Load, Discharge

[John Arton]

For those of us who sailed on tankers and large bulk carriers we were used to loading and discharging at rates of up to 20,000 tons per hour but I bet none of us ever discharged as fast as this ship. (hope the link works)
Saw a similar ship in B.C. many years ago and when all the logs shot off the whole ship leapt sideways out of the water!!!
Fastest I ever loaded\/, \sept \isles and Tubarao (iron ore) at around 25,000 tons per hour with the occasional spell of up to 30,000 tons per hour, frightening!

http://gcaptain.com/the-easy-way-to-...Captain.com%29

rgds
JA

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi shipmates, Not much time ashore in that port?

[Robert T. Bush]

Discharging logs was quite often done this way in B.C. In case all the logs did not go, sometimes an explosive charge was placed under them.

These barges could be anchored by remote control from their tugs.

[John Arton]

Robert
The one I saw was not a barge but a proper ship, all accommodation fwd, then flat deck with single pedestal crane amidships for loading the logs and engine room housing and funnel right aft with possibly engineers accommodation in the aft housing. It would anchor in Harmac Bay (I think it was) and all crew bar about two or three guys would leave it. The three guys left on board would be strapped into seats in a similar manner to airline pilots and they would then ballast the ship to create a list. Once the list reached a certain angle the whole cargo of logs would shoot off under the force of gravity. This took minutes and the resultant loss of weight caused the ships buoyancy to make it quite literally jump out of the water at an angle. Very spectacular. Once discharged, the remaining crew would re-join and off she would go for another load of something around 20,000 tons of logs. If the logs failed to go once a certain angle of inclination was reached, then an explosive charge would be set off remotely from the bridge to get them moving.
rgds
JA

[Ivan Cloherty]

Remember seeing something similar up in BC in the 1950's very impressive, but what impressed me more was the bravery of those little log raft tow boats who it seemed to me were too close to the discharging barge when the logs came off, because some of those logs would jump high in the air out of the water and go in all directions.

[John Arton]

Used to watch the little tow boats taking the logs from the log ponds to the conveyor that took them out of the water and into the saw mill. They were constantly on the go and at the end of the shift the driver would just throw a loop of rope around the landing stage and just walk away leaving the engine running for the next shift when they started. Often the vibrations would cause the drive lever to engage and the next thing was the thing would take off and charge unmanned all over the dock area bashing into anything that got in its way. Funny to watch until it started heading your way.
rgds
JA

[happy daze john in oz]

Saw logs being loaded in NZ bound for China, now I know how they unload them.

[John Arton]

Speaking of logs, any ex. Elder Dempster lads here ever loaded logs down in West Africa? Believe that was a pretty scary task with those huge mahogany logs swinging around on union purchase rigs. I've loaded sawn timber out in Indonesia where apart from the ships cranes there was no other mechanical aids so to get the bundles of timber (all different lengths and quantities in each bundle) they used to get them out into the wings of the hatches by sliding them along greased planks set at an angle. The finished stow had loads of broken stow and looked as if it would not last the trip. Even the deck stow was not much better but we made it back to Europe in one piece.
The Indonesians were basically de-foresting all their Islands. We had to go to Ambon to pick up the labour which then lived on board whilst we were loading at anchor off some island 2 days steaming away. The Indonesians had landed with a few chain saws, cut an opening in the forest, constructed some huts for the workers, built a saw mill that consisted of a couple of huge circular saws turning at high speed day and night. No guards or fences, all the cutting of the logs was done by eye by Chinese workers who would literally run the logs through the saw and end up with planks of various lengths but all 1" thick to within millimetres.
It was hot and steaming and was a bit like a scene from Dantes Inferno. No charts of the actual bay we anchored in so we had to make up our own chart in order to get in close enough so as to allow the barges that were bringing the timber out to us, to work safely.
Fun days.
rgds
JA

[Ivan Cloherty]

Loaded mahogany logs down W Africa on an old Empire Ship, but not with Union Purchase, had to convert the UP to Swinging derricks with steam winch to bring inboard and barrels of cement to act as deadman to swing outboard, ALL those logs being 95% submerged were heavier than their declared weight, the derrick heel was constantly wanting to go skywards, what a bluddy palaver that was, those logs could cause some damage, also hoping we didn't get bad weather on the way northwards to the detriment of our stability, as always heaviest logs down below (if possible), softer logs on deck, but they of course absorbed more water in bad weather, and run out of soft logs and then the big heavy ones on top of the deck load, very little went to plan down that coast, but as always, beats 9 - 5