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3d Term, Week 7 🤩⚓️

1st- 7th of March 2021

It is already the beginning of my 7th week onboard! Time flies! This means I have already done 3 quarters of my term…. And I have only 2 weeks left… more or less depending on the harbours and where we will be: if it is easy or not to have a crew change according to the amount of time we stay in the harbour and the available flights and connections. I usually know a small week ahead of when the crew change will happen. But I still have quite some time to go. Captain H. He will be leaving soon. He is leaving in the next harbour and captain R. Is already onboard with us. Is it like we have two captains now? No. Only on of course but as he is new onboard and we are supposed to be sailing the following trips up and down with timber and it is still ice sailing conditions, Captain H. thought it was wise to have him on board a couple of days earlier to do a proper handover and make sure his vessel would be taken care of. Indeed As I said earlier in previous posts, Ice sailing is quite particular. You have to make sure you do not run full ahead into ice banks or you will damage the propeller. You also need to make sure you do not ballast for example all the way to the top so that the water overflows on deck and remains in the pipes. In this case, you will for sure damage your pipings and tanks because the water will freeze and expand. In freezing situations, you always make sure that you ballast a few minutes less so that there is room for expansion. On deck, you want to make sure that you do not get too much spray because, with our speed and the wind, it will turn directly into ice on deck. And this creates an extra unwanted weight onboard that cannot be removed so fast. This can be quite dangerous if it is not taken care of. If you listen to captains you have experience in this matter, they will always say that it is better to shelter, change course or delay the trip a few days if spray on deck becomes too dangerous. Of course, I totally agree with them!

Sailing with deck cargo: the timber is lashed on deck with strong slings

So yes Captain R. Came onboard slightly earlier for ice conditions and timber cargo experience. I must say, it is not because you are a captain for years that you have all the experience in all different cargo types and sailing in all the areas. Some ships never sail in ice and rarely have timber for example. I think it is wise to make sure that your reliever feels at ease when you have 2 red flags hanging above your ship: ice and timber. But of course, you lust think that too: better safe than sorry.

Captain H. Was going to leave in the next harbour in Brake. I never really like it when a crew goes home. I mean, of course, I am happy for them, but I enjoy their presence and I know for sure that with the dog gone, it would be quieter too. On the other hand, I do enjoy meeting new people… even if I find myself usually a bit nervous. I always think I have to prove that I am worth it, that I am good at what I do and that I take care of things, that I work hard…. And I must admit that it does stress me a bit. I know all captains are different and when I do not know them yet then I have to adjust, ask, test and see how they want it. And it feels to me that although I am home – in my second home- I have to change to please the new captain. Usually, they say « oh do not bother for me, just as you usually do… » but then come up with a full list of things that they want to be done differently. Haha. I mean it is never as bad as I make it sound but I have the feeling I am always nervous with new captains. Like if I didn’t like change; or like if my safe environment suddenly is not safe anymore and I have to recreate a new one all over again.

Early morning alongside in Brake, ready to start discharging deck cargo.

Anyways. This was the last trip for Captain H. And the first for captain R.

After w a few days sailing through the Baltic Sea then the Kiel Channel, w arrived in Brake and started the usual discharging process. hooks and chains off, slings off, tarpaulins off and timber away. The crew made it ready upon arrival in the night so that I could start in the morning with the discharging of the deck cargo. I am the one in charge of the cargo operations so I wake up early in the morning for that while the rest of the crew continues sleeping. Rest is well deserved because taking off all the chains and wood and tarpaulins is not a small job to do in the middle of the night!

In Brake, discharging the timber till late in the night

The mornings in Brake are always very peaceful and quiet. It is not a busy river and the fresh air is just there. On top of that, there is the smell of timber! It is a very nice cargo to have onboard. When you open the hatches, it comes up to your nose and it seems you are back in the Finish countryside on a holiday in a cabin far from the world, just coming home from a long walk outside and preparing yourself to sit with a cup of tea close to the fireplace and make your self cosy…. Oh well, I guess you can imagine the loveliness of the smell….

The last packs of timber before a good sweeping and mopping to dry the hold for our next cargo.

The next voyage finally came in the email and surprise! It was not Hamina! Of course not… We are « promised » a few trips of timber up and down and we finally manage to get into the right systems and tips and tricks and out. The office decides else wise. Oh well. I wonder if we will go back after again or if that was it for the ice sailing of the year. I have the feeling that was it and I should have enjoyed it a bit more…. Haha. Next year… maybe.

This time we were not going very far. Just from one river to the other: Eemshaven. We would get the cargo of another sister ship that got a technical problem. Oh! Actually, that is also interesting! And I do enjoy meeting the other sisterships around! I find it always fun to compare them and either be proud of our ship or take notes on how they do things… Not that I am not very proud of the ships I work on, on the opposite! But most of the time, people tend to forget how far some ships have been coming from and that a whole makeover takes time.

So there we were, after saying goodbye to captain H, we headed to The Netherlands and arrived just before the weekend started…. Which meant a full weekend in the harbour. Perfect to go for a walk and rest. Well, a walk is pretty much the only thing you can do in Eemshaven if you do not have a car… because where we were there was literally nothing except windmills haha!

We came alongside our sister ship and as they were loaded and we were in ballast, it was funny to be the same but at one high above. When their discharge would be complete, it will be the exact opposite. They were coming from another dutch harbour and their cargo was steel coils. These coils had to do to Szczecin in Poland. We would make sure that this would happen off course. A few coils had to come out because they were expected earlier so trucks were arranged to pick them up on Monday so that they would be on time for the client in Poland. The rest would go in our hold.

We were ready for Monday where all the craziness would start.

Ruyter alongside her sister-ship Sprinter in Eemshaven.

Our sister ship was very nicely maintained. There was probably no rust anywhere… and their decks seemed really perfectly painted. Our decks in the aft were still red from the old colour and because they would be descaled and painted from scratch later in the summer, they did not look as perfect. They had even carpets to walk on outside to make sure we would not bring dirt on the ship from outside! Or maybe it was also not to slip on deck…. Fresh paint and water can be very slippery.

Our neighbours were very kind. They invited us for coffee and we did the same of course. Their bridge was not as nice as ours and slightly differently arranged. In our PS wing, we have our little kitchen area; they had a space; their kitchen area was midships. They also had a fixed chair for steering and their office corner was on the Sb wing with two screens. I thought our bridge was cosier. But hey! Unless you are the very first owner and choose the style of your bridge, you get what you get right?

Enjoy a nice weekend and Sunday in the harbour and see you Monday for the next adventures with the steel coils!

Xxx

Sophie 

3d Term, Week 5 🤩 ⚓️

15th- 21st of February 2021

Hello! And… another week in Sophie’s adventures onboard Ruyter! Yeah! So as you guessed most probably with my hint from last week, our « promised « Hamina-Brake » trips lasted for 1 trip for now! We were indeed sent to Sluiskil to load fertilizer to Riga! For a change! Maybe from Riga, we would be going back to Hamina…. Hopefully. I honestly kind of liked that all icy timber loadings and…. Not that I am getting « hooked » to it yet, I like to have a cold and freezing winter and a nice and warm summer. So that our trips differ from summer to winter. Indeed. As we are sailing in the same waters all year long, I like to have a few differences in the scenery. It makes a known place look oh so different when it is cold and covered in ice and snow, or when it is all green and sunny glasses are required…. Do you follow what I mean?

Discharging timber cargo in Brake, Germany

Or maybe it was the idea of having to clean the cargo hold again after fertilizer. And let’s admit it. With timber you only need a good sweep because it is clean cargo, and washing the hold in winter is a hell of a lot of work because it doesn’t dry as fast as in the summer: you really need to use the squiggly very well, and mop the tank top as good as you can so that hopefully with the air dryer it will all be ready for hold inspection in the next harbour.

Ruyter alongside in Brake, Germany

But it is ok. Fertilizer it is. Washing the cargo hold is fun, and is also part of the job. At least it is not paperwork…. Although I do not really mind paperwork.

Ok so here we are on a busy busy Monday in Brake: finishing the discharge of the timber, cleaning the hold and preparing it for the next cargo (angle tarpaulins to prevent the cargo to come behind the bulkheads, giving it a good wash for the inspectors and closing everything (speed locks and wedges) for the ultrasonic test we would get.

Oh and of course, as it usually happens when we are close to The Netherlands: food delivery! We get our food and ship provisions from Ship2supply in Delfzijl and after a few years we got to know them well and it is always a pleasure to see their truck parking close by to our gangway… ok ok. Not only for the good food, fresh fruits and vegetables we are getting on board but mainly for the crate of cookies! Haha joking. It is always nice to see familiar faces coming on board.

Always happy to see our friends from Ship2Supply!

I was very glad we had our good walk the day before because Monday was quite rainy: happy we were discharging timber, so not a weather-sensitive cargo! It seemed that the rain kept following us for the next days after that.

On the north sea all the way to Sluiskil, where we had to wait a few days alongside without being able to load due to «conjecture»…. Because of the rain of course. Everything seems to stop with rain. I can understand but yeah. A bit frustrating, also when you cannot go ashore. But that is the way it is.

On our way south in the north sea; it was pretty cool: during dinner (why does everything tend to happen during dinner or coffee breaks right?), I had a helicopter call on VHF 16. It often happens that they want to practice boarding a ship so they call us to ask permission to train on our ship. Up to now, I have never had a captain saying he didn’t allow it which is quite cool. It feels like «something is happening onboard» when they are there.

Helicopter drill in the North Sea!
Helicopter drill in the North Sea!

I like helicopters in general. Also on land, if there is a military show with helicopters, tankers and all sorts of cool stuff, I am always one of the first ones asking if I can have a look inside and If I can sit in the pilot’s chair…. Are you not? I always think that what is unusual and not so common can be fun and interesting.

So there was the helicopter drill onboard the ship. Finally a bit of « cooler » on this grey and wet winter day. It was almost dark outside and quite windy too so I suppose it must have been good training for them!

After rain always comes the sun… sunsets at sea!

Passing the locks in Terneuzen, weren’t alongside directly after the locks on the waiting berth to have the hold inspection done: Ultrasound test, an inspection of the hold and the bilge. All good. As usual.

Ballasting at the waiting berth in Terneuzen!

They say the hold surveyors from the yard are tough ones and that they are always picky. I have had only once some discussions with some about our rubbers and a speed lock they found was not tight enough for them… ( really?) All the other times it went smoothly. But I still sometimes have that knot in the stomach thinking: will it also pass this time? And it does. I should not worry. I am a Sophie so I do: in my opinion, if it doesn’t pass it is because I was not precise enough in my job and in cleaning and supervision the end result …

The Yara surveyors preparing for the Ultra sonic test on board
This device stays in the hold during the Ultra Sonic test.

They also say that they will be less picky if they have a lot of ships waiting and conjecture; and pickier if their cargo is not ready…. That is the game in shipping: trying to win time for who will be paying what in the end. If they say the ship is not ready and the hold was not accepted, then the ship cannot issue the notice of readiness and the timer doesn’t start…. Do you get it?

The way an ultrasound works is by having all the hatches closed, speed locks on and wedges too. One of the surveyors put a box in the middle of the hold and another one goes around all the hatches with a headset and a tool that looks like an antenna. This way they measure by the number of frequencies passing through the rubbers if there is a « leak » or not. If they aren’t any leaks: all good; if some are found then we need to fix them. simple. 

As soon as the ship that was still in our berth left, we shifted to the Zijkanal C where we would be loading. Luckily we did not have to wait as long as predicting and that same evening we started loading; hatches by hatches has it was still quite grey and cloudy outside…

Ruyter alongside at the Yara terminal in Sluiskil.

It is important to keep in mind the time that it takes you to open or close the hatches; the loading process: if it is by truck, by belt, by crane because this means you cannot decide directly if you want to close the hatches, you might need to wait until the belt is empty which can take a few minutes sometimes…. The cranes are usually the easiest in case of bad weather because they go grab by grab and you can pass in-between and start closing in some places where the hatch cover crane is for example. And the other thing you need to be very aware of is your trim: you cannot use the hatch cover crane in all situations. If your trim is too big it can become very dangerous to drive and let’s say there is slippery cargo on the rails…. It doesn’t help at all.

Loading Fertiliser in Sluiskil, with only one hatch open.

The even hatches at the top hatches, the uneven ones at the bottom hatches. This means that we cannot open the bottom hatches before the top ones. For cargo operations, this implies that we can have either 1 hatch open or 3 in case of bad weather, but not « just two »….( except for hatches 1 and 2 and hatches 8 and 9 😉 )

Sometimes the equipment they use for loading can handle with just one hatch open: very handy like that we do not have to stop all the time, and it is opened and closed way faster. We are there to load right? 

I always find it interesting to see different points of view of the ship…

This time they had a pipe that could turn around quite well so with only one hatch open we could reach under half of the other two hatches next to the open one. And the rate was also fast so it is nice too. You do not have the impression that nothing is happening!

Less than 24 hours later we were out at sea again: through the locks in Terneuzen and off with the pilot in front of Flushing and out in the North Sea. Great! I like it when it managed to stay dry just the time we need to load. The harbour because touch and go. I like being long at sea; I like also being a few days in harbour, but only when we can go sightseeing and for a walk so…. This time we couldn’t better sail again! Haha

A little over 24hours we were already at the locks in Brunsbüttel. Again a bit of luck to have currents with and some easy times for the locks and pilot changes on the channel. Usually, it is always in the middle of the night and some always have to stay longer for the locks or have to come up earlier for the pilot change. It rarely happens that it is similar to our watch system… but yeah we have to go through anyways right?

In the locks in Brunsbüttel, before entering the Kiel Channel

And finally, finally, we got our routine schedule back sailing all the way to Riga fully loaded with fertilizer.

Sometimes I wonder…. Yara is Finnish, but there is also fertilizer in Russia or almost every harbour in Finland…. Why bring it all the way from The Netherlands? I mean I know they are not all the same fertilizers…. But I find it strange sometimes that cargo goes back and forth… imagine how pointless it would be to bring back and forth the same cargo right? I say that, but I am certain it actually does happen with steel coils or wood or wood pulp too! I wouldn’t be surprised!

Underway to Riga…

But okay… I am not sure and I think I would rather not know. It would make my job a bit pointless.

I am glad we could finally catch up on some sleep and some rest with these few easy sailing days. Because after Riga we would probably go back for the timber (so hard work with lashing again) or have short icy trips in the baltic…. We do not know yet!

Let’s dream of another easy sailing trip…. And I will see you next week!

Checking the drafts in Sluiskil: always with a smile of course!

Ciao ciao!!

Sophie xxx

3d term, Week 2 🤩⚓️

25th-31st of January 2021

So… we arrived in Goole (UK) Sunday but did not go ashore there. We arrived a little earlier and we were hoping to be able to be alongside for the night but they (the authorities) decided otherwise. So we had to stay at anchor in the deepwater area and wake up early early to heave up anchor and get the pilot onboard that would sail with us on the river up to our berth.

On our way to Goole

When these kinds of changes happen, I am usually not called in the morning to heave up the anchor. I usually stay on my normal anchor watch routine or swap with the engineer or captain so that not all of us are exhausted the next morning.

Indeed, as the deck officer, I am responsible for opening the hatches open on time in the morning. So there I was at 6 am ship’s time with all hatches open, ready for discharging while the others could take a wee nap. First thing as soon as discharging starts is ballasting the vessel. I usually really need to be awake and fit then, because times like this are only about “go go go” moments. I start early and finish late. It is quite rare that I get to go back to sleep for a short nap. I just try to keep my mind focused on the job: hatches and weather and not think too much. Usually, it is not a problem. I know I will be able to rest later at sea for example, but sometimes on the spot, it can be quite tough. This time as soon as discharging was done, we had to wash the cargo hold and move bulkheads again. The pilot would come onboard in the middle of the night and we would have a short 2-hour sail up the river to another berth in Goole.

Moored on the Humber River

There, we were supposed to start a new loading in the darling morning. But, as it often happens in the shipping world: change of plan! We would not start the discharge. Only the day after. So we had an easy day that day because we were all quite wrecked from the nights before of course. That is the nice thing when some change of plans happen! And it is nice to know that changes are not always for the bad either. It gave us time to breathe and have a look at the maintenance jobs to be done onboard.

Sunset? Or sunrise? What would you say?

One year ago we had Port state control onboard (PSC): is an official inspection of the ship that can only be done in a foreign country. Your flag state cannot inspect you (unless an annual inspection for example – but not a surprise one let’s say). This inspection is officially recorded on the Paris-MOU website with all the eventual deficiencies that have been found. The deficiencies are available to any person who looks up your vessel. Of course, the worst-case scenario is that the vessel is “chained” or detained and cannot sail out. That usually happens if there are too many deficiencies or important items to be solved. The goal of course is to have the least possible deficiencies which mean that the vessel is well taken care of and is in good condition. Usually, after 1 year, the vessel comes up on the top of the “to be inspected” list and is “due” to re-inspection. This is how we know that we can expect PSC onboard. If the ship is well maintained and in good order – which means: ” if you did your job well”, then there is nothing to be afraid or worry about. It should go just fine. But you never know. If inspectors have had a bad day, it could be that they will be searching for a small thing you never know. And of course, we are humans so sometimes small things can also be forgotten! All this to say that well, we were expecting a PSC inspection anytime soon so I was glad to have that extra calm time to make sure the paperwork was in order but also the deck and its safety equipment.

Well. They didn’t come, and we also didn’t start loading till the afternoon of the next day! haha

Our next cargo was an interesting one! Railways for trains that we would bring to Hamina in Finland!

Railways: an interesting cargo!

I have never transported such cargo. It is in steel and very heavy for a very little volume. This means that most of the weight (centre of gravity) of the cargo would be at the bottom of the ship. I was now just keeping my fingers crossed that we would not get any heavy weather towards Finland because with such cargo, the ship starts rolling a lot and becomes quite “nervous” and it makes sleeping less nice and you sometimes need to hold on to things a little more. Life at sea!

Loadingvtge railways with two cranes

The rails were 50 meters long so I had to open all the hatches to load.

Two cranes were manipulating the rails together to put them in the hold. It seemed like quite a tricky job to do!

The nice thing I am experiencing about this job is that so far I have found it quite diverse regarding destinations and cargo it seems that I am always learning something new on every trip, so that is quite nice. I hope it will stay like that and that I will not get tired of too many of the same trips in the future.

Train railways! Isn’t that cool? The way they made them fast at the end was also interesting. The last layer was fairly lashed with a strap and partly with timber that was hammered in between the rails.

Another nice thing about railways that I discovered, is that I actually find them very photogenic and artistic! Coming from an architecture background – did you know I am an architect and studied the full courses at the university in Paris? It is a big part with these about lines and shapes. I must say I very much enjoy taking “artistic” pictures! or at least I try to call them “artistic”!

Moored in Goole, ready to load steel!

The harbour of Goole is very interesting we were inside the docks and had to pass through a narrow lock, then very narrow spaces with quite a lot of bends to reach either our berthing place or the locks. I was then on the foredeck guiding the captain in his manoeuvre giving him the distances we had ahead of us. I like doing such things because it “spices” up our everyday routine.

Underway from Goole to Hamina of course we sailed again through the Kiel Channel. And again at night making some slight changes in the watches so that they would correspond to the moments we enter the locks in Brunsbüttel and Holtenau. And also for the pilot change that occurs midway through the channel. Despite what other people think, I enjoy the channel, it is usually peaceful and quiet and there is always something different: the weather – sun, rain or fog-, the time of the day people walk, cycle – or not – on the quays. Sometimes the pilots want to steer so we are happy to let them do, sometimes we have to steer all the way through. I do not mind. Well, I also do not have the choice as it is also my job right? Anyways.

All frozen on the foredeck!

Fun fact about the time we passed the locks in Brunsbüttel: I had my first frozen mooring line experience! It was -9°c when we entered the locks and in 1 hour outside, the lines were frozen as sticks. In the freezing areas in the winter, we take time to store all our lines either in the paint-store forward or in the workshop aft so that we do not have that problem when arriving in the harbour and preparing for mooring. I better get used to it as when we look at the ice charts in the Gulf of Finland, it will be cold there!

Always happy, or trying to be of course! 🙂

I am looking forward to some ice experiences of course it reminds me of when I was sailing in Antarctica. Except that I house the feeling that summer in Antarctica was warmer than winter in the Baltic! We will see!

I will let you know next week what happens! 🙂