Hi there
I read this post with interest. I worked onboard the Geest Line vessels from 1976 as third mate to when they made me redundant as master in 2004. I sailed on the Geestbay and her sister ship the Geestport many times. These ships were built in the early 1980's in Middlesborough. The hulls were based on a Blue Star A class hull, however Geest in their wisdom added an extra accomodation deck thereby making them rather tender. The cranes on the Geestbay and the Geestport were if memory serves me correctly manufactured by Clark Chapman. They were electric cranes as opposed to the hydraulic Haglund cranes on the earlier Tide class vessels. The reason that Geest changed to electric cranes, was that the Haglund hydraulic cranes frequently developed hydraulic leaks, spraying oil over the banana boxes. Geest always had a policy of having two modes for loading each hatch with bananas, to allow for breakdowns. Each hatch had a crane and a pair of union purchase derricks. For loading bananas, the cranes were used in high speed single mode. For lifting heavy containers, they were twinned up and driven by one man in the master crane.
I spent many many hours on cargo watch as third mate, second mate and chief mate, before being promoted to master. I stood by in Danyard for the building of the next generation of Geest vessels. The Geest St Lucia and the Geest Dominica in 1993. Sadly, the Geest Dominica went to the breakers at Alang last year. Following my redundancy in 2004, I became a Deep Sea Pilot. I am still working and love the job, piloting vessels ranging from 200 metre car carriers up to 400 metre container ships - a far cry from my days in Geest
Hoping this is of interest
Andy Ward