CHAPTER 5

"Bang"

A loud noise accompanied by a hissing sound of overflowing champagne and thunder of clapping. It was followed by shaking of hands and congratulatory messages, "All the best."

It was the formal inauguration of our site office at room no. 318. Apart from our site team members and our agent, SH Park, there were representatives from the shipyard and Classification Society.

"Congratulations," a hand extended towards me and with a deep voice he said, "I am HC Son, your project coordinator from the Contract Administration Department. My roles is to ensure that the site team as well as the owner's interest are taken care of with regards to this project."

Meghnad brought another gentleman to me and introduced him, "This is Eric Sommerville. He is our project manager from ABS."

"Pleasure to meet you," He extended his hand, "Meghnad was mentioning you mission here. You can contact me with your queries any time. It will be my pleasure to answer you."

"Thanks. I sure will," I replied.

The Quality control manager introduced himself, "I am KB Kim and this is my colleague HB Kim. I will take care of hull inspections and he will take care of machinery and outfitting."

Meghnad added, "These guys are from the quality control department and we refer to them as QC guys. Their job is to ensure that our ship and its parts are build as per the shipyard standards meeting our as well as regulatory requirements. They will organize the tests and inspection for our team to attend, witness and inspect."

"What kind of tests?" I asked.

"As you know the structure of this ship is made of steel. The whole structure is constructed in various divisions called blocks. These are like lego blocks. They are joined together to form the ship structure. During the various stages of construction there are lot of test to verify if the structure is made as per the design drawings. Remember that we would have given confirmation to those drawings along with the Classification Society where appropriate. Apart from that the standard welding quality, fitting quality and workmanship is assessed to see if it meet the approved standards. KB Kim will give us these structural inspection schedule for each of these blocks and their parts at various stages."

Pointing to HB Kim, Meghanad added," The QC in charge of machinery and outfitting will take care of all the tests not related to the structure. This include test of machinery and installation, piping, electrical system and equipments, other outfitting items. I will elaborate all the tests before each inspection."

KB Kim added, "One of our main role is to ensure that all your comments after the tests and inspections or during your general observations are taken care as long as they are reasonable. What I mean by that if they are meant to be part of the contract specifications."

"We have couple of tests scheduled this week. You will understand these things then," HB Kim said.

"But, the steel cutting is only next week. I thought you have not started the project and begun to use the steel for our ship," I asked surprised.

The three of them smiled and Meghnad said, "Officially the work start with steel cutting. However, there are lot of activities that has already set in to motion. The inspections HB Kim was referring to are some pipes and hatches inspections. I will explain about it later."

"That aside, tell me guys, this is the third Kim I am meeting in Korea within three days. Are you guys from same family?" I quipped.

This time their laughter was very loud.

HB Kim offered the reply, "In Korea you will find lots of people with common family name of Kim, Lee, Park. To answer you question first, we are not related at least as far as we know. However we believe that we are all descendants of the great kings of Shilla dynasty (57 BCE to 937 ACE). Park family also trace their descendants to the same kingdom where as Lee trace to Chosun dynasty (1392-1910 ACE)."

Meghnad could not help, but interrupt, "WIth all due respects, if we add the number of people with family names who trace to kings, it would seem that there were only kings in the past!"

Luckily all of them joined in the laughter and no one took offense.


* * *


"Lets have food from the canteen," Meghnad suggested to all.

"What kind of dish?" I was curious.

"We will find out there. However the menu says bibimpap - an assortment of rice, vegetables and some meat," Madan replied.

The six of us headed to the korean canteen, the same place where the employees of the yard also have their lunch. It was a large facility and could easily accommodate close to thousand people. We had to join the queue and take the dishes. The ingredients were kept separately and it was up to us to chose the appropriate ratio for each item including the spice in the dish.

"Most of the dishes here are like this. We have to mix and prepare it, some time even cook on our table," Thomas said.

"Interesting, we should try out some where we do cooking on our table," I replied.

"Sure, lets go out on the steel cutting dinner to such a place," Meghnad responded.

As we walked back to the site office, SC Yoon asked, "We have some pipe inspections today. Are you interested in coming?"

"What kind of inspection?"

"It is the surface preparation of cargo pipes. As you might know, the cargo pipes on our tanker is made of stainless steel."

"But why are they made of stainless steel. It must be very expensive, right?" I interjected.

"You are right on the expensive part. These pipes are made of stainless steel of a grade that has high resistance to corrosion as well capability to withstand lot of chemicals. The outside of the pipes, exposed to weather surface is coated with epoxy coating. Before applying the coating, the pipe surface is made clean of impurities and uniform roughness for paint adhesion. Today's inspection is surface preparation check of cargo pipes. We have to ensure that it is as per standards."

"What standards?"

"Well, there are many. However, the one we follow, as stated in the specification is the Swedish Standards (SIS) for surface preparation with various categories for blasting and power tool cleaning."

"Ok, I will come with you for inspection," I answered as I wanted to know more about this.

"There are various types of materials used for pipes apart from stainless steel. These include carbon steel, galvanized, PVC, copper depending on the type, pressure and temperature of fluid," Meghnad added.

"I will have to sit with you to understand the nuances. Let me do that after this test," I replied.

The inspection was at a factory half an hour drive from the shipyard. We were taken to the factory by our coating QC, JH Lee. On the way, I decided to increase my knowledge about surface preparation.

"You mentioned about blasting and power tool cleaning. Can you elaborate on that technical terms," I asked.

"Blasting is a process where metal pellets, usually steel, are fired to the surface of the material at high speed to remove the rust, stains, etc. and make a uniform profile. During the surface preparation in shops, only blasting is done; however onboard ship power tool cleaning is also done. In case of power tool cleaning a wire brush or grinder is used to remove the rust, stains etc. and make a uniform profile. We usually have a reference photo to compare the standard profile for this surface preparation."

At the factory site, SC Yoon demonstrated how the inspection is done with the aid of tools like good flash light and portable mirrors to check the quality of surface preparation. I must say that he was a good trainer to me.

* * *

While we were coming to office next morning, Meghnad reminded that today was the steel cutting date of the first vessel, hull number 2577.

"What is this hull number?" I asked.

"Every vessel has a name before it set sail from the yard. But before the naming ceremony the ship is referred by the project number in the yard - namely hull number."

"What happens today, in the steel cutting ceremony?"

"Well, officially it is the first day of cutting the steel for the vessel. As you will see today, all the steel plates here are cut in a CNC (Computer Numeric Controlled) machine in which the cutting of shapes is done automatically from the computer drawing. We will commence the first cutting at the touch of a button," Meghnad increased my curiosity.

"After this ceremony, we will usually have some cake cutting, sweet distribution, and the usual champagne in office." Madan said.

"Wow, that is nice," I was more interested in seeing the plate cutting.

The six of us accompanied by HC Son, from the contract administration, walked towards the shop where the ceremony was going to be held. As I walked towards the shop, the noise of cutting, welding, hammering reached a crescendo - towards unbearable limits. I wondered how people could work in this noisy environment. Thomas noting my discomfort offered ear plugs to mitigate the noise.

As I entered the shop, I could not but admire at the sheer area of the shop floor. There were various machines, which they later explained as CNC machine. We all moved towards one of them that had a plate getting ready to be cut. The project manager from ABS, Eric, along with his site manager was also there.

On receiving a cue from the shipyard staff, Meghnad performed the honors of pressing the button to commence the first cut of the plate, signifying the steel cutting ceremony. After posing for the customary photographs and video shots, we moved to our site office where champagne, sweets and cake was awaiting us.

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.