Lloyd’s List- Rongsheng stock soars, then dumped
- States seek international response to piracy
- We didn't start price war, says Maersk chief Andersen
- Maersk Tankers slides to $28m loss in first quarter
- West African suezmax market ‘on fire’
- Paradip imports first iron ore cargo
- Simmering stand-off
- Guardcon’s wording is not the problem, say insurers
- China’s coal imports hit record highs
- Bristol Port welcomes its longest vessel
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Category Archives: Craig Eason
Hot air in a cold climate
At times, when the Kapitan Gotsky goes through patches of thicker ice, it needs more power. With three power plants in the engine room, I suspect it would rate badly against other tankers when comparing energy efficiency. A day in thick ice would see all three engines in use and the vessel consume 120 tonnes [...]
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Shuddering along
At about 0200 the ships engines were started up and our passage to Varanday started once more. The nest of three ships tucked in the ice was broken up once the bunkering operations started, the ice breaker Varanday began escorting the bunker vessel Kotlas westwards towards the edge of the ice while the supply vessel [...]
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Lloyd’s List on ice
Viewed from ice-level Kapitan Gotsky looks quite impressive, especially from the front where the ice breaking bow can be seen close up.
As the sun was setting the captain asked if I’d like to go onto the ice to take some photos as the sun was setting.
So that was how I ended up being lowered onto [...]
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Timing is everything
The cargo chief officer is testing all the cargo and slop tank valves. They are tsted every two ot three months to make sure they open and close quick enough. He sits there with a stop watch, watching the monitor, noting down how long each valve takes to open and then close. One of the [...]
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Ice, ice and more ice
What a difference a day makes. After a night spent wedged int the ice the day started with a clear horizon and the sun soming through the thinning cloud. During the night we drifted about four miles along with the ice.
The ice is now glowing white, so the crew are out in their sunglasses working, [...]
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Breaking ice in the dark
With the two main engines at 75-77% load and the azipods on 85% power we are making between 5 and 8 knots through the ice. The wind, currently force 7 on the starboard side is pushing quite compact ice into us, although it is only about 50 cm thick. Not that I am aware of [...]
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Down in the engine room
The one thing I can say about the engine room was its apparent abundance of space, but that may be misleading as there are about 4 decks here. The three Wärtsilä engines sit in a line, the smaller six valve engine in the middle.
They provide a combined power of 20,000 kW according to the [...]
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The cold reality of ice navigation
We have come to the edge of the ice. At first it was thin and broken, gradually appearing out of the white gloom and fog. Thicker ice ridges are evident on the radar picture. The crew use it at the six mile range to get better definition to try and see where clear passages [...]
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Getting closer, and colder!