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 4

It was not long before we were on the flight to Incheon, the international airport near Seoul, S.Korea. My first memory of Seoul was during the 1982 Asian Games closing ceremony in New Delhi when the song, “See Se oul...” was sung as a welcome song by Seoul (S.Korea), the host of 1986 Asian Games. That was when I was a kid and hence I do not have much idea of anything else.

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.