26 September 2012

Bahia Blanca

at anchor for several days, thought we were going in tonight, the cargo receiver said, "Come on in, we're ready for ya" but the charterer aka the cargo owner said, "Negative.  No pay, no cargo." So we were instructed instead to sit and wait some more while the check clears or the banks in Europe open, something like that.

ship is almost 5 years old.  Used to be operated by M_____ but that didn't go so well, M_____ sold their LNG fleet, and T_____ bought 6 of the 8.  Seems that M____'s plan was:

1.  Buy new ship
2.  Do as little maintenance as you can get away with
3.  Sell it.
4.  Profit!

so lot's of low hanging fruit here, as far as stuff that needs to be done.

A wrinkle.  T_____ offered all the officers and crew from M_____ the opportunity to come work for the new sheriff, many took them up.  These same guys, the ones that ran the ship into the ground, are still here, onboard right now, claiming that everything was ice cream and lollipops before T______ took over.  Sure it was, they didn't require you to actually fix anything.

So like today, when I had my guys grease the coupling on the bow thruster, a rather expensive piece of equipment, and found that the coupling was completely empty.  Not that the grease leaked out, but that no grease was ever put in the coupling.  For 4-1/2 years.  Not possible, they say.  Just look at the maintenance record, it says it was done August 29th, just a few days before you joined.  Every day is like this.

Are they happy you are fixing things, that the ship is better today than it was yesterday?  My junior engineers are happy.  They're learning things, fixing things, making use of their talents.  But the senior, long term guys, the ones who are to blame?  Not so much.

The ethnic makeup is primarily Asian.  Indian officers mostly, and Filipino crew.  Curry at every meal.  Gonna be an interesting couple of months.

And the internet (yes, we have internet, though the captain turned off the wifi, so I'm using the old ships computer on which I can't use Skype ... my iMac is playing music right now, jealous of this ancient PC on which I type this) ... back to the internet ... our provider filters various sites.  Blogspot.com is banned.  So I can't view this post, once it goes out.  And not sure if I'll be able to answer any comments (from both of my readers) though I'll see them in my email.

3 comments:

  1. I remember Bahia Blanca, on LOGOS II, 1999... does the port still smell of breakfast cereal?

    I think organisations are by nature very resistant to change - even good change, like you!!!

    Hang in there - I shall pray for a pleasant surprise for you in this job!

    God bless,

    Meg

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  2. So we can say whatever we want here without fear of moderating!

    Yes, it does sound like an interesting couple of months. Good luck!

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  3. Assuming and hoping you and your ship are well out of the north Atlantic =).

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