Samundra

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 28

Samundra Spirit APRIL 2008 ISSUE 01

Samundra Spirit APRIL 2008 ISSUE 01


APR 2010 ISSUE 09

Contents
03 Editorial Note
04 From the Principal’s Desk

SHARING EXPERIENCE
05 Beset in Ice!
12 Grounding in Suez Canal: An Eye-witness
Account
22 Watch Out - We Are Crossing an Iceberg!

KNOWLEDGE
06 Art and Science of Trouble Shooting
05 07 Be A Safe Navigator: Learn Your Basics
08 Parametric Roll in Longitudinal Sea
09 Introduction to Load (Plimsoll) Lines
21 Risk Management Tool: BowTie!

THE ENVIRONMENT
10 Squeezing the SOx Out of Ship Emissions

DOWN THE MEMORY LANE


11 Inadequate Monitoring of Moorings in Port

CAMPUS NEWS
13 CEO, MPA, Singapore Visits SIMS, Lonavala
19 SIMS Cadets Join as ESM Officers
24 Tapti House Wins Inter-house T10 Cricket
Tournament
24 Double Joy for Ganga House
13 24 Ganga House Clinches 3rd Football
Championship
23 Farewell Function for Prof. D.V.B. Swamy

CASE STUDY
15 Steam Burns to Motorman
15 Responses for Bunker, How Much is Safe
Margin? : Issue 08 (Jan 2010)

FUN STUFF
17 Crossword Puzzle

CADETS’ DIARY
18 Electricity from Trees:
A Revolutionary Way of Generating Energy
19 Sailing Through SIMS
20 Learning with SIMS
20 What is Life?
23 20 Helmet

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES


25 ESM and SIMS Once Again Bag BP
(Partner of the Year) Award
Background of cover picture - 25 SIMS, Lonavala Wins Architecture Awards
By artist: CDT Uttam Dutta (DNS-09) from SIMS, Lonavala 25 SIMS Clinches Championship Trophy in
Chanakya Extravaganza
APRIL 2010 ISSUE 09 EDITORIAL NOTE
The World Teachers never etched their words
www.samundra.com
On paper or stone
For all to obey;
They knew people would only split hairs, bicker,
Compel others to follow their folly.
Address:
The more you listen to preachers,
SIMS, LONAVALA
Village Takwe Khurd,
The more you’ll moralise and judge,
Mumbai-Pune Highway (NH4), Lonavala, Dist.
So go learn on your own.
Pune, Maharashtra, Pin 410405, India Everything is written inside:
Tel: + 91 2114 399 500 You are The Book!
Fax: + 91 2114 399 600 - Chinese sage Lao-Tzu, a contemporary of Confucius in 600 B.C.

Address: This issue of Samundra Spirit contains an array of life’s practical lessons and experi-
SIMS, MUMBAI ences from our veteran masters in ESM and SIMS that will share invaluable nuggets of
5th Floor, Sai Commercial Building professional wisdom for the future navigators and seafarers. The stories of ships stuck in ice
BKS Devshi Marg, Govandi Station Road, and encountering icebergs from nowhere indeed interesting but were nerve wrecking and
Govandi East Mumbai, PIN- 400088 India
life threatening experiences for those who watched in horror and suffered apprehensions
Tel: + 91 22 6799 3545
for their lives!
Fax: + 91 22 6799 3546

The environment is an issue we cannot and must not forget. Squeezing the SOx out of Ship
EDITORIAL BOARD Emissions and Electricity from Trees are two articles which will definitely provide urgency to
Sikha Singh the issue and food for thoughts for all of us and more so to the vibrant and inquisitive young
Mr. Biju Baben minds.
Capt. Arun Sundaram
We would like to dedicate this issue to the teachers, the “gurus” without whom the life will
remain untaught and unlearned. Gurus are not the ones who deliver the lecture and walk
Editorial Director Sikha Singh off without turning back to the one limping at the side because he/she could not keep pace,
Editorial Assistant Capt. Rajesh Subramanian
neither is he the one who does not only possess vast knowledge but has the wisdom to
Tripta Kapur
deliver, he is the source of ample patience and love for those coming to him/her for guidance
Design & Layout Chen Mian Fang Su
and direction in life. “Guru” in the ancient Sanskrit language means one who leads from
IT Support Peter Chan
darkness to light. As per Hindu religion, Guru is the ultimate teacher and equivalent to God
and parents. We do hope SIMS is fortunate to have “gurus” and not just teachers on board.
SAMUNDRA SPIRIT is a quarterly
in-house magazine produced by This issue also highlights the changing of time and the change of leadership in SIMS, Lonav-
Samundra Institute of Maritime Studies (SIMS) ala from Prof. DVB Swamy to Mr. S. Viswanathan. From an Indian navy veteran and scholar
for private circulation. to a merchant navy seasoned engineer with decades of teaching and mentoring experience.
The regular awards and accolades continue to occupy the designated pages as they are,
Our Editorial Team wants to hear from you! very rightly the source of encouragement and motivation for all involved in the institute.

If you wish to submit any feedbacks and/or


Finally, heartfelt thanks for the team which worked behind the scene with both passion and
contributions, feel free to write to the Editor at:
patience, in addition to their regular day jobs. We are indeed pleased to have them named
samundraspirit@samundra.com
in our new editorial team.
*Please note we reserve the right to publish
your letters/articles or an edited version of it in Wishing you adieu with the words from the sage again:
all print & electronic media.
When one asks to be your student
Don’t waste your time on theory or style
Teach them to respond like a master,
Love like a child.
From this the rest will follow.

Why is this way great?


Because when you ask, you receive
When you seek, you find
When you err, you’re forgiven;
Endlessly and forever
No one’s condemned or excluded.
Take heart!

Be safe and happy reading!!


Samundra Spirit | APR 2010 ISSUE 09 4

From the Principal’s Desk

It is indeed a satisfying experience to step once again into SIMS, Lonavala - which liter-
ally grew in front of my eyes as I recall vividly the time I shunted back and forth from
SIMS, Mumbai and Lonavala in the initial years of the latter starting in October, 2004.
The challenge was tremendous - to realise the dream of establishing a world ranking
maritime institute not just in terms of infra-structure but in terms of its value proposi-
tion. It is meant to be not just a nursery of future officers of ESM but in fact, producing
the maritime world leaders of tomorrow.

As I look around now, barely five years later, what a great place to be in. Whether it
is the greenery, ambience, architecture or the facilities, the most important of all, the
sight of our young and bubbling cadets in their smart uniforms and the hunger for
knowledge in their eyes!

To feel the pulse, I delivered two lectures soon after joining and could see and feel their
insatiable cravings as I interacted with them at length. What an exhilarating experi-
ence indeed!

As a teacher and mentor in this campus, everything one would wish in terms of in-
frastructure and equipments have been well thought out and provided for. Now is the
time for us, the faculty and staff of this great institute to put in the effort to take the
Institute further to its glory by providing the shipping industry with the finest cadets
ever produced. We are happy that visitors representing various international maritime
organisations applaud and appreciate the vision and mission of our Management. But
that does not sound sufficient as we have yet to reach the summit.

There are many more hurdles and challenges to produce the finest cadets and to get the
world shipping fraternity stand up and watch the innovation and pioneering concepts
of our teaching. We would like to see our cadets rise to the ranks, to become Master
Mariners, Chief Engineers, Superintendents, Ship Managers and Ship Builders, in
short - populating the entire shipping industry with the Samundra Stamp. When the
captains of the Industry think of manpower, Maritime Training/Shipping Industry,
SIMS must come to their minds first.

Let us join hands in our endeavour to produce the best of cadets from this region. Let
the cadet never forget his learning and living experience with us in the campus when
he goes out in to the world - because he would then get the opportunity to utilise the
learning and living experiences in his practical life on board.

Wishing all the cadets, faculty and staff of SIMS a bright future.

S.Viswanathan
Principal
SIMS, Lonavala
5 Samundra Spirit | APR 2010 ISSUE 09 SHARING EXPERIENCE

Beset in Ice!
“Our experience in Baltic Ice with sec-
tions being 0.5m thick or more and
about 1.0m in way of ‘ridges’ was the
most unnerving and humbling experi-
ence and opened our eyes to another
facet of the power of nature. It is when
you have no idea what is happening,
which is most unnerving, when you
hear and feel the ship shuddering
and vibrating as if the main engine
was working. When you realise that Samraa Alkhaleej in ice
the compaction of the surrounding ice
should be taken prior to the vessel entering
is taking place, you wonder whether extent depends on whether the winter is
icy weather conditions with regarding blowing
the ship’s hull is hurt or if the ship is mild, moderate or severe. Severe winters
lines, clearing strainers, arranging winter gear
in danger and if so, when is the ‘right can lead to ice formation around Denmark
for the ship’s crew, etc. as per relevant ESM
time’ to call for assistance. In short, and southern Sweden.
company forms. A number of precautions will
all I can say is that I have NOT had
such an EXPERIENCE in my nearly Different Ice in Different Regions need to be taken on the deck and in the engine
room as during these times, air temperature as
39 years out at sea. During winter, fast ice, which is at-
tached to the shoreline, develops first, ren- low as minus 350 degree celsius may be en-
dering the ports unusable without the serv- countered.
Capt. Indraneel Ghosh
ices of icebreakers. Level ice, ice sludge, Usually the ports in these icy re-
An ESM master, sharing his experiences while
pancake ice or rafter ice form in the more gions continue to operate even in the winter
the vessel was beset (stuck) in ice in the Baltic
open regions. The gleaming expanse of ice months. There are various agencies monitor-
during the peak season of ice.
is similar to the Arctic, with wind-driven pack ing and transmitting information regarding cur-
Most mariners, particularly those in ice and ridges up to 15 m as was noted by rent ice conditions prevalent in these areas.
the worldwide trade at some time in their ca- the ancients. Offshore of the land, the ice In many of these places, it may be a standard
reer can expect to encounter ice in one form or remains very dynamic all year and because practice for vessels to become beset in ice and
the other. In order to navigate through an ice- of its thickness, it is relatively easily moved remain beset until they are required to berth at
bound region, it would seem prudent therefore around by winds and therefore makes up the terminals. Ice breaker escorts are provided
to have knowledge of what might become an large ridges and piles up against the land for vessels to proceed in an orderly convoy to
expected professional hazard. We have here fast ice and shores. the port.
a real life challenging story from the ESM fleet One of our managed ice class ves-
about a tanker that gets reset in ice and how Precautions for Master sel has been a regular visitor in the Baltic Sea
the master and the crew go through the ice While trading the vessel in win- during this winter season. We would like to
cold experience and finally extricate the ship ter months, the master of the ship needs to share its experience with our other seafarers
and got on their voyage successfully. be aware of the Time Charter Party (TCP) for their knowledge.
clauses for his vessel. The TCP clauses for The tanker had arrived on 25th
The Season of Ice a non-ice class ship usually do not permit January 2010 off Gogland Island to load at
The Baltic Sea, a brackish inland the vessel to enter waters bound by ice or Primorsk and since laycan were commenc-
sea, is bounded by the Scandinavian Penin- waters having possibility of presence of ice ing on 26th midnight, she had anchored amidst
sula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish or to follow ice breakers. Ice classification 15-20 cm thick close pack ice at 0830 LT. On
islands. On the long-term average, the Baltic of the vessel may vary to different grades 26th January morning however, the ship experi-
Sea is ice covered at about 45% of its maxi- depending on the construction of the ves- enced anchor dragging. The master picked up
mum surface area annually. The ice reaches sel. The categorisation of the ice classifica- the anchor to find a suitable place to re-anchor
its maximum extent in February or March; typi- tion will determine the extent of sea ice the thereafter. However, he found that in the proc-
cal ice thickness in the northernmost areas in vessel can endure during her call to the icy ess of moving, the ship had become beset in
the Bothnian Bay, the northern basin of the waters. ice.
Gulf of Bothnia, is about 70 cm (28 inches) for Upon receiving orders to proceed
landfast sea ice. The thickness decreases far- to waters where the ice may possibly be Call for Help
ther south. encountered (as established from the sail- From the information, the operation
Freezing begins in the northern ing directions), the master must obtain the department mariners in the shore Office knew
coast of Gulf of Bothnia typically in middle of latest ice charts through charterers, local that in Primorsk port it was quite normal for
November, reaching the open waters of Both- agents or ESM operations. The internet is vessels to be beset in ice during this season.
nian Bay in early January. The Bothnian Sea, a valuable source of information and should In fact, the port was also known to take no ac-
the basin south of it, freezes on average in late be used to obtain current information for tion regarding such a situation till the vessel
February. The Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of various areas. was due for berthing. Nevertheless, they were
Riga typically freeze in late January. The ice The winter and ice precautions
Continued on page 6
KNOWLEDGE Samundra Spirit | APR 2010 ISSUE 09 6

Art and Science of Troubleshooting Continued from page 5 (Beset in Ice!)

forthcoming with providing information and as-


sistance with one of their 4 or 5 operational

A ship’s staff often have to perform S.Viswanathan, Principal ice breakers, should any vessel require it. Of

“troubleshooting” to set right ma- SIMS, Lonavala course, the master needed to assess the con-

chineries and equipment on board dition of his vessel to judge whether he was in

the ship. Equipment may malfunc- to malfunction. any kind of danger. Being beset in ice, as such,

tion or fail due to various reasons. • Finally, start checking from the very posed no real danger to the vessel since Sam-

These could be classified under basic working of the equipment - do not raa was ICE CLASSED with notation 1A. Such

wear and tear, misuse, design conclude with assumptions or presump- vessels can take ‘severe ice conditions’ of upto

faults, etc. Troubleshooting a mal- tions. Remember, time is money. One 0.8m thick ice. However, the master should be

functioning equipment or system should not go in circles and by analysing aware if the vessel is drifting on to shallower

requires thorough knowledge of the correctly, one can hit the bull’s eye. water or against an island, which can cause

concerned equipment or system in It can be seen now that trouble- substantial increase of ice pressure on the

the first place. shooting is actually a combination of sci- ship’s hull. Under these circumstances, the
ence, art, and logic. One has to be methodi- master has to call for ice breaker assistance.
Troubleshooting is not a pure sci-
cal and maintain records. It will be a very Once beset, there is no point using engines to
ence, rather it is a combination of art and
satisfying and rewarding experience for the the keep the propeller clear, however this may
science. We may find that different people
person who achieves the desired result. be done in forming ice.
tackle the same problem in different ways
and achieve the same desired result. A One must keep a record of the method fol-
problem can have many solutions. The lowed in the ship’s record books. This is im- Safety Rules
portant for two reasons: A few things were agreed with the
question, therefore, is to judge these solu-
1. If the same problem occurs again on the master to ensure the safety of the vessel, while
tions by the time and effort taken, spares
ship, the ship staff can access the record the ship also used deck check list DCL12 for
and stores consumed and people involved
and set right the problem quickly. They conducting detailed ice checks:
to achieve the same result. Sometimes, the
need not reinvent the wheel. 1. Keep ballast tank slack (60%) to prevent
ship suffers commercially due to the ineffi-
2. If the problem is not solved by the ship clogging of air vents and structural damage
cient method adopted in terms of time and
staff and finally the shipping company to the ballast tanks.
money.
decides to send the technician on board, 2. Even if a clear patch of water is seen, do
the records will help the technician to by not attempt to drop the anchor when beset
Steps to follow in troubleshooting:
pass the items already checked by the in ice. This will only cause snapping of the
• Decipher the problem correctly - This
ship staff. Technicians are expensive cable.
is the most important phase in trouble-
and they are hired on a per day or per 3. Once a day, list the ship about 2 degrees
shooting. One requires thorough knowl-
hour basis. port to stbd and back to loosen the ice
edge of the equipment or system and
One can practice and fine tune around the vessel.
cannot afford to bark on the wrong tree.
troubleshooting skills with simulated condi- The vessel, of course, thereafter
• Have a first look at the site, not in the
tions or tackle a hypothetical problem. For moved back with the ice breaker’s assistance
cabin or control room, unless the equip-
example, an automatic boiler may not fire to the convoy starting point on 26th January
ment itself is located in that room. -
in auto mode or a main engine may not re- evening and berthed safely at the Primorsk
Sometimes a single glance at the site
verse in the correct direction. An air com- berth on 27th January morning. She then load-
close to the equipment reveals the prob-
pressor may be taking too long to press up ed its cargo of crude oil and sailed out on 28th
lem. One can use all the five senses
the air bottles or a bilge pump may not take January evening. The incident of the ship get-
such as smell, touch, hearing, taste and
suction. The problem that an engineer on ting beset in ice was repeated again on 30th
sight. Take safety precautions and use
board faces could be from a large spectrum January morning. The vessel had to wait for
your senses judiciously. If used care-
of machineries and systems. the ice breaker. Finally the ice breaker arrived
lessly and without anticipating the worst
Conclusion: Only thorough knowl- some 9.5 hours later to escort her and some
scenario, one can get hurt. Use measur-
edge and skill can lead a person to set right other ships out of the ice line. The ship was fi-
ing instruments to augment senses.
the problem. When problems occur and nally out of the ice line on 30th January at noon
• Analyse parameter records, log books to
troubleshooting is carried out, even those time and proceeded safely to her discharge
pin point variations in normal behaviour
not directly connected with the problem can port of Brofjorden.
of the equipment - It is very rare for an
be present and gain valuable experience. Note: SIMS, Mumbai runs a com-
equipment to malfunction all of a sud-
Problems don’t occur often, so we should prehensive and customised “Ice Navigation”
den, without manifesting the ongoing
not miss out on the opportunity. Senior staff course on the full mission simulator to educate
deterioration of its health or in other
must involve juniors in troubleshooting as ESM navigators on the intricacies of the navi-
words, showing any symptom. Remem-
they will one day become the torch bearers. gation through ice-bound regions. This course
ber, there is no fire without smoke.
After the equipment has been set right, a is of immense value for our seafarers who may
• Check associated equipments for trou-
debriefing session could be held informally be required to navigate through such areas.
ble - sometimes, in an inter-connected
to analyse the course of events and find Armed with this knowledge, navigators will
system, a malfunctioning piece of equip-
out if any improvements can be made in also gain experience from every real ice en-
ment may not manifest but cause some
troubleshooting. counter. They will gain confidence in the ship
other subsystem in the up/down stream
and respect the dangers that ice can present.
7 Samundra Spirit | APR 2010 ISSUE 09 KNOWLEDGE

Be A Safe Navigator:
terference by other device operating in close
proximity of GPS antenna, etc.
A simple check on the accuracy
Learn Your Basics of the GPS can be made by using the radar
Capt. D Kishore cursor on a fixed object such as a lighthouse
Nautical Faculty and then comparing it with the position of the
We have seen a spike in the number SIMS, Mumbai lighthouse on the chart. Once this is done, the
of navigation related incidents in the position of the buoys can also be verified on
last few years. Analysis of marine ac- conditions based on which the manoeuvre the radar.
cident trends from various sources can be initiated for the avoiding action to be
indicates between 15-20% increase effective. In all cases, a lesser speed allows VHF and AIS: VHF is primarily meant for
in collisions and groundings over the more time to take effective avoiding action. distress and ship to shore communication.
last two years. Regrettably, some There have been numerous cases of VHF as-
have resulted in loss of the vessel or Look out: Look out does not simply mean sisted collision. The main hazard is positive
worse still, loss of life. having an Able Seaman with binoculars identification of the vessel and misunderstand-
I remember in the early eighties, keeping a watch. One must use the RA- ing due to lingual barriers. Use of the VHF is
ships were fitted with basic radars and some DAR, AIS, VTIS intructions and traffic warn- to be avoided at sea and action must be taken
hyperbolic navigational aids like DECCA or ing on VHF as additional means of advance early enough to avoid any such need.
LORAN unlike the array of gadgets available warning. In congested waters, it may be nec-
on modern vessels. However, there were few- Sometimes, the bridge team is essary to alert a vessel in the vicinity about
er accidents than those today. There are many preoccupied with large targets on the ra- your own action on the VHF, in which case pos-
reasons like increased traffic density, extended dar and hence small boats are overlooked. itive identification of the vessel must be made
fishing area to some hundred miles offshore There may be situations where a give way by using the AIS and confirming the track and
and even inadequate experience and compe- vessel may alter course to take avoiding position of the vessel both on radar and visu-
tence of navigators, to cite a few. Even so, the action and approach perilously close to ally. Any such VHF conversations must be
modern navigator has ARPA, GPS, ECDIS and shallows or buoys or to another vessel in short , to the point and clear without the use of
other such aids which should be able to assist the vicinity. In such situations, a simple trial ambiguous terms.
him in operating more efficiently. maneuver function on ARPA could give an
To strike a comparison, an air advance warning on the dangers associ- ECDIS: This is perhaps the most versatile
craft takes off or lands every 3 minutes from ated with a particular avoiding action. of the equipment onboard. The biggest advan-
London airport, whilst in the Singapore Straits, During heavy showers or condi- tage is that it not only provides the vessel’s
the distance between two vessels is at least tions where the radar displays are affected position in a chart layout in real time, it also
half an hour. It is therefore startling that when by clutter, the AIS can be of help in tracking displays all selected targets on the same chart,
aircrafts do not collide or crash while achieving targets. making monitoring very easy. One of the dis-
speeds in excess of 200 knots, ships manage advantages is that the position is GPS derived,
to do so at speeds less than 15 knots! Navigational equipment and its and therefore the accuracy of GPS has to be
There may be a number of reasons limitations: Some navigators completely checked frequently. It is recommended that
and causes but for a fresh young cadet, the rely on GPS, ARPA, ECDIS, AIS and VHF, the display is used in the North up, day time
following are some simple pointers which will whilst there may those who tend not to use mode to avoid confusion. Presentation should
provide a firm base for building on safe naviga- them enough. Both positions have their be\traditional. Case to point is that the Cosco
tional practices: drawbacks and it is essential to make ap- Busan’s ECDIS was on simplified presenta-
propriate use of what is available to avoid a tion, where symbols were different from that on
Safe speed: What is safe speed? To give grounding, collision or a close quarter situ- the paper chart.
an astern movement, the vessels speed must ation.
be less than about 3-5 knots depending on ECHO sounder: The depths are the most
characteristics, time is also required for inertial ARPA mapping: Most ARPA sets are pro- important feature on the chart. It is not uncom-
reduction of the speed of the vessel. Assume vided with mapping functions which allows the mon that the soundings on the chart may not be
that your vessel is crossing a precautionary navigator to map a TSS or positions of fixed the most accurate and therefore echo sounder
area at a speed of 10 knots (full ahead maneu- object such as buoys etc.This is invaluable should be used to compare the charted depth
vering speed), if the telegraph is brought to in giving the observer an instant overview of with observed depths. As a thumb rule, if after
’stop engine’, it will take about 6-7 minutes the vessel’s position relative to fixed targets allowing for tide, the difference is more than
for the speed to reduce to sufficiently enough and boundaries of TSS, Channels. Whilst it 10%, there is good reason to doubt the ves-
for an astern movement to be effective. The does not replace position plotting and pas- sels position.The role of the echo sounder as a
vessel would have traversed a distance of sage monitoring, it can be a very useful means to ascertain the position should not be
about 2-3 Nm before it comes to a stop. tool in conditions of high traffic density and underestimated.
It therefore follows that in the above restricted waterways. Familiarity with the limitations and
case, any action to avoid collision must be tak- functions of navigational aids is of paramount
en at a distance of at least 3 Nm from the other GPS: Although GPS does provide very importance and all fresh cadets must spend
vessel. Needless to say, at higher speeds the high accuracy in absolute terms, it is not to sufficient time understanding the same before
avoiding action must be initiated at a propor- be used as the sole means of position fix- they are ready to take up their roles as officers
tionally greater distance to be effective. The ing for coastal navigation. Amongst other of the watch.
safe speed therefore must be relative to the reasons, errors can result from the geodetic
prevalent conditions of traffic density and other reference for charts being used, signal in-
KNOWLEDGE Samundra Spirit | APR 2010 ISSUE 09 8

Parametric Roll in motion cycle is repeated. The period of such


roll oscillation is called natural period of roll
tinue to roll. The restoring moment now resists
further motion, but with a less-than-calm-wa-

Longitudinal Sea (T) and the corresponding frequency (1/T) is


called natural frequency of ship.
ter value, since ship stability is lessened on
the wave crest. As a result, the ship rolls more
than it would in calm water with the same roll
Physics of parametric roll disturbance. Consequently, after the second
Parametric roll resonance in longi- As described earlier, when a ship quarter, the increase in roll angle is even
tudinal (head and following) sea is is sailing in longitudinal (head or following) greater than after the first quarter.
a significant amplification of roll mo- or nearly longitudinal seas, its stability in- In the third quarter, the ship enters
tions that may become dangerous creases in the wave trough and decreases the wave trough and an increased restoring
for a ship, its crew and cargo. Roll on the wave crest. If this oscillatory change moment pushes it back with an increased
motion in regime of parametric reso- in stability occurs at approximately twice the force. The situation is analogous to that ob-
nance is called parametric roll. In this natural roll period, roll motions may increase served during the first quarter. The observa-
phenomenon, ship stability changes to a significant, possibly unacceptable angle tions in the fourth quarter are similar to those
periodically when the encounter fre- as a result of parametric roll resonance. A in the second quarter, and the roll angle con-
quency of wave equals twice the roll- typical sample time history is shown in Fig. tinues to increase.
ing natural frequency of the ship as it 3.
moves in longitudinal waves at a cer-
tain speed and therefore the damping
of the ship is insufficient to dissipate
the parametric roll energy, leading to
the onset of roll resonance.

Ship stability in longitudinal waves Sajal Sengupta


As shown in Fig1 below, for a ship Fig.3 A typical sample of parametric roll-time history R & D Engineer/Naval Architect
located in wave trough, the width of average SIMS, Lonavala
water plane increases compared to that in
calm water since the flare of the bow and stern
are more deeply immersed than the wall sided
parallel body, with the result that the metacen-
tric height (GM) is increased as compared to
the calm water value. In contrast, when the
ship located in a wave crest (Fig 2), the width
of average water plane decreases and conse-
quently the GM is lesser than the calm water
value.

Fig. 4 Development of parametric roll resonance

The most rapid increase of para- With no further change in wave


metric roll motion could be observed when amplitude and ship speed, this combination of
the ship experiences an external roll distur- restoring (with a larger-than-calm-water) and
bance at the time when the wave crest is resisting the roll (with less-than-calm-water)
moving away from amidships, i.e., the con- can cause the roll angle to progressively in-
Fig. 1 Mid-ship at wave trough
dition of improving or increasing stability, in crease to a large and possibly dangerous
combination with an encounter frequency level. This constitutes the parametric roll reso-
(the frequency with which ship passes nance phenomenon as shown in Fig 4.
through the wave crests and troughs, nor- Finally, the phenomenon of para-
mally associated with pitching period) ap- metric roll includes a large number of factors
proximately twice that of the natural roll like effect of GZ curve on roll amplitude, influ-
frequency. In this situation, the restoring ence of ahead speed and wave direction, the
moment tends to accelerate the ship back threshold parameters, controlling aspects etc.
Fig.2 Mid-ship at wave crest
to equilibrium with a larger-than-calm-water
Undamped small roll motion in clam moment because the ship is entering the
water wave trough where stability is improved. As
When a ship is in calm water, a a result, at the end of the first quarter of the
small disturbance in transversal (say from period T, the roll angle is slightly larger than
wind gust) will lead to a roll motion from its what it would be in calm water.
upright position. Consequently, a hydrostatic During the second quarter of the
restoring moment tends to bring the ship back period, the ship encounters a wave crest
to an equilibrium state. Due to inertia, the ship and its stability is decreased. Meanwhile, Damage or loss of cargo due to parametric
cannot stop at equilibrium point and thus the the roll motion inertia makes the ship con- roll
9 Samundra Spirit | APR 2010 ISSUE 09 KNOWLEDGE

Introduction to Load (Plimsoll) Lines The deck line is shown here for il-
lustration only. Usually the distance between
the deck line and the Plimsoll mark is greater
than shown here. The distance between the
The main purpose of load lines on of unethical practices and abuse by unscru- deck line and the mark to which the vessel
ships is to put a limitation on the pulous shipowners had spread widely. In is loaded is the Freeboard. The mark is re-
maximum draft of the ship to which it 1876, the first load line regulations were leg- quired to be permanently fixed to the ves-
may be loaded, i.e. to prevent it from islated. In view of his pioneering work, the sel amidships on both sides of the hull and
being overloaded with cargo, which load lines are also referred to as “Plimsoll painted in a colour that contrasts with the hull
would make the voyage unsafe for mark “or “Plimsoll lines”. colour.
the crew. There are similar rules for • TF (Tropical, Fresh) - This is the draft to
road transportation, where trucks and Work of IMO in Rule Making: which the vessel can load when in the
containers are not allowed to be over- The first International Convention Tropical Fresh designated zone
loaded to prevent collapse as well as on Load Lines, adopted in 1930, was based • F (Fresh) - This is the draft to which the
to ensure their safe road transporta- on the principle of reserve buoyancy, al- vessel can load when in the Fresh desig-
tion. The risks for marine transporta- though it was recognised then that the free- nated zone
tion are much greater in view of the board should also ensure adequate stability • T (Tropical) - This is the draft to which
heavy and rough weather conditions. and avoid excessive stress on the ship’s hull the vessel can load when in the Tropical
All assigned load lines are marked as a result of overloading. In the 1966 Load designated zone
amidships on each side of the ship, Lines convention, adopted by IMO, provi- • S (Summer) - This is the draft to which the
together with the deck line. sions are made determining the freeboard vessel can load when in the Summer des-
The limits imposed by different load of ships by subdivision and damage stability ignated zone
lines are given in the form of minimum “free- calculations. • W (Winter) - This is the draft to which the
boards”, measuring the distance between the Various annexes and amend- vessel can load when in the Winter desig-
submerged load line to the “deck line”, which ments to the original Load Line conventions nated zone
is cut at the side of the upper deck, also re- have been made and can be referred to at • WNA (Winter North Atlantic) - This is the
ferred to as freeboard deck. This in turn en- the IMO website. draft to which the vessel can load when in
sures external water tightness and integrity, The amendments to Annex B the Winter North Atlantic designated zone.
which are the main objective of load line rules. to the 1988 Load Lines Protocol include a • LR (Lloyds Register) - The initials of the
The regulations take into account number of important revisions, in particu- Classification Society which assigns the
the potential hazards present in different lar to regulations concerning strength and marks.
zones (tropical, summer and winter, etc.) and intact stability of ships; definitions; super- Other possible initials are: NK –
different seasons (summer and winter). The structure and bulkheads; doors; position ClassNK , BV - Bureau Veritas, GL – Germa-
technical annex contains several additional of hatchways; doorways and ventilators; nischer Lloyd, AB - American Bureau of ship-
safety measures concerning doors, freeing hatchway coamings; hatch covers; ma- ping, IR – Indian Registry, etc.
ports, hatchways and other items. The main chinery space openings; miscellaneous These marks are used in conjunc-
purpose of these measures is to ensure the openings in freeboard and superstructure tion with the load line chart, which clearly
watertight integrity of the ships’ hulls below decks; cargo ports and other similar open- shows the designated areas and the dates
the freeboard deck. Ships intended for the ings; spurling pipes and cable lockers; side which apply to these zones.
carriage of timber deck cargo are assigned a scuttles; windows and skylights; calculation A vessel loading in a summer zone
smaller freeboard as the deck cargo provides of freeing ports; protection of the crew and for a port in another zone with a higher free-
protection against the impact of waves. means of safe passage for crew; calculation board requirement may, for instance, load
of freeboard; sheer; minimum bow height to the summer mark, provided that she has
History: and reserve buoyancy; and others. lightened enough due to fuel and water con-
The history dates back to 1836, The amendments, which amount sumption by the time that zone is reached
when public outcry about the safety of ships to a comprehensive revision of the techni- that she is in compliance.
and crew had forced the British Lawmakers to cal regulations of the original Load Lines All vessels must, in addition to hav-
appoint a committee to investigate the grow- (LL) Convention, do not affect the 1966 LL ing the load line permanently marked on both
ing number of loss of ships. In 1850, legisla- Convention and only apply to approximately sides of the hull, carry a load line certificate,
tion was passed to create the Marine Depart- those ships flying the flags of States Party issued by a classification society, this certifi-
ment of the Board of Trade in order to enforce to the 1988 LL Protocol. Currently, only 90 cate stipulates the various freeboards from
a plethora of laws governing manning, crew countries representing 94.25% of ships deck line and distances from summer load-
competence, and operation of merchant ves- worldwide are signatory to the 1988 LL Pro- line, required for that par-
sels. However, in spite of the clamour for regu- tocol. ticular vessel. Some ships
lation, the British government did not interfere may also be assigned
directly with ship operators until 1870, when How it looks like on the shipside: multiple sets of loadlines,
Samuel Plimsoll, a Member of Parliament from but at any given time, only
the industrial Midlands, demanded creation of one set of them will remain
“load line” to limit the weight of cargo loaded valid.
on board the merchant ships. However, a re- Capt. Sandesh Arora
form bill introduced in 1875 was defeated. In Dy. Marine Superintendent
the aftermath of its defeat, public awareness ESM, Singapore
THE ENVIRONMENT Samundra Spirit | APR 2010 ISSUE 09 10

Squeezing the SOx Out of Ship Emissions


It has been established over the last boilers which were sometimes elevated
decade that emissions from ships enough to pose a significant hazard to ves-
have at least as much effect on the sels and personnel.
environment as emissions from other
sources. This is especially true in ar- Gearing the vessels for compliance:
eas of high shipping traffic such as After a slew of clarifications and
ports and coastal waters where emis- safety considerations, it has been estab-
sions from ships contribute signifi- lished that the change over to LSMGO need
cantly to the formation of ground level only be effected 2 hours after arrival at the
ozone and acidification. berth and the vessel may change back to
Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) 2 hours prior to the
vessels departure. vessels including those from marine engine
commonly referred to as SOx and NOx are
All vessels are required to have a exhausts. The Annex stipulated limits on SOx
identified as the main pollutants from marine
plan to effect the changeover procedure in a and NOx emissions from ship exhausts by
engine emissions which can have a detrimen-
safe and effective manner taking due con- capping the sulphur content of fuel oil at 4.5%.
tal effect on the climate and the environment
sideration of the ship specific factors such While SOx is dependent on the sulphur con-
as a whole. Acid rain is one of the damaging
as machinery specifications, fuel tank con- tent of the marine fuel, NOx is controlled by
consequences of these gases.
figuration and manufacturers recommenda- improving combustion in the engine which has
Whilst the IMO has implemented
tions for boilers and engines etc. been dealt with by the introduction of design
measures and formulated a timetable for
A risk assessment adequately ad- specifications for marine engines.
regulatory control of SOX emissions for glo-
dressing all areas of onboard compliance, SECA or Sulphur Emission Control
bal implementation, the European Union (EU)
identifying the hazards and their mitigation Areas was established, covering sensitive
identified a need to hasten the control of SOx
measures will form an integral part of the areas of Northern Europe, where the sulphur
emission whilst the ships were in ports and
changeover plan. content of the fuel used is not to exceed 1.5%.
brought about a more stringent requirement
The ship staff will also be required Marine Fuel Oil satisfying the above criteria is
for implementation in EU ports recently.
to be trained on the fresh requirements and called Low Sulpur Fuel Oil (LSFO) and ves-
sels are required to stock LSFO and use the
EU introduces tighter controls on ship specific procedures for effective com-
same upon entering SECA .The above regula-
SOx: pliance.
tions entered into force in 2005.
From 1st January 2010, the EU
directive on Low Sulphur Fuels came into Consequences of non-compliance: The progressive reduction of SOx
Enforcement of the directive has emission being aimed at is 3.5% from 1st
force for all EU member countries requiring all
already commenced with fines being pro- January 2012 down to 0.5% from 1st January
member states to ensure that ships at the
posed for non-compliance with the require- 2020. For SECAs, the limits will be reduced to
berth in EU ports do not use marine fuels with
ments. Whilst a few ports in the EU have 1.0% from 1st July 2010 and further brought
a sulphur content exceeding 0.1%.
accorded some leeway on the time frame down to 0.10% from 1st January 2015.
This requirement is only applicable
when the vessel is within port limits and in for effective implementation date to allow
particular when the vessel is at berth in order vessels to carry out the necessary modifi- The road ahead for shipping:
cations, there are others who have taken a The strict implementation of the
to alleviate the direct and immediate effect of
more hard line stance by announcing fines 0.1% sulphur requirements by the European
the emissions on the local environment. Since
and penalties for non-compliance. The Port Commission (EC) exemplifies the seriousness
Marine Fuel Oil cannot satisfy the require-
of Trieste for example, has announced a with which the world community views the
ments of such low sulphur content, it became
fine anywhere between 15,000 to 150,000 threat of emissions from ocean going vessels.
necessary for all vessels to use Low Sulphur
Euros for vessels which are unable to sat- The measures on the other hand impose a
Marine Gas Oil (LSMGO) with sulphur content
isfy the sulphur requirement for the fuel larger burden for vessel operators and char-
less than 0.1% at all EU member states.
being used in port. At this juncture, the im- terers in terms of higher fuel costs, machinery
Whilst the above regulation is aimed
plementation and enforcement by individual modifications, spares and additives etc. With
at ensuring a SOx free environment in ports
member states and their ports is not uniform an increasingly environment-conscious ma-
and areas in the vicinity, it poses an appreci-
across the EU and it is expected that there rine community, it is likely that many countries
able challenge to vessels and operators to be
will be more consistency in the above as- will follow suit (the US has already announced
able to run the boilers and machinery plant
pect in the coming months. its own set of requirements) and enforce strict-
on the lighter Gas oil after continuous regular
er norms on emissions from ships regardless
service on Marine Fuel Oil.
Additional measures such as modi- Background to international marine of its effect on the economics of vessel opera-

fications of existing machinery and use of emission regulation: tion. Ships on their part will need to be geared
The advent of ‘emission norms’ to operate in a cleaner and greener manner.
additives had to be implemented to be able
on ocean going ships was initiated with
to operate the machinery safely with Gas oil. Capt. Rajesh Subramanian
Another consideration was the risks involved the introduction of Marpol Annex VI which Marine Superintendent
in effecting this change over for engines and addressed many forms of emissions from ESM, Singapore
11 Samundra Spirit | APR 2010 ISSUE 09 DOWN THE MEMORY LANE

Inadequate Monitoring Having been aware of the current


and tide concerns in the port, the vessel

of Moorings in Port: Capt. Deepak Tamras had taken the necessary precautions and
employed additional watch keepers to tend
Lessons Learnt Nautical Faculty to the moorings.
SIMS, Lonavala An investigation was conducted
into the incident and the following were the
It was a mooring incident which the engines were requested to be kept in contributory factors identified:
neither caused death nor personal readiness for manoeuvring. 1. A passenger vessel had passed along
injury. However, it did lead to an ap- Two of the cargo stevedores who the channel past own vessel setting up
preciable ‘process loss’ with finan- were present on deck during this time called a surge which pushed the vessel out of
cial implications apart from other the port control on their mobile phone and the jetty.
possible damage and loss to per- conveyed the vessel’s request for a tug. The 2. Mooring winch brakes had not been set
sons and property, which is always tugs arrived in a few minutes and the vessel tight enough to prevent the ropes from
an undesirable event in the ship- was quickly pushed alongside the jetty. Dur- paying out when they were subjected to
ping industry. ing the entire episode the gangway which higher loads.
I was the Chief Officer on a Pan- had been connected to the railings on the
amax bulk carrier calling the Port of Liver- vessel’s lifeboat deck was completely for- Lessons Learnt:
pool for discharging a cargo of coal. The gotten. The gangway had remained sus- 1. Mooring ropes should be kept tight at
sailing directions mentions Liverpool as pended from the port side railings when all times to keep the vessel securely
a tidal port and with strong currents. The the vessel drifted away from the jetty and a moored
above fact was also intimated by the agent part of it was subsequently caught between 2. Winch brakes must be tightened suffi-
prior to arrival and confirmed by the pilot the vessel’s hull and jetty when she was ciently enough to prevent the ropes from
during the berthing operations. brought alongside with tug assistance. The paying out when subjected to higher
The vessel berthed port side railings of the shore gangway sustained im- loads.
alongside with 4 headlines, 2 breast lines pact damage for a length of about 5 metres. 3. In tidal ports, the ship’s staff must exer-
and 2 springs forward and aft. Since it was The vessel’s stern had to be pulled off the cise particular caution and monitor the
a tidal port and the vessel was loaded to its jetty sufficiently enough to allow the gang- moorings closely. Additional personnel
summer marks, the accommodation ladder way to be freed and landed on the jetty. The must be available to assist in the proc-
could not be used for ship shore access. moorings were eventually tightened and the ess.
Hence, a shore gangway was provided to vessel securely tied up alongside. 4. Gangways need to be tended to as much
the vessel and landed on the life boat deck The incident lasted about 2.5 as moorings, especially in such ports.
railing. All the crew were on their regular hours, resulting in a loss of discharging
watch schedules with the AB’s and duty of- time, damage to the shore gangway and in- Whilst the above incident could
ficer attending to moorings and gangway curring tug and port charges for use of tugs. have been entirely avoided, we were indeed
during cargo work throughout the day. The P&I correspondent was called to attend lucky that there was no injury to personnel
Before the master retired for the to the vessel to assist the master and safe- and that the vessel was safely brought back
night, he wrote his instructions to the offic- guard the owner’s interests. alongside.
ers in the deck night order book highlighting
the need to ensure effective management of
moorings and tending of the gangway. He
also included a note requesting the officers
to call additional crew on deck should it be
necessary for handling the moorings.
At around 0115 hrs, the 2nd officer
called me on the deck urgently as the vessel
had moved out of berth at the stern. Almost
half sleep, I rushed to the deck and saw that
the vessel’s stern had moved away from
the jetty by almost 50 metres and the bow
by around 10 metres. The ropes were how-
ever intact, taut and appeared to be bear-
ing equal load. Inspite of the efforts by the
deck crew to heave the vessel in, the flood
tide and strong current was preventing the
vessel from coming alongside to the berth.
By now, the Master who had been called to
the bridge was attempting to raise the port
control to seek tug assistance. In the mean- Source: www.bossa.nerim.net/
time, all ship personnel were called on deck
and sent to man the mooring stations and Port of Liverpool
SHARING EXPERIENCE Samundra Spirit | APR 2010 ISSUE 09 12

Grounding in Suez Canal:


entire shipping world. On an average 1.3 mil-
lion barrels of oil pass through the Canal every
day. A three day closure meant delayed ships
An Eye-witness Account to Europe, US and Asia, which in turn, could
result in the increase of global oil prices. The
which was again
closure of Suez Canal was also a big com-
A few miles north of Great Bitter Lake in Arabic but was
mercial loss for Egypt, as it is the third largest
on a lazy afternoon of 6th November promptly translated by
Capt. Vivek Tyagi revenue generator for the country.
2004, between markings of kilome- the pilot to educate us
Nautical Faculty
tres (KM) 73 and 74, when everything on the proceedings, SIMS, Lonavala Precautions: Apart from routine procedures
seemed to be going smoothly, sud- stated that the mas-
that we follow when arriving at a port, there are
denly our pilot started jumping in pan- ter and pilot of MT Tropical Brilliance had
a few additional smaller tips that may help us
ic and shouted at me, “Captain, your decided to beach her in the soft mud. In a
when transiting Suez, or for that matter, any
steering has failed!” Startled, I looked flash, all the binoculars on bridge were oc-
Canal:
towards the helmsman, who was cupied to witness the event. Just half a mile
• Ensure that proper control testing is con-
equally shocked at the pilot’s sud- behind us, we saw MT Tropical Brilliance
ducted prior to picking up the pilot and the
den outburst. I knew instantly that this being swung to starboard and beached; a
vessel does not enter unless all equipment
was news to him as well. After a few mountain of mud rising on the shore as the
including main engine, generators and
quick checks, I confirmed that there bow of the vessel shoved its way into shal-
steering, etc. are in good working order.
was nothing wrong with the ship’s low banks of the canal.
• Some pilots boast about their skill or expe-
steering. In the meanwhile, we had MT Tropical Brilliance had formed
rience and then often indirectly (sometimes
taken contingency steps like reducing a literal bridge between the two banks of
even directly) advise the captain to relax
speed, forward anchor party standby the canal, blocking the entire passage for
and not to worry about navigation. The
and emergency steering standby, etc. remaining traffic. We were the last vessel to
master should himself decide judiciously
When I asked the pilot, he advised me clear Suez Canal, which would then remain
about his relaxation time, depending on the
that he had heard Suez authorities closed for next three days – the longest
various factors as advised or suggested in
announcing on VHF in Arabic “North- closure since the canal re-opened after the
the company’s procedures. He should be
bound # 12 lost steering! Escort tugs Arab-Israel war in January 1975.
relieved properly by the Chief Officer.
to proceed immediately.”
We had been allotted # 12 by the
Aftermath: About 135 vessels (90 north- • The attention of bridge team should be on
the safe navigation, irrespective of the pi-
bound and 45 southbound) were caught in
Suez Canal authorities as part of the north- lot’s presence. The Company’s procedures
the area. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA)
bound convoy on the morning of 6th November for navigation with the pilot on board must
tried to re-float the vessel, though initially
2004. That meant we were # 12 in the convoy be scrupulously followed as per the Bridge
without success. Subsequently, a lighter-
and were scheduled to follow # 11, a loaded Management Manual.
ing operation was conducted on the ship
Suezmax, MT Tropical Brilliance. • SCA may impose carriage of an escort tug
and about 23,000 tonnes of crude oil was
In the early hours of the day and still in case of any perceived operational prob-
pumped out into lighter ships to allow the
some time away before sunlight would grace lems on the ship. During the entire transit,
tug boats to pull her out of the sand. Finally,
the part of world that we were in, the north- the tug remains in the close vicinity of the
Tropical Brilliance was refloated on 9th No-
bound convoy began from Suez; one by one vessel. However, the cost of the tug on the
vember 2004 at 08.20 LT, towed to KM 61
the vessels heaved anchor and started pro- owner’s account will be about US$ 26,000
and anchored.
ceeding towards the pilot boarding ground for for the transit.
Traffic in the Suez Canal re-
picking up the pilot. We overheard on VHF that
sumed on 9th November 2004, after a
due to some technical glitch, MT Tropical Bril-
3 days’ shutdown due to the grounding.
liance was unable to join the convoy as sched-
The closure of the Suez Canal bears an
uled. To wait for her would have meant delay-
extremely big commercial impact for the
ing the convoy, hence Suez authorities advised
us to proceed to pilot station after # 10. By the
time we were lined up for picking up pilot, Trop-
ical Brilliance had also sorted out her problem
and was just behind us, thus interchanging our
number in the convoy - we were # 11 and she
was # 12.
Hence after hearing “Northbound #
12 lost steering!”, I knew that it was the vessel
behind us, MT Tropical Brilliance, which may
have had a steering problem. We then noticed
two tugs rushing past us towards her.
The next announcement on VHF,

The Suez Canal


Source: http://earth.imagico.de/
CEO, MPA, Singapore Visits SIMS, Lonavala
13

Presenting a smart guard of honour for the chief guest, Mr. Lam Yi Young, CEO, MPA, Singapore

Mr. Lam gets a feel of the


campus’ training facilities

Mr. Lam, accompanied


by then Principal,
Prof. D.V.B Swamy,
into the auditorium

Mr. Lam presenting a token of


appreciation to Prof. D.V.B. Swamy

Viewing the magnificent Ship-in-Campus

Mr. Lam paying keen attention to the briefing


14

CEO, MPA Singapore


and His Delegation
Paid Official Visit to
SIMS, Lonavala
Mr. Lam Expressed Great Appreciation
Mr. Teeka and Mr. Lam enjoying a
casual stroll across the campus of the High Level of Maritime Training
Facilities in the Campus
A short session in the meeting room
Mr. Lam Yi Young, Chief Executive Officer,
Maritime and Port Authority (MPA), Singa-
pore accompanied by two senior colleagues
paid a day long visit to SIMS, Lonavala on
31st March and expressed his deep appre-
ciation for human resource initiatives that
provided the high level of training infra-
structure and professionalism in imparting
maritime training to the pre-sea cadets in
the institute.
Mr. Lam addressing
the cadets by giving a Mr. Lam and his colleagues Mr. Yujin Chia,
heartfelt speech Manager, MPA and Ms. Lena Han, Manager, Corpo-
rate Communication, MPA were accompanied to the
institute by Mr. B.S.Teeka, Managing Director, Execu-
tive Ship Managment (ESM) and Mr. S.M. Iyer, Head
of ESM, India operation, Mumbai and Mr. S.S. Gadkar,
Engineer & Ship Suveyor-cum-Deputy General(Tech),
Directorate General of Shipping, Mumbai.
Mr. Lam was given a warm welcome and
a smart guard of honour by the cadets on his arrival
at the campus. Mr. Lam and his colleagues were then
shown around the training facilities in the campus in-
cluding the Ship-In-Campus, FFLB, Workshop & the
Maritime Science Building as well as the cadets’ aca-
Touring the beautiful campus demic and accommodation blocks. During the walk
around, Mr. Lam keenly observed all the training facili-
ties.
The MPA CEO later addressed the cadets
at a short function at the auditorium and congratu-
lated them for choosing the career of seafaring which
requires a high level of professionalism. He empha-
sised to the cadets that the maritime transportation
was the bedrock of strong international commerce
and that the business and growth of nations were de-
pendent on it.
Principal Prof Swamy welcomed the MPA
delegation to SIMS Lonavala. He introduced the ac-
complishments of Mr. Lam to the audience and em-
Surveying the workshop phasised the long association between SIMS and
MPA Singapore as both the cadets programmes have
been recognised by MPA apart from the DG Shipping,
India. Mr. Lam was also deeply appreciative of Mr.
Teeka for facilitating the visit and commented that this
is indeed a “very beautiful and comprehensive cam-
pus.”
Commenting on the visit, Mr. Chia said that
SIMS was built with a “noble vision” and a decade
from now, alumni of SIMS were sure to play leading
roles at sea and ashore. Ms. Han in her comment
noted that she was inspired by the state-of-the-art fa-
cilities and the vision for the seafaring career in India.
15 Samundra Spirit | APR 2010 ISSUE 09 CASE STUDY

Steam Burns to the engine room at 1300 hrs after lunch. He


spent the next 10 minutes supervising the
and temple region, the back of his neck, his
hands, his torso, his back, from the shoulders

Motorman job progress of other personnel working in


the engine room and issued new instruc-
down to the lumbar region, left thigh above the
knee and his left ankle.
tions and assigned tasks as necessary. Af- He was immediately administered
On board a tanker vessel, in engine ter lunch, the Motorman came to the engine first aid and shifted to the ship’s hospital where
room, it was decided to carry out rou- room to assist in maintenance work. He was he was treated on board under shore medical
tine overhaul of the boiler feed water instructed to clean the area near the boiler advice until he could be transferred to a hospi-
pump. The work was done under the feed pump that was dismantled for mainte- tal when the vessel would call port a couple of
supervision of the second engineer. nance in the morning. days later.
It was a normal practice on board to The Second Engineer then re-
check if any cargo/ oil was coming into the hot- membered that the Chief Officer had re-
well. As this check was done quite frequently quested steam on deck to the Butterworth
the hotwell manhole door was left open. Dur- heater for tank cleaning. Around 1315 hrs,
ing this particular maintenance of the feed he started opening the steam to the Butter-
pump also, the manhole door was open. The worth heater.
boiler water feed pump was located just be- A little while later, water hammer-
side the hotwell. ing started. At 1320 hrs, the level of water in
At 1200 hrs, the engineers stopped the hot well was increasing due to the water
work for lunch. During the lunch break, the from the steam pipeline coming to the hot
Chief Officer indicated to the Second Engineer well as the steam was opened. As a result,
that he wanted to carry out Tank cleaning. He the boiling water from the hot well came out
requested the second engineer to open the through the open manhole door and fell on
steam to the Butterworth heater after the lunch the Motorman who was working in that area. How could such an incident
break. He sustained burn injuries of var-
have been prevented?
The Second Engineer returned to ying degrees on his face, i.e. the forehead

Responses for Bunker - How Much is Safe Margin:


Bunker requirements (especially for
such long voyages) should be discussed be-

Issue 08 (Jan 2010) kering process. However, there was no clear


tween the Master and the chief engineer, how-
ever it appears that even the master did not
guidance to the ship about commingling double check how much reserve the vessel had

We have received an overwhelming on a case by case, tight tank capacity and for the intended voyage. Either there was no

number of Feed backs and comments emergency basis. Chief Engineer could have discussion between the Master and the Chief

from our enthusiastic readers on the been instructed to consult the office and a Engineer or they were too complacent about

case study on Bunker - How Much compatibility test could have been arranged. the whole issue.

is Safe Margin? in the January issue. An open dialogue with charterers could then It was possible that the ship could

We have compiled the response and have taken place regarding the possible is- have used gas oil, in case required on the voy-

expertly edited by Capt. Arun Sunda- sues involved. age, which could have been replenished upon

ram, General Manager, and ESM. The owners did not have a policy arrival at the destined port. This would have
on the minimum reserve to be kept onboard prevented her diversion to Hawaii for bunker-
prior vessel taking up a long voyage. It was ing.
What part did the charterer play in the also stated later that since the vessel had not
above incident? done any transpacific voyage at all, master Action taken was to remove the CE
The charterer requested the ves- had assumed that ship will sail back to the - what possible role could he have
sel to take maximum bunkers basis reachable US Gulf as she had done during previous played to deserve this treatment?
ports in a rather large US Gulf - Japan dis- trips and thus did not insist on taking full bun- Chief Engineer is relied upon for cor-
charge range. Vessel was also informed that kers as needed for cross-pacific voyage. rect calculations and for ensuring that the bun-
no bunkers would be available at the load port. On his part, the Chief Engineer did kers are sufficient at any stage of the voyage.
Until this point, there is no mistake on charter- not consider all the options of maximising the There was 30MT of bunker in 2S
er’s part. bunker intake and just calculated the maxi- and this bunker could have been spread into
However, later on given that the mum bunkers vessel could take. The Chief all tanks, which would be very negligible quan-
agent had informed them regarding the bunker Engineer did not allow for sufficient reserve tity to cause any trouble. Chief Engineer should
barge situation; they could have been more for the intended voyage. The 3 days reserve have brought this proposal to the owners for
proactive at Honolulu in berthing the vessel on as calculated in the scenario was on the as- their approval. He should have also confirmed
the day of the arrival rather than waiting out- sumption that there will be no unpumpable, the safety margin for the voyage from the previ-
side for good weather. which is impractical. In fact the oil distrib- ous voyages data and used this figure.
uted in 4 bunker tanks would have at least Even though harsh, his removal
What part did the vessel/owners play 15~20m3 of unpumpable, thereby reducing seemed to be the right action to be taken (just
in the above scenario? the effective reserve to approximately 90MT culture with zero allowance for gross negli-
Owners are not involved in the bun- only (which is less than 3 days reserves). gence). He should also have been re-educated
CASE STUDY Samundra Spirit | APR 2010 ISSUE 09 16

and trained on this aspect, if considered for an- and in general instruc-
other chance by management. He had made tions for ship’s Master/
a major mistake in calculation and then not CE to contact office for
informing the company and seeking their sug- any doubtful situations
gestion and approval. should have been pro-
vided.
On hindsight what should the CE have Considering
done to prevent this outcome? that the diversion was
There were various options open to only 100 miles, it was a
CE to have prevented this from occurring: prudent decision to bun-
1. The CE should have suggested to the office ker the vessel at Hono-
that he can transfer 10MT each to 1p and lulu, however waiting
1s bunker tanks to have only 10MTs in each the vessel at anchorage
tank thereby reducing the commingling ra- for the weather to im-
tio to much less than acceptable levels and prove was not a viable
increased his maximum intake by approx. decision when there
230MTs. Total maximum intake then would was a risk of losing the
have been 880MTs. A compatibility test be- bunker to any other ves-
tween the bunkers in 2P tank and the fresh sel.
bunkers should also have been done.
2. He should have then discussed with the What factors should
Master and requested the charterers for at the CE in general
least 4 days of reserve plus the unpumpa- take into considera-
bles (basis his experience on this vessel). tion when request-
3. By reducing the load on the engine slightly, ing for bunkers in
he could have conserved fuel and could similar situations?
have completed the voyage. Of course The CE should
there would be a delayed ETA. always try to find means
4. By taking in bunkers upto 95 percent of to optimising bunker in-
tank capacity. Risk assessment could have take, especially when he
been carried out with office guidance full gets instructions to take
bunkers were taken safely. maximum bunkers. The
5. Secondly, once the vessel had proceeded idea is to maximize the
on the voyage, the vessel could have sug- intake and if not meet- Artist: CDT Uttam Dutta, DNS-09, SIMS, Lonavala
gested use of gas oil to avoid diversion of ing the company policy,
the vessel. special case like 90% filling ratio, small % must be ascertained by a compatibility test
of commingling etc should be considered in that can be elaborately carried out ashore in
Who should be liable in the above extreme cases where charterers are unable the labs. A compatibility test can also be con-
scenario for the additional costs in- to arrange for bunkers on passage. ducted by the CE onboard. None of these tests
volved - owners or charterers? When there is a tank with such give any 100% confirmation that the mixing is
The major blame for this incident is a small quantity, he should always look for compatible - they only give an indication. So
attributable to the ship’s officers; hence own- a means to transfer the bunker to another there is no percentage that can be mentioned
ers should be liable for the additional costs tank or use it up at the first opportunity be- as safe.
involved. Owners should also have suggested fore bunkering or minimise the quantity fur- Though no expert likes to commit
use of gas oil to prevent the deviation to Ha- ther. himself, in practical terms a safe mixing %
waii. Charterers could be faulted for delay at In the absence of any company ratio of 10:90 may be acceptable. Beyond this,
Hawaii, which may be a small percentage of guidance on reserve, the CE could have re- guidance on a case by case basis should be
the overall costs. viewed several previous voyages consump- sought by the ships.
tions and ascertain from actual experience
What role could the charterers and/ what should have been the reserve. What should be the safe margin for
or managers (owners) have played in Most importantly, he should bunkers when vessel sails on a cross-
preventing the incident? keep all the concerned parties (such as ocean sea passage?
Owners/managers should’ve pro- owners, charterers, managers, etc.) suffi- For increased safety, it could be tak-
vided guidance to the Master/CE regarding ciently informed regarding the situation. At en as either 20% of the voyage consumption
prompt communications concerning such a times the charterers/ owners have better or 4 days reserve for HFO whichever is higher,
situation and for seeking guidance from the ideas to manage and/ or at least can take in case of a cross-ocean voyage. Many ves-
office in case of close call situations like this. a well planned decision instead of such last sels are now running AE on HFO and hence a
Such matters if discussed in advance could minute mess. minimum quantity of DO, i.e. at least 1 day of
have minimised the costs to a large extent. ME running and 4 days of DG running should
Proper guidance regarding com- What percentage of bunker com- be maintained onboard as reserve. These fig-
mingling, optimising the intake of bunkers, re- mingling can be considered safe? ures are excluding the unpumpable quantities
serve bunkers, use of gas oil for emergency There is no thumb rule to this and in the bunker tanks.
17 Samundra Spirit | APR 2010 ISSUE 09 FUN STUFF

Crossword Puzzle
35.rudder
34.attemperator
33.turning
32.simpson
1 2 3 34.ahu 31.flume
4
33.thrust 29.tbn
31.fire 28.gear
5 6 7
30.blowdown 27.zener
8 9
28.governer 26.msds
10 11 15
25.montreal 24.trim
24.tiller 22.stable
12 13 14 23.admiralty 19.bumping
22.sewage 18.DPA
17
21.npsh 17.nomo
20.purifier 16.air
16
19.ballast 12.preferential
18
18.density 11.hunting
15.tachometer 10.SSAS
19 20 21 22 23 14.tpc 9.cascade
24 25 13.freight 8.DNV
26 12.purging 7.sounding
11.heleshaw 5.marpol
6.adiabatic 4.salinometer
3.viscometer 3.vit
2.solas 2.shell
27 28
1.ISM 1.ISO
29 30
Down Across

31
Answers:
32 33

34

35

CDT Deepak Gupta &


CDT Pritesh Shetty
Across Down GME-08
SIMS, Lonavala
1. World’s largest developer of standards 1. Provides an international standard for safe
2. _______and tube heat exchanger management and operation of ship
3. Modern type of fuel pump 2. It provides convention for safety of ship and persons at sea
4. Device used to measure salinity of fresh water 3. It measures viscosity of fuel oil
5. International convention for prevention of pollution by ships 6. __________ compression consumes more work
7. ________pipe are fitted on tanks to enable ullages to be taken 11. Variable delivery pump used in steering system
8. Classification society from norway 12. Removing of explosive gases before starting the boiler
9. Another name for hotwell tank 13. Consideration payable to the carrier for carriage of goods
10. Security alert system in ship 14. Load required to change ships mean draft by 1 cm
11. Another name for floating lever 15. Device used for measuring speed in r.p.m
12. ______ tripping is provided for generator protection to avoid overload 18. Ratio of mass to volume
16. _______ ejector is used to create vacuum 19. While unloading we _________ sea water on ship
17. ________ graph gives size of gravity disc of purifier 20. Used for purifying fuel oil
18. Person ashore having direct access to highest level of management 21. __________ available should be greater than ________ required to
19. ________ clearance should be as small as possible in air compressor avoid cavitation in pumps
22. When centre of gravity is below metacentre, the ship is said to be in 22. Annexure iv of marpol is related to pollution by ________
________ equilibrium 23 By using this coefficient, shaft power of ship can be calculated
24. Difference between forward and aft draft 24. Lever attached to rudder post
26. Information regarding chemicals is provided in this sheet 25. ______ protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer
27. Diode used as safety barrier 28. Device which regulates the quantity of fuel supply
28. Self priming pump 30. This is carried out to remove settled particles from boiler water
29. _____ is a measure of lubricant’s reserve alkalinity 31. _______ tube boiler has smoke inside the tubes
31. Another name for tank stabiliser 33. ___________ power is developed by propeller
32. _____ rule is used for calculating area and volume of ship 34. This unit in air conditioning system conditions the air as required
33. _______ gear should not be engaged while starting the engine
34. Device used to control superheated steam temperature in boiler
35. Used for changing the direction of ship
CADETS’ DIARY Samundra Spirit | APR 2010 ISSUE 09 18

Electricity from Trees: Based on idea from

A Revolutionary Way of Generating Energy CDT Sunny Arya


GME-09
SIMS, Lonavala

Life without energy on this planet is


unimaginable. source: www.interweb.in
It is the critical force that empow-
ers everything from business, manufactur-
ing, and the transportation of goods and
services around the world today. The most
common energy sources are acquired from
nature while some are generated from na-
ture through the ingenuity of the scientists’
brain:
1. fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum and
natural gas
2. renewable sources such as solar, wind,
hydroelectric, biomass, and geothermal signed to allow the electricity to accumulate at MIT are looking into the idea of putting
power until enough electricity is built up in order such data-gathering instruments on trees.
3. nuclear sources to operate an electrical device for a short In this way, scientists can find out the risk of
Most likely, many of us would period of time. forest fires at any particular moment.
have heard of these techniques of harness- There is also another interest- The electricity derived would run
ing energy before. Let us focus on produc- ing way to tap this energy. First, we take a low-power transmitters and trees would
ing energy from biomass, which is actually small stick of silver about 6 to 7 inches long. transmit information from one tree to an-
one of the oldest and most well-established Then, we insert the stick in the tree and af- other until the data piles up in a hub. Finally,
energy sources in the world. ter 15 to 30 minutes, there will be a charge at the hub of that database, a more powerful
Burning wood from trees is a on the silver stick that can be measured by transmitter would send the data to a specific
method of producing biomass energy. In an ammeter. Every tree gives us minimum forestry command headquarters. Further-
this way, stored energy from plants is con- of 0.6 volt and a maximum of 1.2 or 1.3 volt. more, the electronic output might even be
verted to energy that we can use. However, We can do this with all trees and keep them used to gauge a tree’s health in the future.
when trees are burned to produce biomass in series and add all the voltage. Then, we To promote environmental con-
energy, the result is an increase in global can get some amount of voltage without servation and reduce the effects of global
warming and pollution. cutting any trees. But the problem is that we warming and pollution around the world,
Hence, scientists have discov- cannot do this for all trees in series. we might finally be able to stop cutting
ered a more eco-friendly way to generate The electricity generated might down trees for the purpose of generating
electrical energy from trees. Scientists at also provide a low-cost option for powering biomass energy. Instead, we could let them
the University of Washington have created tree sensors that might be used to detect give off their internal electricity just by thriv-
nano circuits that use a very tiny bit of elec- environmental conditions or forest fires ing, and in that way, the voltage released is
trical power. They successfully ran a circuit and eventually protect trees. The batteries not wasted into the atmosphere, creating a
solely off tree power for the first time. We would recharge themselves from the elec- revolutionary power generation technique –
can tap the electrical energy from trees us- tricity released from the trees. Researchers through trees.
ing these nano circuits because plants gen-
erate electricity internally, producing a small source: www.thefutureisawesome.com
amount of voltage.
A study done in 2008 from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
found that plants generate a voltage of up to
200 millivolts when one electrode is placed
in a plant and the other in the surrounding
soil. Those researchers have since started
a company developing forest sensors that
utilise this new power source.
The tapping of free energy from
trees is done by using tailored “boost con-
verters” which turns each tree’s 200 millivolt
voltage into very usable 1.1 volts of electric-
ity (which is close to that of a rechargeable
AA battery). The current capacity of electric-
ity is a lot lower in a tree. But circuitry is de-
Advantages of tapping electricity from trees
19 Samundra Spirit | APR 2010 ISSUE 09 CADETS’ DIARY

Sailing Through SIMS day of training, I was given the charge of


Cadet Captain (CC) as I had a very good
SIMS when I was punished by the faculty
for coming in to class just 3 seconds late.
NCC (National Cadet Crops) background. My time management skills also improved
This position provided me with valuable tremendously when for the first time, I at-
leadership experience. I was a dedicated tended night classes besides a day’s busy
trainee and carried out my tasks sincerely, schedule.
CDT Ashit Deb upholding my stance of impartiality. We worked hard but we also
DNS-09 Then came my first ship excur- played hard, as the saying goes, “all work
SIMS, Lonavala sion, which thrilled me and I felt privileged and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” The
to traverse a ship floating on land with 80 SIMS curriculum surely did not turn me into

On the 29th of July 2009, as I sat on crew (GME), along with some other fellow a dull boy as it aroused in me athletic en-

the SIMS chariot (bus) with 40 other trainees from around the country. thusiasm, that propelled me to become a

sea cadets, I could not help but be The phrase “unity in diversity” proficient swimmer from a non-swimmer, a

filled with excitement as I thought rang so true in my ears as I saw how a mul- marathon runner and it also further honed

about how my dreams were actu- titude of different people, all Indian, lived my skill in outdoor sports such as cricket,

ally coming true. As we entered our together harmoniously under one roof in football and basketball. In addition, SIMS

magnificent training castle (SIMS), SIMS. We also protected ourselves from the added more spice to my life by giving me

my first words were, “Wow!! Jaisa HINI virus (swine flu) which had consumed an opportunity to project my cultural talent

internet may tha, waisa he hai.” many of our fellow Indian brothers and sis- before eminent sea officers from ESM.

When I alighted from the bus, I real- ters in and around the campus by observing SIMS in fact nurtured and trans-

ised that my somehow bleak looking stringent health and safety rules. It seemed formed me from an inexperienced boy to a

future had been revived just like the as though the unity at SIMS strengthened “man in white”, from being carefree to be-

beautiful mythical bird, the phoenix, us for a time like this as we worked together ing responsible, from a follower to a leader

that rises from its ashes and lives to keep the virus away from our campus. and from a commoner to a seafarer. Now,

through another cycle of years. We also sacrificed our off-shore leave dur- the time has come for me to graduate from
ing this period but it was all worthwhile as “Home Sweet Home SIMS” and to bravely
My Pre-Sea Training commenced
we successfully kept the virus at bay. face the high seas, using the skills I ac-
and eventually my “left and right” orientation
We all know the adage, “time and quired during my training in SIMS. But the
changed to “port and starboard” and my 12-
tide waits for none” and I got the opportu- beautiful memories of SIMS will always re-
hr body clock was transformed into a 24-hr
nity to experience the truth of this saying at main my heart and I believe I will never be
one. My HMT turned into GMT. On the first
the same again.

CAMPUS NEWS

SIMS Cadets Join as ESM Officers During the Last Quarter Ending 15th April, 2010

3/O YADAV ASHOK 3/O SHYAM 3/O ROY KAMLESH 3/O SHARMA 3/O SAGAR ROHAN 4/E SINGH 4/E SAHADEVAN
KUMAR SADANAND SHASHANK GURBINDER RAJARAM

4/E SELVARAJ 4/E SINGH MOHIT 4/E CHEERAN PHILIP 4/E JAYARAJ 4/E YERRA PAWAN 4/E SOUMYA 4/E NITIN YADAV
AMUDHAN KUMAR JACOB SUJEETH KUMAR MAHANTY

4/E DURAIRAJ 4/E KRISHNASAMY 4/E PUTHYAPARAMBIL 4/E ANOOP 4/E RADHAKRISHNAN
SENTHIL KUMAR MANOJ SCARIA MATHEWS THUMARAKALAYIL ROHIT
CADETS’ DIARY Samundra Spirit | APR 2010 ISSUE 09 20

Sunset at Lonavala from the Ship-in-Campus

Learning with SIMS


I have now passed
halfway through our
course at SIMS and
what an exhilarat-
ing experience to
be able to look for-
ward to the next six CDT Prateek Shukla
months in the Ship- GME-08
in-Campus! SIMS, Lonavala
This is a one
of its kind ship-in-campus in the entire world
with a real life ship stern anchored perma-
nently on solid ground and we, the graduate
marine engineering cadets of SIMS have this
Photographer: CDT Atul Shukla, DNS-09, SIMS, Lonavala
unique opportunity to be trained here.
Looking back at the past six months,
training in the form of sports in the evening.
the memory of my first day at SIMS, Lonavala

What is Life?
We also study at night, so we are mentally
is still very fresh and sparkling. It was Mon-
active just before we knock off to go to bed.
day, 31st of August 2009 – a special day in my
Furthermore, we trained for watch-keeping
entire life. I was curious, maybe also a bit of
too in our hostel as we are allotted various Life is only a four lettered word,
apprehensive of the life ahead!
different duties. Simple to spell, but difficult to know well.
However, as days passed, I started
SIMS prepares us to be able to Life is like arithmetic,
relishing each moment of the training. One
stand on our own feet, to understand re- Where you can add new things,
of the first few things I learnt here is “safety
sponsibilities and to be effective and inde- Subtract old ones,
first”. This is not only applicable in a mariner’s
pendent watch-keepers. Hence, many posi- Multiply your joys and
life but also in our day to day life. I learnt that
tive changes can be observed in my life and Divide your sorrows.
before doing anything or taking any step for-
I am eagerly waiting to go home and watch Life is like history,
ward, you should think twice about the cir-
the reaction on faces of my parents, friends A record of events,
cumstances and the resulting consequences
and all others. I bet all will be (pleasantly) Try to correlate
of your decision.
surprised to see such a drastic change in Past with present
When faced with any type of prob-
the boy who was thought to be a foregone Life is like statistics,
lem, I have learnt that we should analyse the
case! A process of calculations and measure-
situation in detail, identify the root of the prob-
No doubt I now look forward to a ments
lem and channel our thinking process to start
great SIC experience in the second semes- Calculate your successes and failures and
from the basics itself. However, we should not
ter and I heartily thank SIMS for bringing out Find the average score,
make our problem seem too complicated by
the best in me. Life is like economics,
analysing something in too much detail either.
Thank you SIMS! A way of earning love and
Marine engineering basically makes use of a
Spending it among wisely
lot of logical thinking strategies instead of ex-
Life is like a teacher

Helmet
cessive technicalities.
Teaches us a lot
I went through many different theo-
It is real, it is honest,
ry subjects and practical hours, making sure
Like a rose bush
my fundamentals were in place. As we learnt Whole world says “Safety First”,
So rejoice it!
about seamanship, we also realised the im- But for that, Helmet is a must.
portance of teamwork and mutually beneficial Do not take Helmet, Just for Granted.
CDT Hrishikesh Swain
interdepartmental relationships. For everyone’s safety, Helmet is most wanted.
GME-09
At SIMS, we are trained both men- When Government enforces rule to use Helmet, SIMS, Lonavala
tally and physically. Apart from being trained Please accept and implement without a curse or a fret.
to clear part 4-B for being a marine engineer, Maximum deaths are due to road accidents,
we are undergoing training to be a good mari- Helmet can be used to avoid these incidents.
ner first. Also, I enjoyed learning swimming I don’t know why people avoid wearing a helmet,
here and now I am a swimmer. It truly feels Even though everyone knows, it saves us from an accident.
great and I am so happy with my accomplish- In SIMS I see helmets everywhere,
ment. Because we know, Safety is compromised without a Helmet.
A typical day here starts with physi- If everyone understands importance of Helmets,
cal training in the morning, attending classes, We would not be a long way to implement, CDT Pankaj Bansal, GME-09
which trains us mentally and finally, physical “SAFETY FIRST AND FOREMOST” SIMS, Lonavala
21 Samundra Spirit | APR 2010 ISSUE 09 KNOWLEDGE

Risk Management Tool: BowTie!


Based on a joint contribution from Capt. Arun Sundaram, General Manager, ESM, Singapore and J.K.M. Nair, Principal, SIMS, Mumbai

A ‘Risk’ is the chance of something adverse happening, The bowtie methodology can be used for any type of hazard analy-
whereas ‘Hazard’ is a source of potential harm or dam- sis from minor to major accidents, in occupational and environmental
age or a situation with the potential of creating harm or areas of business, in information technology, medical diagnosis, and
damage. research or even in security issues. In shipping, we can use them
During our daily life ashore, we carry out risk management very effectively on:
without consciously thinking about the hazards around us. For ex- • Identification or demonstration of risk
ample, at the pedestrian crossing, we’ll not begin to cross unless the • Understanding of the dangers and consequences
signal shows a green human sign or risk being hit by the ongoing • Creating a better understanding of specific risks
traffic. We usually wait patiently till the red pedestrian signal changes • Maintaining hazard situations under control or mitigating them
to green. In case the green pedestrian signal starts blinking, we has- • Creating safety and security improvements on board, and
ten our walking pace to reach the other end before it changes to red • Inspection, audit and certification systems
again. There are many such risk assessment tasks we conduct rou- Let’s take the scenario of a caged live tiger. Though the situation now
tinely and ensure we are leading a safe life. looks risk-free, there is a risk - if the tiger escapes. If we look at the
In order to ensure job safety on board ships, we are re- cause and effect of such an event, we can see the cause could be:
quired to manage risks arising out of the hazards around us. A simple 1. Weak cage, and/ or
flow chart for achieving this is provided below: 2. Door left open by error.
And the effect of such an event could be:
1. Tiger mauls some one, and/or
2. We loose the tiger.

If we insert this information into our bowtie matrix, it will look like this:

*ALARP in above flowchart simply means – As Low As Reasonably


Practical.
A simple tool such as BOWTIE allows us to do risk assess-
ment in a manner that also allows for continuous improvement as
required by any proactive Quality Management System.
In such assessment systems, a formal evaluation is done
on likelihood and consequences of something adverse happening as
a result of exposure to hazards. A hazard does not result in a ‘harm’ Let us now analyse the risk this particular situation presents.
unless it happens. Let us call this happening as an ‘event’. Each haz- That will help us find a solution and provide an action to avoid such
ard may give rise to different events that may result in different kinds situations. After we get a full picture of such a situation, we can put
of harm. A consequence will be the resultant of the event. a ‘barrier’ in the logical connection in order to prevent or stop such
events. For example, ’door left open’, can we put an alarm if the door
is opened, or can we have self-closing device for the door? This gives
us a chance to put two barriers that could prevent the door from being
left open, and hence the ‘tiger escapes event‘
can be avoided.
This analysis process can be con-
tinued to any or all of the connecting lines to
find barriers. I have given the example to one
of them as above.

The knot of the bowtie represents the threat or risk in the system. On
the left side are the causes of that hazard and on the right side is the
impact or consequence of that hazard, thereby giving us a visual rep-
resentation of a cause-effect-consequence situation. In an extended
interpretation, the knot could also represent the event that took place,
and left flap indicating the hazards and the right flap indicating the
results of such an event, i.e., cause-event-effect. Continued on next page
KNOWLEDGE Samundra Spirit | APR 2010 ISSUE 09 22

The centre of the Bowtie is the accident or incident area


SHARING EXPERIENCE
sometimes called the top event or Hazard release. The far left hand
side of the diagram is the THREATS such as slips, trips and falls.
To prevent these threats, we need to have controls in Watch Out -
place – let’s call these ’Preventive controls‘ or ’Barriers‘. Now if all of
our controls or barriers fail, then we will have an accident or hazard
We Are Crossing an Iceberg!
released. In order to reduce the effect of this hazard, we need to
have recovery measures. If we don’t have recovery measures, the
consequences could be serious. Grab hold of an old mariner and ask him what he thinks
In simple terms, we have ‘Threat’ on the left side, which are the progresses made in the seafaring field, he would
need controls to contain and to prevent incident. At the centre we definitely come up with many that have made life easier for
have ‘Hazard’ interlinked with ‘Incident’. After the ‘Incident’, we them to sail across the seven oceans around the globe.
would require controls to reduce ‘Consequence’, which is on the However, he is also likely to point out couple of them which
right side of the diagram. In our ‘tiger escape’ incident example, in have added more value than the rest. One such progress
order to reduce the consequences, we can have recovery measures is the service of weather forecast and the sea route read-
such as ’search plan‘, ’dart gun‘ for subduing the tiger or perhaps ily available to the vessels at any given time and point.
have ’insurance‘ to cover the loss of the tiger: However, this still cannot guarantee a smooth ride and the
life still remains as challenging and unpredictable for the
seafarers traversing across the seas.
Capt. Sunyil Pada, a faculty member of SIMS, Lonavala has been in a few
situations during his years at sea and he recounts the one which caught him and many
others completely off guard! Here is his story:
I was in command of a Gearless Bulk carrier of 228 m in length, 32 m in
breadth with a summer draft of 14.0 m and summer deadweight of 76800 MT.
The vessel was on a voyage from Australia to Brazil through the South
Pacific Ocean. We had loaded a part cargo of 46000 MT of coal at the Port of Gladstone
and about 30000 MT at Port Kemble up to the vessels summer marks. The vessel sailed
for the port of Vitoria Brazil, to discharge the cargo on 24th October 2007.
The vessels Charterers had arranged for weather routing by a reputed rout-
ing firm based in the United States. A day prior to sailing out from Port Kemble, the
following guidance was received from them: “Taking various ice limits in to considera-
tion, recommend rhumb line to south of Stewart Island, then rhumb line to South of Cape
Horn and then shortest to Port Vitoria Brazil, as safe navigation permitting.”
The best bowties are built by seafarers involved in ac-
Weather expected en route was stated as “most of the lows develop and
tivities - they are in the best position to assess the effectiveness
pass south of recommended route. Keeping the winds mostly around the quarter and
of controls and identify areas for improvement, and involving them maximum northerly limit of reported ice bergs is about south of 60 degree South latitude.”
helps to foster ownership of risk management measures. These are After the vessel sailed from Port Kemble, very rough sea was experienced
not computer models – they are brought forth by BRAINSTORMING from the port bow and the vessel was able to achieve only about 9 knots, struggling to
sessions. counter the heavy sea and swell. After 2 days into the voyage, the sea calmed down to
The Bowtie diagrams should be kept simple and any de- force 5 and below with a following sea. We passed south of Stewart Island (south of New
tail in the task description basic. There are no concrete rules about Zealand) and headed towards Cape Horn on a rhumb line course for a distance of 6000
the level of detail, but in general tasks should be pitched at such a Nm.
level that they are verified at a supervisor level. Similarly, if tasks A couple of days after passing Stewart Island, at about 1700 hrs in the
evening, the duty officer reported sighting one huge mountain like mass on the starboard
are assigned at too low a level, the number of individual tasks to be
bow. On being summoned to the bridge, I immediately checked the navigation chart and
documented becomes unmanageable.
realised that there was no charted island or structures in this part of the ocean. The
We need to create OWNERSHIP amongst the crew on
Radar also painted a very faint echo of this target, and as the vessel drew nearer, the
board for their own Q&S system rather than the strict adherence glint of the suns rays reflecting from it confirmed that what we were seeing was a huge
to the manuals which will lead only to a ‘tick box’ mentality. The iceberg. Needless to say neither was the vessel expecting to sight one nor was the pres-
mentality of seafarers has to change. Presently, there may be an ence of ice bergs reported for the region.
over-reliance on checklists resulting in them not being used properly Nearly all the ships crew congregated on the bridge to watch in awe as the
as we have seen in many instances during inspections. (Example vessel passed this massive chunk of ice (About 75 m of it was visible above sea level)
–enclosed space entry permits and hot work permits produced in at a distance of 14 miles off.
computers rather than at the site of the work) I immediately informed the charterers, owners and the routing service about
To summarise, preparation of the Bowtie involves 5 sim- the sighting of the iceberg and requested the routing service to review and recommend
an alternative route based on the latest reported positions of icebergs.
ple steps:
Within about 2 hours, the routing service replied that they had no informa-
1. Identify the Hazard and the Top Event to be prevented
tion at all of any icebergs in these regions and in fact, made an ironical statement “we
2. Enter the Threats that could cause the event to occur.
have ships following the same route and none have reported sighting any iceberg and
3. Enter the Consequences, if the event occurs. hence the original route proposed is valid.”
4. Enter Controls to prevent the event from occurring I called for an emergency safety meeting with all officers and discussed the
5. Enter the recovery measure to mitigate the Consequences. safety measures which were necessary in view of this development. Additional lookouts
were posted, both radars were kept on at all times and the main engines were requested
to be in a state of readiness for immediate manoeuvring in case of an emergency.
(All diagrams by kind permission of Capt Les Hesketh, UK P&I Club) Continued on page 24
23 Samundra Spirit | APR 2010 ISSUE 09 CAMPUS NEWS

Farewell Function for


Prof. D.V.B. Swamy
After over two years of illustrious
leadership, Prof. DVB Swamy was
given a warm farewell by the insti-
tute at a function held at the cam-
pus on 01st April, 2010. The function
was attended by Mr. B.S.Teeka,
Managing Director of Executive
Ship Management, Singapore and
Principal Trustee of SIMS along all
faculties, staff and the cadets.
Prof. Swamy, a veteran academi- An impressive guard of honour by the cadets
cian and research scholar from the Indian
Navy provided a new flavour and dimension
to the teaching and training of the future
merchant navy officers at SIMS.
Mr. Teeka, in his speech on the
occasion, made a special mention about the
contributions made by Prof. Swamy towards
the growth of SIMS, Lonavala and further
stated that Prof. Swamy would continue to
be associated with the SIMS fraternity in an
advisory role. Prof D.V.B Swamy delivering a farewell Prof. D.V.B. Swamy being presented
Prof. Swamy delivered a poign- speech with the SIMS plaque by Mr. B.S. Teeka
ant farewell speech in which he thanked the
management for having given him an op-
portunity to lead one of the finest maritime
institutes. He also expressed his deep grati-
tude to Mr. B.S. Teeka and Ms. Sikha Singh
for their help and timely guidance, without
which he would not have had a gratifying
tenure as the Head of this Institute.
After an official handing and tak-
ing over the charge of Principal by incum-
bent Mr. S.Viswanathan, there was a cheer-
ship by the cadets where Prof. Swamy was
ceremonially pulled out in an open jeep by
the staff along the road leading to the main
gate.
We wish Prof. Swamy all the best
in his future endeavours and warmly wel-
come Mr. S.Viswanathan to ESM and SIMS
family! Cheership by cadets for Prof. D.V.B Swamy

Prof D.VB. Swamy and Mr. S. Viswanathan


formalising the taking over of charge

The SIMS team


CAMPUS NEWS Samundra Spirit | APR 2010 ISSUE 09 24

Double Joy for


Ganga House Ganga House Clinches 3rd
Wins 3rd Basketball Championship of 2010 Football Championship
The third Football League champion-
ship of the institute ended with the
two top teams representing Ganga
and Kaveri houses fighting a royal
battle over the championship and
Tapti House Wins Inter-house the underdog Ganga clinching the
With a display of superior skill and trophy with a mesmerising goal from
T10 Cricket Tournament physical fitness, the Ganga House Rishabh Singh.
lakers produced a spectacular win The six-day tournament saw huge
With a consistent good bowling and over their opponent, Godavari to lift enthusiasm from the players and the onlook-
sharp fielding, Tapti house beat their the coveted third Championship tro- ers from all the four houses and brought the
rival Kaveri house in the finals of the phy of the year with a final score of faculty and other staff members down to the
inter house cricket tournament held 24-8 on 13th April, 2010. field to cheer their favourite team.
at the campus in February, 2010. It was history repeating itself Kaveri started as the favourite team
Tapti decided to bat first having won when the Ganga and the Godavari Houses as they thrashed Ganga in their league match-
the toss and scored 61 runs in allotted 10 once again locked their heads as in the pre- es. Ganga House fans had their hopes high to
overs. vious year. defend the championship while fighting with a
Kaveri House started the chase on The Ganga team definitely had strong midfield.
a disastrous note by losing 2 wickets in the a serious advantage over their opponent, Although Kaveri arrived with a
second over and then lost wickets at regular having most of its team members being the slight psychological advantage, it was the
intervals. They managed only 3.5 in their al- institute’s representative players in basket- Ganga house who dominated from the begin-
lotted overs and subsequently handed the vic- ball competitions outside. ning. Taking possession of ball right from the
tory to their rivals in a platter. Indeed, a big round of applause start, Ganga house forward with a mesmeris-
Nevertheless, to the credit of Kaveri for Godavari, who were not intimidated by ing dribble and coordination directed a fierce
House, they were the finalists for both the their rivals but kept their fight on till the end. strike but thwarted nicely by Kaveri goalkeep-
cricket and football championship and there- And, three cheers for Ganga for winning er. Now it was a chance for Kaveri players
by proving their great sportsmanship in the both the football and the basketball cham- with their counter attack. Live Commentary by
campus. pionship!! DNS 10 cadets with their humorous quotes,
kept the spectators amused.
The players and viewers were
Continued from page 22 (Watch Out - We Are
deeply engrossed, while Rishabh Singh of
Crossing an Iceberg!)
Ganga house captured an opportunity all
alone and stunned the opposition team with
At around 2200 hrs on the same day on a
a sublime solo effort. Final score at end of the
clear full moon night, a similar hazy echo was seen on
the radar. After some anxious moments, in bright full match was 1-0, in favour of Ganga House!
moon light, we were able to identify the unmistakable Aerial snapshots of the icebergs
shape of another large iceberg. This time, the vessel
passed the iceberg as close as 7 miles on starboard side We kept the vessel along 45 S Latitude maintaining
of the vessel. additional look outs throughout the passage up to
I considered this to be a ‘near miss’ of sorts 750 miles off South American coast line, from where
and the situation to be far more serious than anticipated. we followed a rhumb line course to Cape Horn and
Urgent messages were sent to owners, charterers and safely arrived Port Vitoria, Brazil on 28th of November
routing service and after going through the available in- 2007.
formation, including various ice charts and publications, A few days after our sighting, we re-
we decided to alter course to about 070 (T) so as to pass ceived reports that a huge iceberg was visible from
well clear the “northern ice limit” of South Pacific Ocean. south part of New Zealand and that this was happen-
Within about 15 minutes, I received a call ing for first time in history.
from the owner’s office instructing me to alter course due Looking back, I cannot help but think that
North and steam at full engine speed until reaching 45 had the night been cloudy with poor visibility (which
deg south latitude and then steer due East to pass well is not unusual for that part of the ocean) and if the
clear of ice limits of South Pacific for the month of No- icebergs had been a few miles north we could well
vember, with an intention to head for Cape Horn, about have been in a perilous situation altogether.
700 miles off the South American coast. There is little doubt that ocean routing
We altered course immediately to comply services have access to a huge data base and have
with the instructions and proceeded north to head for 45 the expertise and ability to forecast the conditions
deg South Latitude. We did not have any further sightings with a fair degree of accuracy. However, they can be
of icebergs from there on. wrong and this event goes a long way in reiterating
After 2 days, some clippings were sent to us that at sea, there is no substitute to effective watch-
from office which is as below: keeping and prudent seamanship.


25 Samundra Spirit | APR 2010 ISSUE 09 AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

ESM and SIMS Once SIMS, Lonavala SIMS Clinches


Again Bag BP (Partner Wins Championship Trophy in
of the Year) Award Architecture Awards Chanakya Extravaganza
Executive Ship Management and The campus of Samundra Institute The cadets of Samundra Insti-
Samundra Institute of Maritime of Maritime Studies (SIMS), Lonav- tute of Maritime Studies clinched
Studies (ESM/SIMS) have jointly ala has garnered numerous awards the championship trophy of the
become the proud winner of the and accolades since its construc- XPRESSIONS 2k10’ - the annual
Partner of the Year (2009) Award tion in 2007. The world class state- sports and cultural extravaganza
which is part of the annual CEO’s of-the-art ‘green’ campus was of T.S.Chanakya held on 2nd and 3rd
Health Safety Security Environ- designed by the internationally re- April, 2010 at the latter’s campus in
ment (HSSE) Awards instituted by nowned design house, Christopher Mumbai. The SIMS delegation beat
BP Shipping Ltd (BPS). The award Charles Benninger Architects. five other competitors including the
is in recognition of the partnership One of the most recent awards strong host team to bag the trophy
role played by ESM and SIMS to- is the Best Educational Institute Award un- with 13 individual and team awards
wards fulfilling Shipping’s HSSE ob- der the J.K. Cement Architect of the Year including the “Best participating
jectives. It was a sweet win for the Awards 2009. team” by scoring the highest tally of
second time around, as ESM/SIMS J. K. Cement Ltd. is one of the winning scores.
had previously won this prestigious largest cement manufacturers in North In- The team showed an outstanding
award for the year 2007. dia. The jury members are eminent archi- talent and preparedness by competing in a
tects from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangalore, total 19 categories of competition within just
Varoda, Ranchi, Ahmedabad, New Delhi, five days of receiving the invitation from the
Pune, and Indore. In its 19th year running, host. The prizes won displayed the multi-
besides India, the awards were also extend- faceted talents of the cadets excelling in a
ed to neighbouring countries such as Bang- wide variety of areas ranging from solo sing-
ladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Mauritius, ing contest to team sports like basketball
Seychelles, and Sri Lanka in recent years. and debating competition to tattoo design-
SIMS, Lonavala campus also ing and Street Play.
brought in the Architect of the Year Award Cadets who excelled in more
under ArchiDesign Awards 2009 to its de- than two diverse categories were Cdt Ram-
signer Mr. Benninger followed by two more Prasad (GME-08) who won three prizes in
awards from the Institute of Steel Develop- Solo dance (1st prize), Tattoo Designing (1st
ment & Growth (INSDAG) 2009 and Run- prize) and Collage painting (2nd prize), Cdt
Mr. John Ridgway, CEO, BP Shipping,
ner’s Up for Best Steel Architecture in India Independent Singh (DNS-09) who won De-
presenting the Partner of the Year Award
(2009) to Mr. B.S. Teeka, MD, ESM and Indian Institute of Architects Award bating (2nd prize), Mock Press Conference
2008 for Excellence in Architecture for Best (2nd prize) and Basketball (winning team)
Mr. John Ridgway, CEO, BP Ship- Public Building. and Cdt Lovepreet Singh (DNS-09) who
ping presented the award to Mr. B.S.Teeka, The three awards mentioned won in Fusion dance (2nd prize), Sahitya Ab-
Managing Director, ESM at a dinner held in above were designed to appreciate and hibyakti (2nd prize) and Poster designing (2nd
connection with the 2010 BP Shipping CEO commend the excellence in architecture prize).
regional forum in Singapore at the Blu Res- in India alone. It is also worth adding that The team was mentored by fac-
taurant, Shangri La Hotel Singapore, on 1st SIMS Lonavala was nominated as a final- ulty member Capt. Prabhat Nigam, War-
March 2010. Addressing the participants of ist for the World Architecture Festival Award den P.S.Mehra and Sports coach Sathyan
the forum comprising the representatives 2009, Barcelona, in the category of Com- Thomas. Other participating institutes in the
of BP shipping’s partners in business, Mr. pleted Buildings –Learning, with a few hun- competition were T.S Chanakya (hosts),T.
Ridgway spoke highly of ESM and SIMS’s dred entries hailing from 67 different coun- S Rehman, NAMAC (Naval Maritime Acad-
outstanding contributions to BP Shipping’s tries worldwide. emy), MERI (Marine Engineering Research
Safety Culture and HSSE Performance and Institute), Mumbai and YAK Maritime Acad-
the value added to BP Shipping’s endeav- emy.
our for an exceptional standard of HSSE
performance, both onshore and at sea. and efficiency of each officer and crew put
It may be mentioned here that onboard a BPS vessel.
SIMS has been BP shipping’s exclusive On an earlier occasion, while in-
training provider to the entire Indian offic- augurating the latest Gas Tanker Simulator
ers and ratings training sailing on BP ships. facilities at Lonavala campus on 15th De-
Through the advanced facilities and courses cember, 2009, Mr. Ridgway had empha-
provided through SIMS, many of them de- sised the close relationship of BP shipping
signed specifically for BPS, ESM is placing with ESM and SIMS and described it as a
utmost importance on improving the quality “winning partnership”.
Trophies won by SIMS cadets
Visitors’ Comments - First Quarter, 2010
Please ‘stay ahead’. That is where your institute belongs. Best Thank you for the wonderful hospitality. This is indeed a very
wishes for the decade. beautiful and comprehensive campus.
- Dr. S.B. Agnihotri, IAS, Joint Director General of Shipping, Mumbai - Mr. Lam Yi Young, CEO, Maritime and Port Authority (MPA),
Singapore

Very impressive. World-class facilities. I wish I was fortunate to SIMS was built with a vision. A noble vision. A decade from
take training in such an institute. Founder and staff have taken now, I’m sure the alumnus of SIMS will play leading roles at sea
great efforts to make the institute a success. and ashore.
- Mr. S.S. Gadkar, Engineer & Ship Suveyor-cum-Deputy - Mr. Yujin Chia, Manager, Maritime and Port Authority (MPA),
General (Tech), Directorate General of Shipping, Mumbai Singapore

A worthwhile visit that has only confirmed my previous view of Thank you very much for the hospitality and allowing us to ex-
this institute as industry best practice but now it can be said perience this world class facility. Truly inspiring.
with the experience of this visit. Thank you. - Mr. Henrik O Madsen, CEO, DNV
- Mr. Terry Luke, Regional Marine Superintendent, Marine Assur-
ance, Chevron Shipping Company

Thank you for your hospitality. I’m inspired by your state-of- An institute that I wanted to see all the time in my life. What a
the-art facilities that you have envisioned for a seafaring career wonderful set up. Good luck to all those who are engaged and
in India. are going out in the world of opportunity.
- Ms. Lena Han, Manager, Corporate Communications, Maritime - Mr. Rinchen Dorji, Director, Ministry of Works and Human Settle-
and Port Authority (MPA), Singapore ment -Dept of Urban Development & Engineering Services, Bhutan.

Thank you very much for your generous and kind hospitality. It I have found this institute founded in a vision of excellence
has been a true learning experience for me to visit your reputed creating path breaking ways to teach the culture of the Marine
institute. You should be proud of your institute and in the pro- Sciences in a way that will make those who pass out proud to
fessional way you are contributing to our industry. be an Indian. Congratulations. It has been a learning experi-
- Mr. Erik Toft, Corporate Vice President, Marine HR, Torm Shipping ence for me.
- Mr. Murali Iyer, CEO, Torm Shipping Pvt. Ltd.

A visible result of vision, pride and excellence. You make a lot SIMS is a ‘Vision Statement’. Each time I visit here I find ‘the
of people very proud. bar ‘has been raised further. I am sure the best is yet to come.
- Capt. Arun Malia, Island Shipbrokers Pvt. Ltd., Singapore - Capt. Kersi Khambatta, Deputy General Manager, Training - Torm
Shipping Pvt. Ltd.

Thank you for an extraordinary input as to who to educate first Very impressive training facilities. Very good equipment and
class officers that will be the future of the world shipping busi- realistic atmosphere created for the pre-sea candidates. Very
ness. We are looking forward to working with officers educated useful for post-sea courses as well.
of this facility. - Capt. M.S. Parulekar, Senior Manager, BW Maritime
- Mr. Steven Sandorff, General Manager, Tanker Operations,
Norden A/S

Lots of thanks for sharing this “second to none” initiative. The tour of the campus leaves you with a convincing impres-
Graduates from here will be able to satisfy owners. Well Done. sion of dedication and the facilitation to serve this.
Looking forward to cooperating with officers from here. - Mr. Jorn Andersen, General Manager, Technical Dept., Norden A/S
- Mr. Peter K Brandt, Superintendent, Norden A/S

Great and unbelievable facilities and infrastructure. Making In- Thank you for showing us this impressive facility; it has been
dia proud. Thanks for the opportunity and hospitality. a great pleasure.
- Mr. Prakash Tikare, Business Development Manager, South Asia, - Mr. Henrik Christensen, Quality Assurance Manager, Norden A/S
DNV

Thanks for an extremely well-arranged visit. The creations A very impressive facility. Your staffs are friendly, informative
since my previous visit are commendable. and dedicated.
- Mr. Kamal Kumar, Area Manager, DNV, India - Capt. Geoff Pearson, General Manager, BW Maritime

Marvelous is not enough. Superb school! Excellent School. Truly impressed. Good luck to all.
- Mr. Pradeep Putta Reddy, Operations Manager, Norient Product - Ms. Junko Mikano, General Manager, Norient Product Pool,
Pool, Singapore. Singapore
Samundra Spirit APRIL 2008 ISSUE 01

You might also like