It is a damp and rainy evening as I'm entering the CMA CGM Kingston, which has just landed at the Burchardkai terminal, to stay onboard on the short voyage to Antwerp.
Captain Ervin Puhalovic, now completing his paperwork with the local boarding agent Ms Theresa Jahn, has set aside a couple of minutes during his long and hectic watch to welcome me on board.
“We are behind schedule on this trip, and have had to skip Tilbury in the UK,” he explains. “Now we are trying to catch up, so we have to get the cargo ashore and on board as quickly as the technology allows. While here, we are also taking on board our quarter-yearly fresh supplies of general consumables and spare parts. For example, you’ll see us loading a new spare piston since we changed some worn out liners and the piston a while ago. We get fresh supplies every third month and, since this is a German-owned ship, the goods are by preference German commodities – which makes Hamburg convenient,” he says.
We are interrupted by a call from the chief officer who needs the Master urgently. “You’ll have to excuse me. We have to arrange for some hot-work to be performed tomorrow morning on the wave breaker at the bow,” he says as he leaves.
While on route to Malta in March of this year, the Kingston had a head-on encounter with a massive greenwater wave in the Bay of Biscay which knocked the wave breaker at the bow partly out of position. The breaker did its job, however, protecting the container load behind it. The protection barrier is still intact but needs strengthening in accordance with plans prepared jointly by the owner and DNV.
A problem now is that the loading sequence should be altered to accommodate the hot-work, which must take place at a minimum distance of 30 metres from hazardous cargo stored at the front. As it turns out, with the first cargo hold kept empty as requested, the distance is now going to be only half of that.
The complete, scheduled loading sequence to be used by the trucks and cranes has been finalized earlier by the port personnel who are now, late on a Saturday evening, no longer at hand. This is a real headache, illustrating one of the variety of challenges facing a Master on a container liner.
However, this obstacle is finally overcome by some improvised container juggling and the necessary approval by the water police. A reduced safety zone has been accepted because the hot-work is to be performed on the bow side of the wave breaker, which is on the opposite side to the containers.
The welders are in place on Sunday morning doing their job, and as day turns into night DNV surveyor Mr Hagen Kruse from DNV’s Hamburg office has already been on board giving his approval.
The cargo loading is completed – and we are ready to leave port.
Sunday Evening on the Elbe As the ship leaves Hamburg, I’m standing alone in the mild breeze on the bridge wing in the quiet of the night as we slowly glide down the River Elbe. A fascinating view in the dark, passing an occasional shadowy contour of a ship going upstream, and surrounded by the twinkle of millions of lights from terminals, industrial plants and private homes in this densely populated urban area.
Inside the bridge, I can see the Master's face lit by the glowing radar image and in the darkness I hear the pilot giving his directions to the crew member at the helm – and the response. It all looks very relaxed, very controlled. I leave the quiet of the bridge to enter into a different and noisy world.
This is the engine room and we meet up with Chief Engineer (C/E) Colin Dicks in the control room. “Yes, my place is down here, for example when passing through narrow waters like here on the river, and during troubled weather conditions,” he says. “God forbid that any serious malfunction should occur, but you never know. Should anything happen in these passages it is my duty to stay close to our ship’s beating heart. Of course, this is quite a new and modern ship, with a lot of automated backup systems for generators and the like, but these have limited intelligence – and that's where I fit in... So my watch tonight lasts until we enter the open sea.”
In the comfort of my cabin, the low, distant rumble from the engine and a barely felt rocking puts me to sleep confidently – long before we come to the ocean.
Monday Afternoon in the North Sea The sea is calm and the sun is shining. It is a beautiful day to be out at sea. We are off the coast of Belgium on this early afternoon, and the flag is hoisted to announce that the pilot has just come on board. On the bridge, the crew is ready to receive the pilot who will be guiding us towards Antwerp.
We again catch up with Captain Puhalovic, whose private ‘home port’ is Dubrovnik in Croatia. “In my family we have traditionally been seafarers for about four hundred years,” he says. “So my dad was a seafarer, a captain, and as for myself I started my nearly thirty-year-long career at sea in 1979 and have been sailing ever since.
“I entered the container ship trade around fifteen years ago, so you'll understand I have watched at close range the tremendous growth during these years and how this business has developed and changed. It has been, and still is, a booming and highly competitive business with hundreds of new container ships entering the trade each year. And it cannot be denied that this growth has become increasingly strenuous for both the people involved on shore and us at sea. Likewise, the land-based operations have a hard time keeping up with the growth which is leading to congestion problems in many ports.
“But despite its downsides, it’s an interesting and prosperous business. And being out on the open seas, at times battling the forces of nature, also has a certain attraction to it. You might say it is a very special lifestyle.”
As the sun is setting, we enter the port and slowly manoeuvre closer to the quay. The moorings are secured and tightened. We are in Antwerp and the discharge of containers can begin.
Tuesday Night/Morning in Antwerp. At three o’clock in the morning, the container discharge and loading is in full swing and the bunker barge has just arrived. As we are inside the North Sea SECA (SOx Emission Control Area), an increase in the ship’s supply of low sulphur oil is required.
The large bunkering pipe is connected, and a crew member is preparing a sampling plastic container at the inlet. Says C/E Dicks: “The bunker quality is, of course, given serious attention. We routinely sample the different bunker fuels we receive, and distribute three samples of each to ourselves, the barge – and the lab for analysis. The quality varies, also from suppliers here in Europe, so a watchful eye on this is absolutely necessary.
“Normally there is a 48hr delay before the analytical data are in. Fortunately the samples are, more often than not, within limits because having to change to a new batch of bunker fuel when the fuel is already on board is both a time-consuming and costly operation.”
When I left the CMA CGM Kingston in Antwerp early the next morning, the captain was getting some well-deserved sleep, so I did not get the chance to thank him personally for the hospitality I experienced while on board. I'll therefore take this opportunity to say thank you – and to wish him and his crew bon voyage on their new six-week round trip voyage to the Far East.