new generation box boats

[john meekin]

I have been looking at the diamensions of the 3 E maersk box boats,i was supposed to go to Hamburg to pick up one of the new Bay boats as A.B. in 72,I swallowed the anchor instead.My last trip on Protesilaus,in Kobe, I visited I think it was Tokyo Bay,I was amazed at the vast scale of everything,and she was 2000 units,with a crew of about 30.
I cant get my head round these new monsters,18000 units,with a projected crew of 13,how is this made up,it must be a very technical team.I was on the Clearway,a car transporter,running downto Lagos,and we had a very small crew, 13, but she was only 1300 tons gross,how they will manage these monsters,I cant imagine.
I hope some of you more modern seafarers can enlighten this old seadog
Regards to all
John Meekin

[happy daze john in oz]

I have been looking at the diamensions of the 3 E maersk box boats,i was supposed to go to Hambugh to pick up one of the new Bay boats as A.B. in 72,I swallowed the anchor instead.My last trip on Protesilaus,in Kobe, I visited I think it was Tokyo Bay,I was amazed at the vast scale of everything,and she was 2000 units,with a crew of about 30.
I cant get my head round these new monsters,18000 units,with a projected crew of 13,how is this made up,it must be a very technical team.I was on the Clearway,a car transporter,running downto Lagos,and we had a very small crew, 13, but she was only 1300 tons gross,how they will manage these monsters,I cant imagine.
I hope some of you more modern seafarers can enlighten this old seadog
Regards to all
John Meekin

I have read where they can be managed by as few as 8 crew members on some runs, they can do Japan to U.S in five days and on that run only 8.
Food is all frozen TV type meals and all crew have to do for themselves.

[robpage]

What no light hearted banter as the steward puts your dinner down on the table , Come back King Line all is forgiven !!!! We had a troublesome bunch on the King Arthur , the second steward would lean out of the servery hatch and shout , Right men , hands up , who wants soup !! To have replaced him with a deep freeze and a microwave would have been a godsend . But I wonder what state the cabins are in after a couple of weeks , I cannot ebnvisage an old fashioned shop's master coming to grips with the mecahanical vaguries of a hoover . Do they have a roster to vacuum the dining salon , and when is it time to polish teh bulkheads , oh how glad I am to have retired .!

[Mike Hall]

the crew of thirteen consists of the following
master
mate
2nd mate
3rd mate
4th mate/or apprentice
ch eng
2 eng
3 eng/elec
eng room hand
deck hand
deck hand
deck hand
cook.
i must mention on these ships there is accomadation for 30.
the crew of eight consists of
master
mate
2nd mate
ch eng
eng hand
deck hand
deck hand
cook
regards to all
mike

[Graham Payne]

Hi John
only did one trip on a "box boat" as such, circa 1969/70, that was on the " Beaveroak " Canadian Pacific Line, a converted general cargo ship, Tilbury to Quebec and back, seems we had to keep to a schedule, sail, arrive, and depart at specific times. The "Old Man" had so much time on his hands that he took us up past Whitley Bay where he lived ( So he could either wave or flash his Aldis to his Wife ) then around the Pentland Firth, not a smart thing to do in winter, the crew were not that impressed most of all the poor blokes in the Catering Dept.

[Glenn Baker]

Yes I never tried any of the Box Ships, i stayed with conventional Cargo ships with Derricks for as long as i could before I threw it in, Having all sorts of crew on the lod ships was great. I also hear that there are quite a number of Containers floating around the Oceans just beneath the surface, i couldnt think of anything worse to collide with if you were on a small pleasure vessel say around fifty feet and with no chace of seeing a sunken container you wouldnt stand a chance if a collision occured. all the best Glenn in Australia

[Captain Kong]

I read that the owners, Maersk, wanted to have no crew at all, just a docking crew in LA and in Tokyo.
The crew land by helicopter, berth it and are taken off by helicopter once the course and speed has been set. The US Coast Guard said "NO". same as the Insurance Company. Ship owners never change, mean as ever.