CHAPTER 1

It was a dark moonless night. Rain was pouring heavily. Two important people were scheduled to meet at a secret location; the only information we have is that it was a bar in the outskirts of New York.

“We need an oil tanker in one year. Is it possible?” the first said.

“Anything is possible while dealing with you,” the other said.

This is not exactly the way an oil tanker project is conceived, and so are not any other ship building projects. But, this is what I thought it was, before I came and spend my time to make this report, “How to make an oil tanker.”

Before I tell you the answer, mind you it is a long one; let me tell you something about myself. I am Smriti Sagar, a journalist by profession. Our magazine, Prathamam, wanted to create a “How to -” series to make the common man understand the complex engineering behind some products and professions. That led me to this project to understand how an oil tanker is built.

From my early childhood I had a passion for boats. It might have started with the small wooden boat ride across the river in my school days. Later on, it caught up when I shifted my house near the Marine drive in Kochi, where hundreds of boats and ships passed by daily. To be frank, I did not know much about ships to speak of, except that I enjoyed the sight of it moving in the water.

Our editor was very happy that I volunteered to cover this project.

“Do I have to run three years behind this?” I asked.

My editor gave a nonchalant look and said, “That was before. Even shipyards in India built tankers in a year. If you are in a good shipyard in S.Korea or Japan, it takes around six months.”

“Then I better find a project there,” I said with a sense of relief.


* * *

Disha is one of the largest shipping companies in India and they have a huge fleet of fifty-five oil tankers. I found that last part from their web site.

I was rushing to their head office in Nariman point, maneuvering through the rush hour of Mumbai.

I looked at my watch, “Oops, I am already ten minutes late for my appointment. I hope my editor have good contacts here.”

I approach the reception and they led me to a door with a bold letters, “PRADEEP SHARMA, Vice President Projects”.

“Good morning, Sir!” “I hope I did not keep you waiting.”

It struck me that Pradeep Sharma was a smartly dressed, in his early forties, and he exhibited an air of confidence in the way he leaned his chair as he looked up to see me.

“Hello! Miss…Smriti. Take your seat. And call me Pradeep!”

We spend the next fifteen minutes discussing about the formalities of getting me to their onsite office in S.Korea, where they had a project to built one oil tanker. Pradeep Sharma oversaw this project and many others in this company. I was eager to proceed to what I was interested in, “How to make an oil tanker?”

I figured out that the best way to learn was to ask questions. I started with him, “Tell me, what is an oil tanker?”

“Oil tanker is a ship constructed or adapted primarily to carry oil in its cargo spaces and includes combination carriers and chemical tankers, when they are carrying oil in bulk. If you ask me what oil is, it is petroleum in any form, including crude oil, fuel oil, sludge, and oil refuse and refined products,” he answered.

“It is easy to identify one when u see it. There would be lot of pipe lines on the ship,” he added.

I was not sure if I had seen one, and not sure if I will recognize one. His answer did instill curiosity in my mind and I eagerly asked, “Tell me more about this ship.”

“This is a 46,000 Ton Deadweight, Oil/Chemical Tanker project at JHI (Jangsae Heavy Industries) shipyard, S.Korea. JHI is one of the largest shipyard in the world building these small sized tankers. ”

“…but what is deadweight?” I interrupted.

“It is the carrying capacity of a ship. In our oil tanker it means that it can carry up to 46,000 tonnes of total weight including oil in its cargo tanks, fuel for running the engine in the ship, lubricating oil, fresh water in tanks, stores, crew, and their effects.”

I placed my right hand under my chin and asked, “46,000 tonnes – this ship can carry. Is it big or small? I cannot visualize the number. Please help me to understand it.”

“Imagine that you take a ride in an economy car with the fuel that can be carried by this ship. You can travel around the world 15,000 times with this fuel,” he explained matter-of-factly.

“Oh my god! That is huge.” I raised my two hands and expressed my amazement. I had more doubts and asked, “I thought your ship was just an oil tanker. What is this Oil/Chemical?”

“Normal oil tanker can carry only crude oil. In such tankers the cargo tanks, the tanks where we carry cargo (oil), are not coated with any paint, except maybe in the top section. In our ship, the cargo tanks are coated with special paint so that it can carry petroleum products and some chemicals in addition to crude oil. Hence we have this terminology.”

“How and when did you conceive this project?” I leaned forward and placed my right hand under my shin, hoping for a long answer.

“Two years back we had decided to build an oil tanker of this size. It was based on market prediction that this kind of ship and this size would be profitable at the time when it starts trading. Once we took that decision, we visited some shipyards and discussed about the yard slot availability. During that discussion the JHI shipyard had given the preliminary or outline specification of the ship. This is the basic detail and layout of the ship they were offering to build. Once we expressed interest and provided them details of our standard requirements in a ship, they modified the design, considering cost addition.

Based on these modifications the contract specification was made. It is a detailed document, usually running to over two hundred pages, describing all the systems and equipments in the ship. A maker list, which is the list of main equipment makers, was also agreed upon. They include Main Engine, Generator engines, pumps, motors, compressors, electrical fitting, navigational equipments, paint, etc. Our technical team was also present to finalize the documents before signing.

As per our contract, the construction commences on Nov 10 this year – just over a month from now. Almost seven months later, our oil tanker would be ready, on May 14.

So, you have a month to get your visa documents done, and make other travel arrangements.”

“Why does it take so long for a ship building project to commence after contract signing?” I asked with curiosity. “Why not like cars, where we can pick off the shelf?”

“Ships are custom build unlike cars. The complete design takes around six months depending on how complicated the ship is. Also shipyards order-book is usually filled a year or more in advance.”

“Last two years has been a boom for shipbuilding industry. There is great demand and limited space to build. Shipyards, in such times, are booked three years in advance.”

“Smriti, let me take you to our project manager. He will answer all your queries related to this project. Moreover he is of your age group, and possibly wavelength will match.”

I agreed to the idea and followed him to the next cabin.

Pradeep walked right into the cabin. I paused outside to read the name board. But there was none.

The cabin was a large room with lot of shelves on one side and computers on the other. In the center was a huge table probably for conducting meetings. On the shelves were lot of documents and books stacked to full, as if they would squeeze themselves out. On the table were large sheets with some picture or something. On the farther shelf was a guy pulling out a bunch of sheets as we entered.

“Busy!” Pradeep shouted as he entered the room.

“This is the reporter I was talking about… and Smriti this is our project manager, Meghnad.”

“Hi Smriti,” Meghnad wished politely.

I greeted him back. I noticed that he was bubbling with energy and his eyes had particular glow. He was attractive, I must say.

“What are all these documents and huge sheets lying around here? Is it some kind of a library or what?” I asked while I scanned the room one more time.

“Oh, these are the design drawings for the ship. The shipyard sends it to the ship owner’s office for approval. We go through these plans and suggest necessary modifications and give our comments based on our needs and experiences. Needs are usually our standards for safety and comfort. The experience is the operational experience gained by our sailing staff – the people who run or operate the ship.”

“I was hoping to spend some time with you daily, to understand this process. When is the best time for you?” I asked. “I would surely enjoy his company,” I thought in my mind.

“Afternoon is the best time, maybe three to four.”

“Great,” I said, “I will not take your time today. We will meet tomorrow.”

* * *

On my ride in the subway I could not help thinking about Meghnad. But then I had other things to worry about - I had to brief my editor on my meeting today, and then go to the travel agent for my visa process. “It is going to be a long day,” I sighed.