[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by vijaypalsingh

Hello T.E.G.: Aidni Katrina is expected to come to Mumbai & later to Vizag around end May. Well I cannot promise a ride on ship but a visit may not be that difficult. I'll see what we can arrange for you. How far is Vizag from Chennai?

That is very kind of you. I think it is about seven or eight hundred km... so no casual trip!

I have an invitation to friends in Andhra that has been outstanding for several years!

Perhaps, one day, one of your vessels might put into Chennai.

[jaysmokesleaves]

Originally Posted by vijaypalsingh

Hello Jay:...........Please do tell us more about your BOAT experience. 500 persons on 140 persons capacity boat.

With warm regards to all,
Vijay

Well On a recent trip to Gujarat I happened to take a ferry to Bet Dwarka. Its a few kms ferry ride to an island in the sea. The ferries are all privately owned.
The govt specified safe load limit for the ferry we boarded was 140 pax, but human cargo loaded on board seemed to touch close to 4-500 pax.

You will find the full account here....http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ann-kutch.html

Cheers,

Jay

[vijaypalsingh]

Here are the tech details & photos from Engine room.
She is much smaller than her siblings but is doing best business of all.

Ship Tonnage Gross (Registered): 13,720
Net (Registered) : 8,026
Deadweight: 23,593

No. & Kind of Engine: 1D : 2 SA 6 CY (2 Stroke Single Acting, 6 Cylinders)
Bore x Stroke (mm): 520.0 x 1,600.0
Power (kW): 5,111
RPM: 120.0
Manufacturer: Akasaka Diesels Ltd.

Main Engine

Main Engine Mid Platform

Main Engine manual over ride controls

Generators Overview

Generator sideview

Generator template

H.O & F.O Purifiers (As name suggests, they clean Heavy Oil & Fuel Oil before supply to Main Engine) Very crucial machinery.

L.O Purifier

Fire & General service pump.

L.O Pumps

M.E. Turbocharger

Air Compressors (They fill up air bottles & the air is used to give intial startup kick to the main engine)

Batteries (Power backup)

Batteries (Power backup)

Global Maritime Distress Safety System-Batteries (Power backup)

Steering (Rudder control unit-Electro hydraulic)


Workshop


M.E. Propeller shaft


few more to follow..

[vijaypalsingh]

Engine room logbook entry showing our official takeover of ship @ Singapore.

Crew deck alleyway

Galley (Kitchen is called Galley on ships) Anyone hungry??

Hold No. 2: Vsl had loaded timber logs, as first cargo, from Malaysia. This is immediately after discharging cargo & before the hold is cleaned for next cargo.



Hope you enjoyed this small tour onboard Aidni Brahm.

With warm regards,
Vijay

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

You better do something about those batteries. They are one year past their replacement date.

:-D

[Thad E Ginathom]

Facinating. Nice to see the engine-room stuff.

Amazing workshop! A little untidy, though: looks like I work there !

[KRRaj]

Excellent snaps Vijay. We dont get the chance to see the insides of the Ship.

[carboy]

I have a bit of idea about Merchant Ships, but most of my info is close to 20 years old. These are some of the things I remember - all engineer perspective, nothing from the officer perspective.

- I have seen British built ships & Japanese built ships. In British built ships, the engine crew/engineer living cabins were huge & very luxurious. The Japanese ship living cabins were very small & modest compared to the British ones.

- The engineer/engine crew working area etc was excellent in the British ships - the working area in a ship is huge. You have 2-3 floors of stuff - each floor with lots of stuff, the engines, the water equipment, the bilge pumps, the centrifuges, the boilers etc. There are stairs, passeways to go walk through all this. In the British ships again, these stairs, pathways etc were very convinient & spacious. In Japanese ones, these were probably built just to meet basic safety regulations, I think.

- Ships used to have a Chief Engineer, a 2nd Engineer, a 3rd Engineer, a 4th Engineer & maybe a trainee Engineer. In older ships, 2nd, 3rd & 4 engineer each had 8 hour watches when they work in shifts. In newer ships, everyone works in the daytime & the engine room is unmanned outside of the day time - during this time there is an engineer on call but he isn't in the engine room or in the work area. This is enabled by full automation - anything goes wrong, an alarm goes off in the engineers cabin & he can immediatelly come & check it.

- Other than the engineers, Enginer Crew had oilers, fitters, welders & cleaners. Typically each engineer is compitent enough to do any work which the oiler, fitter, welders & cleaners do.

- Have seen 3 kinds of ships

- Bulk Cargo - this has cargo which is stored in Bulk (say coal). The ship docks & the cargo is emptied/filled in - this typically takes days to weeks. The officer on duty monitors the filling/emptying of cargo when the ship is at port.

- Container Ships. This ships dock for much lesser time - couple of days or so. Easy to remove or store containers

- Fuel Tankers. These have even shorter docking time - hours. Typically they don't even dock, they are anchored little away from the port & a smaller vessel from the port comes in fills/empties stuff.

- Everything was slower in Indian ports as compared to European ports. For eg. Containers used to take thrice as much time on Indian ports as compared to European. Even docking was very efficient on European ports. When ship comes to a port, it has to be tied to the port. In India, around 20 port workers come with ropes & sing Haiya-Re-Haiya & do the docking procedures. In Europe, 2 guys come in a car, tie down one end of the ship, drive to the other end of the ship & tie down the other end. This is when I first realised that cheap labour in India is not a straight calculation.

- Fuel filling is also very interesting. A Fuel Barge comes alongside your ship, ties itself to your ship. The engineer on watch in your ship measures the quantity of residual fuel in the ship & the fuelling starts. When it ends, the enginer measures the fuel quantiy in your ship & the difference is the amount filled. The measuring is done using a kind of dipstick! i.e. you insert the dipstick into each of the fuel tanks & based on the length of fuel on the dipstick, you calculate the fuel quantity.
Fuel Quantities are also adjusted in different tanks for proper balance of the ship.

- Bad weather is when you get sea sick. In bad weather there are two kinds of movements.

- Rolling -> one side of the ship goes deeper in water, the other side starts comes out. Then it goes back to level & then the 2nd side goes in with the first side comes out.
- Pitching -> the bow goes in, stern comes out, then level. Then bow comes out, stern goes in.

Because of all these motions, you get badly seasick. Each living cabin has a bed & and a futon kind of thing which are at right angles to each other - i.e. one of them is along port to starboard & the other is along bow to stern. If there is rolling & your bed is along port to stern, you will also move along with rolling - i.e you would be sleeping on your back, suddenly because of the rolling, you would be automatically rotate on to your stomach & so on & so forth. So in bad weather, you chose the right direction to sleep in so that your body doesn't keep rotating - otherwise you won't be able to sleep at all!!

[ariesonu]

Dear Mr. Vijay,

Great pics, thanks for the tour of your ship. If I'm not wrong then Brahm was a music composer like Beethovan. Why the name Brahm? Its quite different from names of your other ships.
After lots of Googling I could not find much about your company. Would it be possible to share more about your company & other ships. You always mention 'my' ships but then you also say that you have partners. Shouldn't you not say 'our' ships then. Hope you dont mind me asking such questions but then once a surveyor always a surveyor.

@Carboy: Very nice writeup. Do you have marine background? To credit you, I have taken some points from your above write up & now use it in my lectures that I take at one of the marine institutes. You have summarised it so well that we often overlook such simple explanations & go overdrive. Thanks mate.


Raab Rakha.

[Thad E Ginathom]

The composer was Brahms --- so you must try again to find the inspiration

[conjon]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

You better do something about those batteries. They are one year past their replacement date.

:-D

No they are not. It is the date when the battery was last renewed.

[vijaypalsingh]

Originally Posted by ariesonu

Dear Mr. Vijay,

Great pics, thanks for the tour of your ship. If I'm not wrong then Brahm was a music composer like Beethovan. Why the name Brahm? Its quite different from names of your other ships.
After lots of Googling I could not find much about your company. Would it be possible to share more about your company & other ships. You always mention 'my' ships but then you also say that you have partners. Shouldn't you not say 'our' ships then. Hope you dont mind me asking such questions but then once a surveyor always a surveyor.

@Carboy: Very nice writeup. Do you have marine background? To credit you, I have taken some points from your above write up & now use it in my lectures that I take at one of the marine institutes. You have summarised it so well that we often overlook such simple explanations & go overdrive. Thanks mate.

Raab Rakha.

Hi Sonu,
Yes BrahmS was a composer & the shift in name is to differentiate between Panamax size & Handy size ships.
My company turned 10 months old this month. As for calling my ships as *mine*. Here is the preview: There is a trading group in Hongkong with headquarters in Hamburg. They are the parent company for Aidni Ships. The concept they follow is to give you a sum to do your *OWN* business & also let you run the company as your own. The profits are on percentage basis but their risk is restricted to their investment guarantee which is locked with banks.
Since Aidni is registered solely under my name & ownership, entire S&P process, Ship operations & management except technical are handled by me. Thus I believe I deserve the right to pronounce all ships as *mine*.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

The composer was BrahmThey have s --- so you must try again to find the inspiration

[vaisakhr]

Vijay,

I have heard some scale about sea roughness (from 0 to 12 or something). Any idea about that?

[vijaypalsingh]

In spite of attempts to control piracy off Somalia, it continues to be a major issue for shipowners and insurers of ships and cargoes, with the risk to the life of the crew and costs of release and delay running into millions of dollars.
Although some international measures have been taken to try to control this phenomenon, as some underwriters will already be aware, an Executive Order covering payments to certain Somali individuals and organisations was issued on the 13th April 2010 by President Obama.
The Order will have a direct effect on US entities but potentially will also in practice affect ship and cargo interests in other jurisdictions when they are involved in a piracy case which also has a US entity as a party.
The comments on the Order below are our own views but of course they are no substitute for careful formal consideration of any steps that need to be taken by affected underwriters (of which more below) to comply with the Order. We also provide our own views on the current and future effect of this Order on the piracy problem in Somalia.
The Order is in response to the on-going turmoil within and off the coast of Somalia, and it specifies activities (including but not limited to piracy) that threaten the security of Somalia. Please note that the Order is still very new and is still being considered. A full copy is available on the following link-
Executive Order concerning Somalia | The White House
As a result of this Order, there is a prohibition on dealing with the organisation Al Shabaab and eleven individuals that are named in the Annex to the Order. The US Secretary of the Treasury in consultation with the Secretary of State has the power to add to the list of prohibited persons and it seems reasonable to assume that as further information is obtained more names will be added in the future.
Although we understand that there is no express prohibition of payment of ransoms in the Order, it is likely in our view ransoms will be dealt with in the same way as any other payments. Therefore they will be caught by the wider prohibitions within the order on making any contribution or provision of funds to, or for the benefit of any person whose property is blocked pursuant to the Order if the recipient or beneficiary is known to be (or is likely to be) one of the prohibited parties.
Clearly, in the context of hijackings of vessels this is a problematic issue because the very nature of the act means it is very difficult to know who will receive the funds. We expect that a US shipowner or other US party caught up in such a situation will have to consult with the US authorities to get approval to make a ransom payment. In turn it seems likely to us that the beneficiary of such a payment is likely to be added to the list of prohibited parties which will presumably block any future payment to them.
We also understand that there is a significant risk that payments made one or more steps removed from the ransom itself may also be caught. This could possibly include, for example, cargo contributions in GA where the underlying ransom payment was made by shipowners to a prohibited party, reimbursement by H&M underwriters of a ransom paid by shipowners, or conceivably reinsurance payments.
We understand that the Order would apply to cases which are secured but not yet settled, since even though guarantees are issued the payment would not have been made yet.
We understand that the Order applies to US companies (including overseas branches) and individuals. The order does not state that it applies to non-US organisations that have a US presence, and we understand that those organisations may not be subject to the Order, although individuals based in the US working for those organisations will be subject to the Order.
Practical effect on hijacks
As to the impact on the ground, the pirates are relatively sophisticated and no doubt will learn quickly that getting a ransom from a US entity is more difficult, as the US Order restricts payments and requires any shipowner caught by the Order to investigate to ensure that there is no prohibition on payment. Logically speaking, therefore, it seems possible that the pirates would become more likely in time to want to avoid a US flag ship or a ship with overt US connections.
However avoiding a ship with US connections is going to be difficult in practice. Although pirates will evidently be able to recognise a ship flying the US flag, with the widespread use of flags of convenience a US flag ship is a relatively uncommon thing and it is quite probable that ships controlled by US interests will continue to be taken by the pirates. If such a ship is taken by pirates who appear on the prohibited persons list, we believe a ransom could not be paid by US shipowners and the usual method of releasing the ship will not be possible.
Furthermore, even if the ship is not US controlled, the pirates will not know the identity of the H&M underwriters, cargo owners and underwriters, and therefore will be unable to determine whether these parties are going to be able to contribute to the ransom and associated expenses in GA. Any difficulty in that regard may make the shipowners more reluctant to pay the high ransoms being currently demanded if contribution from cargo is barred by reason of illegality.
In addition to this, disputes will arise because of conflict of laws between the US Order and the law covering any disputes under the contract of carriage. In short, the payment may be illegal under US law but legal under the law covering the disputes under the contract of carriage.
In such a circumstance it is difficult to see how the shipowner can release the ship, cargo and crew by payment of ransom, and it seems to us that the only alternatives available will be either sitting tight in the (probably forlorn) hope that the pirates will give in and release the ship in any case, or the use of force, which will probably involve casualties since the crew are usually confined in a small area of the ship. Indeed, we can see that for some shipowners the use of armed crew members to try to prevent capture may well rise if the option of paying a ransom is lost. We also wonder whether it is implicit that the US forces will assist shipowners prevented from paying ransoms by the Order. In practical terms this may depend on the nationality of the crew.
If the shipowners decide to sit tight and hope the pirates will release the ship, perhaps because the shipowners have no other option, we can also see an extended duration of capture for vessels caught in this predicament without ransom payments. This could go on for a very long time since the pirates do not seem to lack patience and we expect they would be prepared to wait for ages to see whether a ransom can in fact be paid, or whether any suggestion of illegality is simply a negotiating ploy. The pirates are already prepared to wait for a long time even when a ransom payment is not illegal. For example, as far as we are aware currently the longest capture of a large merchant ship was the ARIANA (in which we represented the complete cargo) which lasted for more than seven months before a ransom was paid, and the STOLT STRENGTH (on which we also represent the complete cargo) lasted nearly six months.
We stress again that this bulletin is not a substitute for careful consideration of any steps to comply that need to be taken in specific cases.

[vijaypalsingh]

Originally Posted by vaisakhr

Vijay,

I have heard some scale about sea roughness (from 0 to 12 or something). Any idea about that?

Dear Vaisakhr,

Below link may interset you for your query. Pls check table of "The Modern Scale". Most shippies take a print out of this scale & keep it posted in the bridge (Control Room/Cockpit of Ship)
Beaufort scale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

@ Ariesonu: I see that you are quite inquisitive about the affairs of other organistaions. fFew days back, I had noted a thread started by you about working of Team Bhp few days back which was later *moved*. In all circumstances Moderators didn't appreciate you asking for forums & its other internal matters which are rather a confidential affair in any company. Let me enlighten you that I am not only a shipowner but also a certified Ship Captain & have also been a Marine Surveyor like you.
But there is always a difference between an Auditor & Surveyor.
Nevertheless, I hereby stand to be corrected.

GREASE-HANDS: And below link for those who love grease stains more than Versace shirt. One of the reliable spare parts supplier in Med Sea. Its contenst may interest you.
http://www.burakmarine.com/stocklist.php

With warm regards,
Vijay