Ship stories and other stuff
The German Brotherhood of Elbe SWATH Döse at the mouth of the river Elbe approaching with the river pilot for our approach to the Kiel Canal.
Netherlands Loodswezen SWATH boats Perseus (a constellation and Greek mythical figure who killed Medusa) and Cetus ( another constellation and Greek for Whale, the one that swallowed Jonah….) in action off Rotterdam (Perseus) and Amsterdam (Cetus)
The port of Rotterdam, a regular stop for us, a regular stop for a lot of ships. Rotterdam is the second largest port in the world by volume of cargo, second to Singapore. The VHF traffic at Maas Approach is non-stop as is the constant flow of vessels to and from the port. There is an army of pilots and boatmen, agents and chandlers, surveyors and conmen waiting for business. All the UHF channels are full of talk all the time, people mooring, letting go, anchoring, topping off , lashing containers, pumping bunkers in every language possible. The place is a hive of activity from dusk to dawn and dawn to dusk. Understaffed and full of attitude, angry boatmen and arrogant surveyors, at the same time you can meet the really pleasant chaplain from the seafarers centre or a happy salesman from Botlek stores. You leave the port exhausted it grinds on inexorably.
The tanker Monterey gets into position to moor at buoys near the Petroleum Havens
Under the constant and watchful eyes of the Port Authority.
Chemical Distributor is fed fuel from the bunker barge Vopak Maxwell
A tug called Smit Ierland, getting into position to assist the Bow Maastroom for unmooring.
Bow Maastroom in need of a lick of paint.
SWATH boat Perseus at our side to take the pilots off to their next job.
The Pilot boat “Cetus” from Flushing arrives in style to bring the pilot to us.
Viewed from astern, approaching us pilot ready to step aboard.
The Pilot SWATH crosses our wake
The VHF crackled to life today before smoko (coffee break), we were advised to start engines, pick up hook and proceed immediately to the pilot station for inward passage to Hamburg.
So after all the silence and waiting it’s action time again in true merchant navy fashion, longer periods of calm followed by short bursts of frenetic near panic activity. You get used to it. The pilot asked the same questions as the coastguard did yesterday that we had previously answered on our arrival 3 days ago…….it is a bit like an interrogation albeit a very slow one , I wonder what would happen if any of the answers were different from the previous times, probably nothing but then again in this day and age you never know. I have a feeling we will be questioned further on arrival at Hamburg this evening.
Time for arrival preparations, more later. Tim
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