has become increasingly significant with a large increase in officer numbers. The Far East and South East Asia (the “Far East”), and the Indian sub-continent remain the largest sources of supply of ratings and are rapidly becoming a key source of officers.
Here is the age structure of officers from OECD countries;
The study tells us:
The world fleet continues to rely heavily on officers from Europe, North America, Japan and other OECD countries However, over 25% of these are over 50 years old, and well over50% are over 40. Most are in senior positions such as Masters or Chief Engineers. The impact of their retirement, without adequate numbers of well trained and experienced replacements, could be severe.
The study itself discus, in depth, manpower issues facing the industry. You can download the report summary, including more information on the above charts HERE or the full report HERE.
CommentsTags: · bimco, Data, Interesting, isf, labour_supply, manpower_issues, Maritime, Maritime Expert, merchant-marine, merchant-navy, oecd_countries, seafarer, seafarers, shipping-industry
CommentsTags: · Black Crows, Cutty Sark, gCaptain.com, Jones Act, mais, Maritime, Mary Rose, Messing About In Ships podcast, podcast, Raina Clark, Robin Storm, Sea-Fever.org
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