Vessel: MV Fortune Carrier
From: Vancouver, Canada
To: Zhanjiang & Fangcheng, China
Aug 19 2005, Friday (GMT-7)
Today is my first day for my 20 something days voyage with mv fortune carrier from Vancouver Canada to south china. I came onboard around 1600 and vessel left pct around 1930. When the gangway is taken off, captain told me that now I will be on the vessel for the next 20 days. Pilot was onboard abt 1920. Capt. & I were on the bridge with the pilot, pilot was telling officer to go here & there, turn little left, right. After we left pct, vsl slowly pass second narrow. Capt said second narrow is the most dangerous spot before we reach open sea due to narrow area and limited air draft for passing.
Pilot was changed at inner harbour with a fast boat delivering the second pilot for switching. New pilot came onboard & old pilot left vsl to the fast boat while vsl still moving even though with slow speed.
This is ship's view of nasl...
I went to bed very early tonight, maybe around 10 or 11pm because there is no hot water in my bathroom, so I couldn't take shower. I had a long talk with Capt.; he is very knowledgeable with Chinese history. He probably knows more about Chinese history than I do.
For dinner, we had hot pan rib today. Dinnertime here is 5-6pm.
Aug 20 2005, Saturday (GMT-7)
I got up around 9am. I know the time because Capt. came to my room & tell me the time.
I missed the breakfast because breakfast served here is at 7-8am. While lunch served at noon-1pm. For lunch, we have hot tofu "ma por tofu". The dish was made under supervision of Capt., he is a very good cook & he is funny person. I should have taken some picture while the chef was cook the tofu.
Weather today is foggy; ch/mate said this is the normal condition for summer season. He said we could still see part of the Vancouver Island but due to foggy weather, I couldn't see any land but white fog.
Today's dinner is T-bone steak. It's very tasty. During the dinner, Capt. was explaining about some Korean tradition about ceremony of ancestors.
Yesterday was ronato's birthday, he is called the mess man, he responsible to clean up & help Capt., officer and me to bring things around. He couldn't have his birthday party yesterday due to busy work, so he is hosting the party today.
We had a roast pig head, lots of drinks. Singing karaoke & play guitar. Very fun.
I take this picture of our chef & the best singer on the ship. There will be a karaoke singing contest later but they will not allow to join and instead they only be the judge, this is order by Capt. because he said other people will have no chance if these two amazing singer join the contest. I had a great time. Philippine crews are very friendly, all like a family. Shower in my room is not fixed, so I have to use the shower in the next empty room.
Aug 21 2005, Sunday (GMT-8)
4 days in a row start from today, we will adjust 1 hour back each day in order to match the local time. I got up at 9 today, so actually it was 8am. Today weather is sunny.
Today I learnt about current, there are certain routes that are set due to current patterns. For vsl going from Vancouver to china, they sail up to the Bering Sea via unimax pass because this way vsl will go along the current, hence a better speed. But for voyage from china to Vancouver. Vsl will sail below Bering Sea because the current in Bering Sea will be against. Current pattern is unchanged, however, wind pattern is changing all the time. Low pressure (bad weather) & high pressure are divided by foggy weather. Vsl receives weather report & forecast 4 times a day. We have cold noodle for lunch today. For dinner we have sashimi & sushi, also soy sauce garlic. Interesting. Somehow today I feel very tired, so I take lots of sleep. Sleep & lunch & sleep & dinner & sleep... hope I am not getting fever, weather outside is quite chill & always windy as vsl moving. Crews has no work today because Sunday.
Aug 22 2005, Monday (GMT-9)
Today's weather is a little foggy but if you are lucky, you can still see some sunshine at near by area.
Last night I got up around midnight, Capt. passed by my room, he invited me to his cabin for a chit & some beer. We had a good chat about Chinese history until about 2am.
Time is a little confuse to me now because today we need to back 1 hour again. This also means some shift will now changed from 4 hours to 5 hours. I just returned from where we have our meal because I was too early today, its 6:45am now. I thought it is 7:45am. Anyway, I will go down again in a little while.
After breakfast, I went down to the engine room with ch/engineer. He showed me around we introduced some parts of the engineer room to me.
I received a msg from James today while Capt. was sending noon report to nasl & ocean route. I think I will send msg to office later, maybe tomorrow.
After a good lunch of kim chi noodle with rice & fish. For dinner, we had soya milk noodle & hot pan beef rib meat. Capt recommended me to make it & enjoy with girlfriend. Today is 2nd boiler's birthday, so we will have another party =).
Aug 23 2005, Tuesday (GMT-10)
Foggy and rainy day today.
After breakfast, I went to the bridge to check ship's position. Capt asked me for 2 things, 1 is abt the over consumption claim from last voy, 2 is problem making a song on DVD to be record down & save at his laptop for future listening. Later, I recorded that music with cubase & put to his computer, we were sharing our music taste & I put some music from my collection to his laptop. For lunch, we have fish soup today. After dinner I jam guitar with cook at his room. Watched a movie, then go to bed.
Aug 24 2005, Wednesday (GMT-11)
Sky starts to bright around 4 am. There is a window in my room, so I can see the daylight. I got up early this morning; I went to the bridge to chat with c/o.
c/o's shift is 4-8, so its perfect time to chat with him & go to breakfast. He shows me about the time zone calculation. I always got confuse about time calculation. Time difference for each 15 degree is 1 hour, Vancouver located at the GMT-8 (-7 during summer, daytime saving time) 120 degree west zone when china is at GMT+8 120 degree east zone; so during summer, time difference between Vancouver & china is 15 hours.
You can see the time zone allocate from china to Vancouver as follows:
|
|
Greenwich |
east |
timeline |
west | ||||||
|
longitude |
(London) 0 |
(china) 120 |
135 |
150 |
165 |
180 |
165 |
150 |
135 |
(Vancouver) 120 |
|
GMT |
0 |
+8 |
+9 |
+10 |
+11 |
-12 (+1day) |
-11 |
-10 |
-9 |
-8 |
|
Time adjustment direction |
|
<== back 1 hour <== |
(-1hr) and (+1day) |
<== back 1 hour <== | ||||||
Its normally 8 hours difference as you pass 8 of 15-degree zones. But during summer we will add the extra hour adjustment due to daylight saving time in Vancouver. So, each day when vsl move pass any of the longitude, we will adjust local time as shown above.
He also teaches me about weather condition from looking at weather chart. Wind direction of low & high pressure. Typhoon is tropical low pressure that means its very strong low pressure; it also has the same wind direction as low pressure. When going between 2 of the same pressure, the wind direction at the area between them will cancel & result of calm wind condition. Where area between H & L will be strong; and H & typhoon will be very strong. There is a typhoon in Japan south east area, its called "mawar", its moving NE direction but believe it will be finished as our vsl arrive that area. Vsl sometimes gets help from typhoon if vsl moving from right direction.
this is the game that Capt., c/o & c/e always play after dinner. They call it "wit chi", basically direct translate pronounce as Chinese. Many Korean words are similar to Chinese words. And many Koreans can also write & read Chinese because they all study Chinese at school. Capt always tell me about Chinese history, he definitely knows more about Chinese history than I do.
c/o is playing with Capt. here while c/e is watching.
Aug 25 2005, Thursday (GMT-11)
This morning vsl is passing unimak passage as course changed. Yesterday, as Capt. mention, we can see some beautiful volcano mountain as we pass uni. Pass. However due to sudden change of bad foggy weather, I couldn't see very much.
The swell was quite high & current is quite strongly against us.
This is what Capt. meant by water color will change to white when sea condition is bad.
Since last night, the vsl is rolling obviously. It made my body turning left & right when I was sleeping.
Capt. is showing cook to make sweet & sour pork. This is a funny picture.
It is quite windy & we can see some swell today. Vsl speed drops to abt 9 kts.
Aug 26 2005, Friday (GMT-12)
Weather is improving today. Speed also improved to abt 13kts. As noontime, vsl's position was at about 165 degree longitude. After midnight, we should pass day time (180 degree), therefore tomorrow it will be aug 27, sat; however, the day after tomorrow will be aug 29, Monday. We will be skipping Aug 28, Sunday. It’s very interesting. So far during the voyage, we had already adjusted 5 hours back, which means we will have another 4 hours adjustments to go.
When sea condition is ok, crew will do maintenances for vsl. One of the doorframes needs to replace, so ch eng is carefully measure the dimension & send to owner for preparation. They will do the repair job when vsl reach port of repairing.
Aug 27 2005, Saturday (GMT-12)
Sea was rough last night; I woke up at 4am because vsl was rolling very strongly all the way till midday today. When I look at the weather chart, it was showing that vsl is close to a low-pressure area. After tomorrow we should have some better sea condition again. I slept a lot today, after breakfast, after lunch, I think sleep can stop me from seasickness.
We passed the day line today, which means we will skip one day. So, tomorrow will be 29th instead of 28th. Everything time when vsl pass day line from either direction, there will be a party.
Today there was a singing contest, its very interesting. I went to the bridge afterward & chat with 3rd officer. His shift is 8-12 daily, am & pm.
The bridge is totally dark except some light at the map area. This is a picture of the ship’s radar; you can see there is another vessel at sea around us.
The sky is clear & I saw the most star I have ever seen today. I can also see the galaxy & many shooting stars.
Aug 29 2005, Monday (GMT+11)
Today’s weather is average. Cloudy.
Vsl now passed Attu Island and route is going below 270 degree, so everyday, it will get warmer & warmer. Soon enough I can sit outdoor under the sun.
Full name of some abbreviation asf; AB = Able seamen, OS = ordinary seamen, DB = deck boy, welder, OL = oiler, MM = mess man, cook.
Aug 30 2005, Tuesday (GMT+11)
Today weather is ok. Sea condition will be fine all the way to Zhanjiang if no typhoon encountered. Most possible typhoon occurs at south east asia around Japan, Taiwan, and south china. Will see how it goes.
I called corina & office today, I am missing everyone. It was fine before I called but once I called first call, I feel like calling them everyday. Today, I do my second laundry. I am trying to waiting as long as I can & gather my dirty cloth to cleaner in hk but I think maybe not. Shower here is also funny.
Always too much rusty water everyday, I need to turn on the water to run for abt 20 mins before water becomes clear.
C/o was showing me cargo calculation and loading plan in his computer. In his program (program’s name is ANKO).
It can show (BM) bending moment, (SF) shearing force when certain qtty of cargo is loaded. Beading moment means how much ship will bend in upward or downward curve motion. Result in percentage & max is 99%. And shearing force is the local strength of individual hold. In case cargo loaded in hold 3 only, for example. The steel walls between hold 2&3 and 3&4 will be burdening a great shearing force. There is also a limit for SF.
Maximum cargo loadable is calculate as foll;
Displacement
- Lightship
----------------------------------------
= Deadweight tonnage
- Fuel oil
- Diesel oil
- Fresh water
- Dead water (or umpumpable ballast water)
- Constant
----------------------------------------
= Max cargo loadable
Displacement = total weight of ship itself (called light ship) + everything possible that can carry on vsl when sailing.
Constant includes furniture, food, appliance, equipment…etc which on vsl.
Deadweight (DWT)
For example;
if vsl’s displacement is 76700mt.
Lightship is 12118mt.
Deadweight will be 64582mt.
If we subtract this number with;
FO = 300mt,
DO = 20mt,
FW = 300mt,
umpumpable ballast = 100mt
& constant = 200mt.
That means this vsl can load max cargo of 63662mt.
But when cargo’s SF is too large or small. It will have effect on cargo loading qtty. (SF) stowage factor means # of cuft / mt, how much space this 1 mt of cargo will take up. So, obviously, sf of cotton will be very high because cotton is very light and 1 mt of cotton will be very big in size. While 1 mt of iron ore will be very small in size. Therefore sf for I. ore is very small, we call it heavy cargo. If loading heavy cargo like iron ore, vsl will better be jumping loading, which means loading only 1, 3, 5, and 7 holds alternatively. Because cargo can fill up better in the alternative holds instead of loading only small volume in each of 7 holds. When loading small volume of heavy cargo in each holds, the GM will be very high. Therefore ship will be unstable, rocking heavily which can be dangerous when sailing in bad weather.
For reference, 1 cu meter of water is 1 mt.
1 meter = 3.2808399 feet.
1 cu meter = 3.2808399 x 3.2808399 x 3.2808399 = 35.314667 cu ft.
1 cu ft = 1/35.314667 = 0.02831684637 cu meter.
Aug 31 2005, Wednesday (GMT+10)
Today I spent most of the time on reason.
Sep 1 2005, Thursday (GMT+10)
Today is another foggy day. Weather is getting warmer & warmer daily as vsl approaching china.
During permissible weather, crewmembers do vsl maintenance jobs.
Capt sye sent me the office vsl update list. Shipping market is dropping while cruel oil price is rising over usd 71. That means gasoline price also goes up. There is also some bad new about a hurricane named “Katrina”.
Sep 2 2005, Friday (GMT+9)
Last night was a reasonable night. I closed my door and composed a groove totally with reason from scratch with some new techniques.
Temperature is warmer quite obviously today. I can feel a little sweat when I got up. Air con also started from today.
Vsl is passing Hokkaido today but due to fog, I can’t see….
As vsl approaching Japan, we are seeing many other vsl today.
Capt. was making very delicious steam fish for lunch today. I enjoyed it very much.
Sky is beautiful after sunset. After dinner I like to stay at bridge with c/o. he shows me many things. He is a very nice man.
At the bridge, you can find the old computer which using to send and receive emails. The monitor is kind of acting funny; sometimes require violence to make it working properly.
In every hour, the duty officer will mark down the current position on the chart.
This is what the weather chart looks like. Its showing the typhoon “nabi”, looks like we will meet soon… the bridge is very dark after sunset, only dim light will be on. Its for seeing light of other vsl and light house at sea, also very moody.
Sep 3 2005, Saturday (GMT+9)
A good weather day. Color s of the sky after sunset is super nice.
Sep 4 2005, Sunday (GMT+9)
I watched a few Stephen chow’s movies last couple days. 1st engineer brought many Chinese movies at china. There is no Korean subtitle, he said he only watch the picture, it’s a pity that he does not understand the jokes totally. Captain made some very delicious “so tung ball pork” for lunch today. He is a very good cook!
We can also play golf on ship. There is a golf ball that has a piece of string attached to. Very interesting.
Ship’s swimming pool. I think the surface of the pool looks like a world map.
Another beautiful sunset scene.
There is one very bright star tonight.
We are seeing many ships at sea these days. As we are passing Japan & approaching Korea. We can also receive signal for Korean TV and radio. Learnt that the hurricane is very serious at New Orleans. From what I heard, more than 10,000 ppl died from it.
There are two colored lights, one at each side of ship. The left side that we called port side it has a red light; & right side, we called starboard side, it has a green light. When your ship sees other ship with red light, you need to give the way by altering direction. When ships head each other within 6 degrees left or right angel, both ships should move slightly to their own starboard side, and pass each other port side to port side.
Typhoon “nabi” is not a big thread to us anymore from our ship speed calculation. On northern atmosphere, the wind direction of typhoon is going counterclockwise while wind direction is clockwise when typhoon is at southern half of earth. Typhoon is building up when they are at sea by absorbing water at sea, its power will decrease dramatically when it arrive in land and become heavy rain falls.
Name of typhoon is used to be female name but after female complaints. Typhoon also named after men. But later, typhoon now name after animal & insect. Like this one, “nabi” means butterfly in Korean. Asian country uses Asian names and western countries use western name. But typhoon in us is not called typhoon, instead it’s called hurricane...
During any voyage, wind direction varies while current are always in same pattern which we can learnt by remembering the current chart.
Sep 5 2005, Monday (GMT+9)
A big change in sea condition today. This is called the high condition.
Clouds of many colours.
Sep 6 2005, Tuesday (GMT+8)
Today we have the last time adjustment. From today, we are in the same time zone as Hong Kong, china.
Last night ship was rolling heavily. I woke up to the sound of falling teapot caused by heavy rolling. This wind & rough sea is caused by the typhoon “nabi” even though we are more than 500 nm away from it, we still can feel it strongly. It would be disaster if we were close to it.
This morning when I got up, ship is still rolling heavily, Capt. said that we are as the closest point to typhoon which about 300nm away. Sea condition is much better at night. We expect slight sea condition. In other words, it should be quite calm.
Sep 7 2005, Wednesday (GMT+8)
Two more days before ship arrives first discharging port, Zhanjiang.
Today Capt. took me around the vsl for a trip. He does that every once a while to check if any deficiency of parts that needs works. Some problem should be fixed right away while some should be fixed within some time limit.
We are passing Taiwan Strait tonight. I saw many fishing boat. Capt. explained to me different kinds of fishing boats; ship should know the difference between different kinds of fishing boat for appropriate action to avoid them. Chinese fishing boats don’t really sail according to rules; they just do their own things. So, ships need to pay extra attention. The sky is especially clear & the moon is very clear & bright. At night, we only light we can see are the light from star, moon & fishing boats.
Sep 8 2005, Thursday (GMT+8)
Weather is hot and humid.
Today is last day at sea before arriving Zhanjiang. Ship is passing Hong Kong and ship can receive hk radio signals.
According to agent info, vsl will anchor at anchorage tomorrow for one day before berth available. There is another vsl ahead of us tomorrow, so we need to wait.
Sep 9 2005, Friday (GMT+8)
Vsl arrived Zhanjiang today around noon. According to agent’s info, we anchor at the given anchor position. Around 1500lt, we pick up pilot at the pilot station which about 8nm away.
About 1400lt crews start to prepare by unhook the lock for hold opening when needed. As vsl arriving pilot station, pilot come in a big boat. Due to the size of the pilot boat, they need to direct climb onboard instead of using ship’s ladder. They set up their DGPS system once arrive bridge. It’s a very advance system, it works similar to car’s navigation system.
It shows clearly vsl’s position also water’s depth for the channel. It’s quite amazing.
on the way to inner anchorage, I saw a navy ship, a barge for digging and deepen the channel, channel is easily being shallow due to lot much mud in the water.
Weather is still hot and humid, but it’s better than yesterday because there was rain this afternoon.
It was about 1830lt when anchor is dropped at Zhanjiang inner anchorage no.11. Vsl is scheduled to berth at 0100lt 10th sep.
Sep 10 2005, Saturday (GMT+8)
Pilots came onboard again around 1230lt and proceed to berth with assistance of two tugs.
Ship alongsided about 0230lt. Capt. Was busy with agent and officers with the documents. While c/o was discussing with foremen & surveyors regarding vsl’s draft and discharging plan. All workers in Zhanjiang speak Cantonese which I am really glad.
Discharge commenced around 0430lt. Vsl first discharge part cargo at berth no. 405 and will shift to berth no. 408 tomorrow afternoon. At berth 405, cargo is discharging to a funnel onto a truck. And cargo will be directly discharge to ground, which will be faster than to discharge to funnel at berth 405.
I found weather in Zhanjiang is moderate humid and temp not very hot.
Discharging continues until shifting which about 0200lt 11th sep.
This afternoon I moved to hotel, its name is china city hotel. Not bad environment but china is always china, service is not so good. I went to a Chinese restaurant today with Capt. C/o, c/e & 1st engineer & agent Mr. Chu. The way of ordering in china is interesting, there is no menu, just order whatever u can think of. It’s very new to me. Anyway, they seem to enjoy the food, that’s good enough. I got to hotel about 10pm & ready for bed, so tired…
Sep 11 2005, Sunday (GMT+8)
Local agent Mr. Zhu picked me up at 0930 & went to ship to check progress. Ship shifted to berth 408 this morning 0200 & discharge commenced at 0400. After checking discharging, we drove captain to find a writer for some Chinese writings as captain requested & also to buy some phone card. Agent and I both agree strongly that captain is over talkative…. Ship’s cargo is discharging directly to land at berth 408; hence, speed is much better. Current ets Zhanjiang 13th Sept. Unfortunately I can’t see discharge completion in Zhanjiang before I go.