Blog 112 == The Sociological Impact of Very Large Ships == Advice to IMO == A Bridge Over the Years

With Blog 107, all the ships I had sailed on had been narrated. from the years 1970 to 2008.

The few Blogs to follow 107 are on some of the items that interested me.

As I run out of steam, memory and inspiration, it is likely that my bi-weekly Blogs will become weekly ones, for a Sunday publication only.

Incidentally, one of the authors I had favoured during my younger days named Irving Wallace, had published a book, "The Sunday Gentleman". As he himself explains, he used to spend 6 days of the week (before he became a famous author) running around and scrapping for any bit of information from which he could write an article, the outline of which he would have received from the Editor of the magazine (Life, Reader's Digest, Economist etc) and also small pieces for daily newspapers, which would be plagiarised by the more famous 'byline' reporters.

But he kept his Sundays free with an almost religious fervour to write about the subjects that interested him and not what an editor had chosen for him.

His book, "The Sunday Gentleman" was published many years after he had become a famous author, containing articles that had interested him and he had researched on. An interesting book.

One of the articles was about an eccentric character called George Francis Train who actually went around the world in a period more than 80 days. It is believed that Jules Verne, sitting on a sidewalk cafe in Paris, read the article in the newspaper about George Francis Train, which proved to be his inspiration for his book "Around the World in Eighty Days", written exactly 150 years ago, in 1872.

I had always wanted to take a leaf out of Irving Wallace's book, "The Sunday Gentleman" and write small articles on things that interested me.

As Fate would have it, my surroundings were all sea bound, from my 17th year. My interests, likewise, oscillated in tune with the waves of the sea and the ships that I have sailed on.

From Blogs 1 to 107, the writing and the narratives have been monasterial, as it pertained to my place of worship, almost entirely autobiographical. One of the tenets of my Faith says "Do Your Duty". Quite a few times, as evidenced in my Blogs, I fought for the privilege of doing my duty.

Till Blog 107, I had narrated what I had experienced.

From Blog 108, I have started "The Sunday Gentleman" phase, of writing on things that interested me. For how long, I do not know.

But, for now, it will be every Sunday.

“Marine Musings 38” = Bridge Over the Ages and Equipment Over the Years

Ships have changed dramatically over the last five decades.

The change has been in

A) The size of the vessels. The 40,000 ton (old) Panamax sized bulk carriers of 50 years ago have given way to 402,000 tonned leviathans. But these extremely large sized bulk carriers have been few in number due to draft restrictions in ports, navigable waters close to the coast for the deep drafts and the large outreach required for shore based loaders and discharging facilities, thereby restricting them to dedicated ports that have been built specifically for them.

‘Ore Brasil’

Courtesy shipspotting.com

MS Ore Brasil measures 362 metres lengthwise, and 65 m breadth wise while its hull is 30.4 m deep, making it one of the longest marine vessels and the largest. Its gross tonnage is 198,990 tonnes and it consists of 7 cargo compartments, each having a volume equal to a small-sized Panamax ship. Its total gross volume is around 219, 980 m3 and it is loaded using a ship-loader at the rate of 13,500 tonnes per hour.

Classified by Det Norske Veritas as a Very Large Ore Carrier, its dead weight is

402,347 tonnes while its net tonnage is 67,993 tonnes. When fully packed with iron ore, MS Ore Brasil has a draft of 23 metres. Her size restricts her entry at most ports and only the biggest harbours can accommodate the carriers of this size. It has space for 35 crew members and an average cruising speed of 15.4 knots.

Powered by a MAN B&W 7S80ME-C8 two-stroke diesel engine connected with a fixed pitch propeller, it is imbued with a novel carbon-reduction technology which reduces greenhouse gas emissions by thirty-five per cent as compared to older ships of this class. It exhibits long-distance efficiency and was presented with the Clean Ship award at the Norwegian Shipping Exhibition held in 2011.

Just this one ship has put 10 ships into the scrapyard and about 18 sets of crews into oblivion. These mega carriers, along with the massive container vessels, are many in number and, in my opinion, the main cause of unemployment in seafaring circles.

B) General Cargo ships carrying break bulk cargo metamorphosed into Break Bulk + Containers (about 800 TEUs) with jumboisation and lengthening of existing ships with 2 cellular holds dedicated to carrying 20 and 40 foot containers. These ‘jumboised’ vessels were the ‘feelers’ that some futuristic brains in the marine industry put out to test the waters before a big leap can be made into a completely different concept of how cargo can be carried.

Quickly, container carrying capacity increased with a disproportionately quick fall in break bulk cargo. The 400 TEUs of the 1980s became 2000 in the 1990s, 6000 at the turn of the century and just kept growing exponentially till we have, now, touched a capacity of 23,992 TEUs container ship - 400 metres long, 61.5 metres wide, 17 metres max draft.

Note Position of Bridge

EVER ACE (IMO: 9893890) is a Container Ship that was built in 2021 (2 years ago) and is sailing under the flag of Panama. Her carrying capacity is 23992 TEU and her current draft is reported to be 16.6 meters. Her length overall (LOA) is 399.9 meters and her width is 61.53 meters

HMM Algeciras - another giant

Sometimes, collective corporate greed of this magnitude can result in the chaos seen when the “Ever Given” (20,244 TEUs) ran aground in the Suez Canal in March 2021, causing the worst traffic jam in the history of shipping. 6 days delay, over 200 ships stuck.

Satellite image of Ever Given blocking the Suez Canal

Courtesy European Space Agency

Ships at anchor, stuck due to the grounding of 'Ever Ace, awaiting passage

The dots of ships at anchor reminds me of stargazing a galaxy, a Galaxy that awaits the refloating of one ship

(The outline of the coast looks like Queen Victoria in profile)

Courtesy iStock

A comparative traffic jam ashore

Drone Footage from ‘The Mirror’

One of the unwritten laws of the commercial world is that old and decaying businesses either die out due to their inability to cope with their competition or - for the more fortunate ones - they get bought over by a larger corporate.

The Maritime Industry is different in the way it does business - the larger companies just crush the smaller ones to the extent that they cease to exist.

Taking the case of container ships, carrying cargo in containers was a natural progression that came of age, snuffing out the rather cumbersome break bulk method. But the container service required a large influx of new type of equipment, like gantries, open bed trucks, large sized forklifts, reach stackers etc along with sufficient space in the port to store / stack the containers.

Gantry(s) spanning a ship

Two of the large array of equipment needed to handle containers in port

This also happens

So, General Cargo ships gave way to Container Vessels of varying capacities but peaking at around 6000 TEUs.

2010 on, a marked change came in the size of container vessels, which kept on upscaling the capacity.

This had severe effects on many events, both maritime and sociological.

The larger capacity ships dropped their freight rates, forcing many a smaller company to close shop. Result? A near monopoly in practically every profitable route, leaving the less profitable ones for the fringe owners.

Carrying 20,000 TEUs meant they deprived at least five smaller ships of their cargo. Simultaneously, roughly about 8 rotational crew lost their jobs. Result? Unemployment in the shipping world. That is the present state in 2023.

To rub salt into wounds, one of the shipping lines owning several large container vessels, recently announced a bonus for its staff - 52 months bonus.

The bulk carriers with large capacities were / are few in number, compared to container vessels, but the outcome of smaller companies closing and loss of jobs for crew are nearly the same in proportion.

Other unfortunate events are : Smaller ports get lesser tonnage, resulting in lesser revenue, more layoffs for their employees, less work for their ancillaries and so forth, down the chain.

Were I to be head honcho in IMO

I would restrict the size of vessels - 50,000 tons for bulkers and tankers, 6000 TEUs max for container vessels

Get rid of ISPS - as it was thrust upon us by an ill informed, provincial and insular super power - and, instead, force ports to streamline their security without imposing themselves on the few privileges left to the seafarer.

Take an informed look at "Minimum Manning Certificates" and be fair to staffing limits, who are presently working on a shoestring of factor of safety.

Make it compulsory for all ships (above a certain tonnage) to have two deck cadets and two junior engineers, which is the only way to have a stock of experienced officers at a later date.

(Other recommendations to come later).

Bridge Over the Years