As we got down from our Korean Air flight from Mumbai, we saw the first signs of politeness from the air port staff and air line personnel while moving towards the immigration counter. This never failed to surprise me even six months later, at the end of my stay.
Our agent was there outside the airport with a name board and “DISHA” written in bold letters. After the customary welcome, he took us to the domestic terminal to catch the next flight to Ulsan.
“Thomas, we must come here to see the city,” I said looking at the receding profile of Seoul from the airplane window. He was sitting next to me.
“Sure, maybe during the new year holidays in Feb,” Thomas replied.
As we got down from the domestic flight, I noticed that Ulsan airport was much smaller than Seoul. Seeing my expression Madan offered a consolation, “Seoul is a dominant city in S.Korea. Almost one-fourth its population thrive there. Ulsan is just ninth largest city.”
Here again, we had our local agent to pick us up. With a very characteristic smile and a bow, he announced, “Welcome to Korea. I am Seong Ho Park. You can call me SH Park.”
On the walk to the vehicle I could not help noticing the cold outside. Although I had prepared myself for this eventuality, the wind was piercing my exposed skin like needles. I had one simple question to ask, “Mr. SH Park, when does this winter get over?”
“By end of February. Don’t you like winter?” he asked.
“I do not particularly enjoy the cold. I hope spring is good.”
“Once it starts snowing, maybe you will like it,” he replied.
“Oh really! that is very nice. I am looking forward to that.”
Soon the pick up vehicle reached our studio apartment building. It was six-storied and on a small hillock facing the sea.
“All of your rooms are in the ground floor,” SH Park announced. He then added, “Room no. 3, 4, 5 and 6.”
We had about an hour to freshen up before going out for dinner and I surprised every one by coming out first. I guess they all thought that all girls take very long to get ready.
Thomas was the last to come. He had put lot of layers of clothes to protect himself from the cold.
“It is very windy. Smriti, I hope you can manage this cold,” he asked me.
“I too hope so.”
“Lets go to the Chinese restaurant nearby. Once we get our car we can venture out to the exotic varieties, spread around,” Madan quipped.
Their previous experience in Korea and Ulsan ensured that they were quite familiar with the place, people and their culture.
While we were walking towards the restaurant, I asked Meghnad, “The construction commence on Nov 10th, you said. Why are we here a week before?”
“It is true that the steel cutting, the formal start of the construction process in on Nov 10th. However, we have to setup our site office, set up the process for inspections, reporting and dispute resolution,” he replied.
“What kind of disputes?” I asked.
“Do you remember the contract specifications?” he asked.
“Yes,” I nodded.
“Well. There are many occasions when the shipyard’s and our interpretation of this do not match. In such situation we have to sit and discuss. It is best to plan out the sequence of action in such an eventuality,” Meghnad continued.
“Not just the contract specifications. We might need to add or modify equipments, fittings, or layout as per our operational convenience, which might come to picture only when the construction is in progress,” Madan added.
“Can’t you guys discuss about the shipbuilding in working hours. There are so many good things to talk about in this beautiful night,” Thomas interrupted the conversation.
“Well, ok. Maybe today we can accept your request,” I replied.
* * *
A good dinner of Chinese fried rice (called pokumpap) and a deep sleep ensured that we were all fresh for the next day. SH Park was there in the morning to pick us up from our building. It was just ten minutes drive to the entrance of JHI.
As we entered the gates, I was awe struck by the size of cranes, and huge parts of ships all around. It was simply a difference world all together. “This is amazing!” I exclaimed loudly.
“What you see here are called blocks,” Meghnad directed my gaze towards these parts of ships. “Hundreds of them are joined together to form a ship. We will explain in detail later.”
“These are fabrication shops. All equipments, piping and other fittings are completed here,” Thomas pointed at huge buildings on either side of the road. “We will arrange a yard tour for Smriti. What do you say, Meghnad?”
“Sure.”
It took about five minutes drive from the entrance to reach our office at the other end of the shipyard.
“Your office is in the third floor, room number 318,” SH Park said as we stepped out of his car.
As we entered room number 318, two gentlemen who were seated in the sofa got up and introduced themselves, “I am Kim Tae Ho. You can call me TH Kim. I am the Hull inspector.”
“And I am Yoon Sang Chan; you can call me SC Yoon. I am the coating inspector.”
As I looked around the office, I noticed that it was furnished very well. There was a table for each of the six of us; a conference table at one corner; a pair of sofas facing each other; a refrigerator, coffee machine, and a drinking water fountain.
My eyes led to the now familiar drawing on the wall - the General arrangement drawing. As my gaze moved on and stood still on the next drawing, Meghnad approached me and asked, “wondering about this drawing, are you?”
“Yeah,” I smiled.
“This is the Capacity plan. In this drawing all the tanks and its boundaries in the horizontal and vertical planes are marked. Its volume, weight, and centers of gravity are also shown,” he added.
“What kind of tanks?” I could not help asking.
“Apart from cargo tanks, which in this case is oil and oil products as cargo, there are water ballast, fresh water, fuel oil, diesel oil, lube oil, oily bilge, sludge, and some other miscellaneous tanks.” Pointing his fingers on the drawing he said, “In this vessel we have twelve cargo oil tanks, six each in port and starboard.”
I tried to demonstrate my knowledge, “port is left, correct?”
“Depends on where you are looking from. To avoid this confusion, this nautical term is used so that ship has unambiguous reference planes. When one stand on the deck and looks towards the direction of ahead motion, the side on the left is port and on the right is starboard,” he replied.
“That is pretty clear,” I replied.
“Before you ask me about the next drawing, let me get back to my desk and plan the day’s task. I will surely take questions in the afternoon,” he answered as he walked to his table.
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