Blog 99 -- "Marine Musings 30" - "NYK Providence" - Briefly, About Reefer Containers

A rather severe electrical cables' fire had occurred. We had lost power to nearly 90 Reefer Containers. We managed to keep all container temperatures within range, by switching power cables for more than 3 days. We reached Fremantle.

The above image is Courtesy Kuehne + Nagel

Provides a glimpse into a Reefer Container - how stacked - cooling air direction.

As we expected a horde of Cargo Surveyors to board at Fremantle, each representing a different shipper or consignee, we made about 30 copies of our detailed report and kept them ready.

In the modern world of today, Reefer containers are monitored minute to minute by shore establishments through a GPS connection on each Reefer container. Gone are the days of disc paper and a stylus pen to graph out recorded temperatures.

We reached Fremantle. The two self contained generators' containers that we had ordered came on arrival. Now all containers were plugged in.

21 Cargo Surveyors boarded the vessel all at once and kept Captain and me busy, asking questions, reading our reports. The Chief Mate and the other Officers were kept busy escorting the Surveyors to the particular Reefer containers that he was representing to see for himself the displays.

We nearly ran out of paper for the photo copier in the process of catering to the documentation needs of the Cargo Surveyors.

And into this semi chaotic scene, stepped an unknown character. Not known to any of us nor to any of the Cargo Surveyors.

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Whoever he was, visibly of Japanese descent and, without introducing himself, he looked at the Captain, who was in uniform hence easily recognisable, started yelling at him without any preamble in front of all the Cargo Surveyors. His grouse was that we had ordered the two portable generators without asking permission from the Office in Hong Kong.

Our Captain was on his first promotion, mild mannered, excellent in his job.

He was shouting at my Captain, in front of 20 odd outsiders.

I couldn’t bear it any longer and immediately went up to the Japanese and, planting myself firmly in front of him, loudly asked him

“Who the hell are you? Get out of the ship or you will get thrown out”.

“I am from NYK Hong Kong”.

“It does not matter. Get out. You have no standing or right to shout at my Captain. Get out.”

I called for the AB at the gangway by w/t.

The Japanese suddenly realised that I was furious enough to get him thrown out of the ship and immediately apologised and calmed down.

The rest of the proceedings went smoothly.

The Classification Society (NKK) Surveyor recommended repairs / renewals of cables in three months.

The Cargo Surveyors documented and praised our endeavours to maintain Reefer temperatures. None of the containers’ cargo was damaged. No claims were lodged by the any consignee on receipt of their cargoes.

The Japanese Superintendent and I became friends. He finished a ‘fridge full of beers (my cabin ‘fridge) before he left the ship at Fremantle.

ON REEFER CONTAINERS

Almost all the content between the between the next two dividers are copied from Kuehne + Nagel's "Information on How a Reefer Container works" - I copied it completely as I could not have put it better.

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Designed to maintain, temperature, humidity and atmosphere of the container at a constant value during the whole transit time.

Temperature, ventilation, humidity and drainage are the most important factors.

• Temperature: All standard reefer containers are built to maintain a temperature between +25° C and -25° C for chilled and frozen cargo. A certain percentage of the global reefer fleet is also capable of maintaining a temperature down to -35° C or even lower. Special containers (super freezers) can maintain a temperature down to -70° C.

• Ventilation: For a chilled temperature, air must flow through the cargo at all times to remove heat and gases. Therefore, the transport boxes used should have ventilation. Fresh air ventilation is required for fruits and vegetables. For frozen goods, air must flow around the cargo. There must be no large gaps between the cargo, the walls and the cargo itself. The cargo should be stowed in blocks.

• Humidity: Some products benefit from a lower level of humidity in the air. Some reefer units have a dehumidification function which can lower the level of moisture in the air. Although some newer units can reach 50%, the standard is between 60% and 85% relative humidity (RH).

• Drains: These are used to release excess water that may accumulate inside the containers. In addition, their design prevents water or insects to get into the container.

• Inside the container is a microprocessor, which is the electronic temperature recorder. This device stores all data, such as supply air and return air temperature, remote cargo probe temperatures, defrost activity, changes to the setpoint, power on and off time, etc. In order to record the cargo temperature of certain shipments, cargo probes can be utilised. These probes are cables with a temperature-sensitive element fixed to one end. Kuehne+Nagel offers an additional, carrier-independent monitoring device (portable data logger) that is compatible with our tracking and tracing systems. This provides you insights into the temperature data of your goods at any time.

• A refrigeration unit is built to maintain a certain temperature, not to bring the load to the desired temperature. The cargo has to be precooled to the set point temperature prior to loading. Especially for fresh fruits and veggies, reducing the temperature after harvest to the optimal transport temperature is crucial to guarantee good quality and ensure the best possible shelf life.

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Reefer Containers, whether 40 footers or 20 footers - mostly 20 footers - are difficult to carry as they have to be nursed throughout their stay on board, morning, noon and night. (I don't think it is so anymore).

It starts from the time of their being loaded.

First, as soon as the vessel berths in a port where we were expected to load reefer containers, the Electrical Officer and I would go into the container yard with the Yard Assistant Foreman. We would quickly check all the containers to be loaded for equipment faults and ask the Yard to get their reefer engineer to repair all the faults. This, many a time, saved us from having to handle problematic containers when at sea. We would find oil leaks from compressors, gas levels low, driers choked, sometimes visible leaks, motherboards hot, timers not working.

The first time we did this pre-loading inspection, there were protests from the Port Authorities. But there was a clause in the numerous documents that a Chief Officer signs on receiving the cargo that clearly stated that we, as carriers, had the right to carry out out a pre=loading inspection of the reefer equipment of a container and reject the container if shown to be problematical. I had started this on my first tenure, well knowing the repercussions of losing the reefer cargo due to reefer equipment failures while the container is n board. Once the container crosses the gunwale, it becomes the responsibility of the ship. My alternate decision to shift the cargo to a spare, empty reefer container was also appreciated.

Pre load Inspection

Second is to note the temperature at which the container reaches the ship. These details are officially logged.

Third comes the loading. They have to be loaded in a position where its electrical cable is in proximity of a reefer plug point.

Fourth, it has to be loaded in a position where it is easily accessible for the daily checks and, if any problem occurs, for repairs.

Reefers on Board - How do You Get to the Top Containers to Trouble shoot

So, it is not necessary for reefer containers to be facing only forward or only aft. It varies with the location.

It is the responsibility of the Shipper / Charterer to ensure sufficient spares are given to the ship, depending on the model, make and manufacturer of each reefer container. In actuality, we used to carry sufficient spares for repairing two reefer containers of a particular make or model or manufacturer. They included spare motors, motherboards, fuses, contacts, fans for the electrical side. They included complete compressors, couplings, coupling bushes etc for the mechanical side.

Refrigerant Gas cylinders of various types were also supplied.

These were the property of the Charterers.

During the course of the first reefer container mechanical breakdown that I was involved in, we found ourselves working at a height, with inadequate platforms, trying to lift 200 to 300 kg compressors from the confined spaces of the container. Too many hours would have been spent.

We were carrying quite a number of empty reefer containers too. It was a quicker proposition to clean out, soap wash, one of the empty reefer containers that was close to the damaged one, cool it down and transfer the entire cargo from one to the other.

Over the many months that I was on board, we had occasion to do this at least 7 or 8 times, to my recollection, thereby keeping the cargo intact. In that era, most charterers used to be happy that the cargo was kept safe by any means. I do not know if the same applies now.

One of the more important aspects of carrying a reefer container successfully, totally trouble free, was something I learnt from experience.

After the reefer container is loaded, immediately on the vessel sailing out, whether day or night, the container should be put on ‘defrost’. This is an 'out of cycle' defrost, initiated by pressing one button on the display panel. Another ‘defrost’ after about 16 hours and the container (mostly) goes through a 15 day passage without any trouble.

However, it is prudent to check the atmospheric humidity regularly. With higher humidity one or two more out-of-cycle ‘defrosts’ should be initiated. The most common giveaway used to be the choking of the evaporator coils with ice.

We had reefer carrying capacity in the holds also to the extent of almost 25% of reefer capacity. These were tricky ones as access to them was through the longitudinal under deck passages, then through transverse passages into a particular hold , then up or down ladders to the container.

As long as outside ambient temperatures were cool or cold, these containers would perform properly. When faced with hot equatorial and tropical temperatures, along with humidity, the container holds would become hot. Motherboards used to get heated up and fail. When increased humidity was encountered, the evaporator coils would ice up, requiring regular defrosts, sometimes with a fresh water hose to de-ice the coils.

There were several types of reefer containers that were always on board, of different manufacturers.

“Mitsubishi” reefer equipment was about the best that I have handled. As long as one or two out-of-cycle ‘defrosts’ were carried out after loading the container on board, they were trouble free. The design and layout were well thought of, for ease of maintenance. The inbuilt mini computer had several layers, from which you can extract and download a variety of operational information. Easy to handle. Being cargo for Japan also, more than 50% of the containers were Mitsubishi.

“Daikin” were a few in number, reliable.

“Thermo King” containers were old workhorses with very little sophistication compared to the others. Except for gas and oil leakages, mostly reliable.

“Carrier” - American - the most troublesome, especially motherboards. Trouble also from oil mixing with the refrigerant and choking circuits.

Dupont - American - better than Carrier.

Honeywell - American - good.

As technology advanced, later ships with Reefer Containers were automatically monitored, temperatures would be recorded, alarms automatically initiated if there was trouble, as all containers would be connected to a single monitoring console, placed either in the Engine Room or Bridge or Cargo Office Room.

Present day reefers have a GPS connection and are monitored from the shore headquarters. Sometimes, an early warning comes via a message to the ship from this Headquarters, even before you realise there is a problem. Big Brother is watching.

Engine Control Room on Level with Main deck - Manouvering

I may be mistaken, but I think this was the ship where the Engine Control Room was at the same level as the Main Deck. There was no Bridge Control for manouvering, only Engine Control Room control and Local Control at the Engine stand. The ship was classed as non UMS, hence had to be manned at all times.

It was actually counter productive, as one had to come up from the corners of the Engine Room to attend to alarms and phone calls, when otherwise busy on maintenance work.

There were large sized glass windows through which one can see all the deck activity and the outside world.

Whilst manouvering, the Second or the Third Engineer used to be at the controls for starting and stopping the Main Engine or changes in speed or reversals, as per telegraphic orders received.

When proceeding to the berth, I would be standing on the aisle of the Main Deck, just outside the Engine Control Room and watching the manouvers of the ship. There were many occasions when I used to feel that we were going too fast on our approach to the berth and would quietly go back to the Control Room and tell the Second to expect a "Full Astern" or an "Emergency Full Astern". The priority at that time would be not to miss a 'start', by giving a little more air to ensure a start at the first attempt. Seconds would be lost if a 'start' or 'astern' order is missed and may lead to accidents.

Back in Chennai

I have to relate a rather amusing incident that had taken place about 2 years before (1994 maybe?).

I was at home. The telephone bill was overdue for payment.

This was before the advent of cell phones. The rule was that one had to go to the zonal headquarters to pay an overdue bill.

I was standing in a queue that grew longer by the minute because the computers were not functioning.

To while away the time, I turned to the young man behind me who had a backpack, a beautiful motorcycle helmet, dark glasses, Levi jeans, white shirt, zippered boots. I don’t know why, but I instinctively thought that he was a seafarer. Probably from the way he was standing.

Having started a conversation, we spoke about bikes and such.

His answers were rather cryptic.

Me: “Where do you work"?

Him: “Oh, at sea”.

Me: “In what rank”?

Him: “As Chief Officer”.

Me: “Which Company?”

(I could see he was getting a little irritated but I found it amusing, so I carried on).

Him: “Oh, you wouldn’t have heard of it, it is named Barber Ship Management”.

Me: “Which was your last ship?”

Him: Suddenly, with a changed demeanour and wide eyes, “Anna, a car carrier”.

Me: “Are the car deck ventilation dampers working freely now?”

Him: With a jolt “Saab, are you Mr. AR, Chief Engineer?”

We spent a nice afternoon together.

His name was Anand Balram, now settled in New Zealand.

He was the Captain on the NYK Providence, who cooperated fully and prepared for the External Audit.

My second tenure on the NYK Providence lasted 8 months. This was one of the few ships on which I benefited fully from the fruits of my own labour during the first tenure.

===== End of "Marine Musings 30" ===== Blog 100 to continue =====