sounding pipes – Officer of the Watch

Paris MoU Detention Report for General Cargo Ship MV Friendship

December 25, 2013 by Officer of the Watch 1 Comment

MV Friendship was a Maltese Flag General Cargo Ship which was carrying cargo from Cuba to Canada. The vessel was targeted for inspection as it was identified by THETIS as a Priority I for a more detailed inspection in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Canada. The ship was discharging a cargo of Nickel in bags. A team of 3 inspectors from Dartmouth office boarded the ship on July 23, 2011. The vessel was detained on July 25, 2011 for a total of 23 deficiencies of which 6 were serious enough to detain the vessel.

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Filed Under: OOW FOCUS Tagged With: detention, eficiencies, HSSQE, life saving appliances, lifeboat, load lines, Paris MoU, PSC, PSCO, sounding pipes

Corrosion in Double Bottom in Engine Room

November 22, 2013 by Officer of the Watch Leave a Comment

Water ingress to the engine room of a bulk carrier was discovered during a voyage. The leakage was found to come through the short sounding pipe of the bilge water holding tank in the double bottom. After the visual inspection of the tank, the sea water ingress was found to come through an approximately 45 mm diameter area of serious pitting/hole in bottom plate (see figure below).

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Filed Under: OOW FOCUS Tagged With: bulk carrier, corrosion, DNV, Hydrochloric Acid, sounding pipes, Technical, water ingress

Main Engine Damage Due to Fuel Contamination from Dry Cargo

December 7, 2012 by Officer of the Watch Leave a Comment

When a bulk carrier was at sea, high exhaust gas temperatures were noted and several piston rings were found broken after investigation. The rings were renewed and engine restarted. After some hours of running the main engine it malfunctioned once again and more broken rings weer found. The broken rings were again replaced, but then the engine failed to start and the vessel had to be towed to port. A considerable number of piston rings were broken. Excessive wear of liners and piston crown grooves were also found. The fuel oil used was suspected to be a probable cause, although the quality of it was not found abnormal according to the test report.

Cargo Residues in Hold Bilge Systems

February 18, 2012 by Stavros Kairis Leave a Comment

Before loading the cargo hold of a bulk carrier or a general cargo, appropriate inspections should be conducted in order to ensure that all the systems related to the cargo hold are in good working order. One of the key common issues is the cleaning of the hold from cargo residues. Various debris have the “ability” to find their way into the systems of hold bilges making manual removal of such debris imperative. Debris (especially foodstuff) which have been left in the bilges will decay over time giving some of the most unpleasant smells. Hold bilges are usually cleaned using a shovel and afterwards they must be lifted out of the hold. Once the bilge area has been cleaned the next thing to do is to verify and ensure that the rest of the hold bilge systems are in good working order. Therefore the following should be checked and tested if possible: bilge sounding pipes, bilge suctions, bilge non return valves.