Town centre blockage

Davepick said:
I wouldn't mind seeing them load that ship. How long would it take?
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Tbh they’re never empty so never need loading fully. I worked on the ‘S’ class of Evergreens fleet (3/4 size of the Ever Given) and we would regularly have 10+ gantry cranes operating on our vessel at any given time depending on availability quayside. I’d estimate to load / unload a container takes approximately 2/3 minutes on average however it then depends on the efficiency of the port itself (lorry movements etc) to get it away and the next on board.
I’ve unloaded 6000 and loaded 3500 containers in little over 18 hours before. That’s a equivalent to 50% of the ship (S Class) being unloaded and 30% loaded.
I’ve also spent quite literally days in port loading and unloading maybe a couple of hundred containers in total.
There’s a lot of variables to take into consideration.
 
LA1 Seasider said:
Tbh they’re never empty so never need loading fully. I worked on the ‘S’ class of Evergreens fleet (3/4 size of the Ever Given) and we would regularly have 10+ gantry cranes operating on our vessel at any given time depending on availability quayside. I’d estimate to load / unload a container takes approximately 2/3 minutes on average however it then depends on the efficiency of the port itself (lorry movements etc) to get it away and the next on board.
I’ve unloaded 6000 and loaded 3500 containers in little over 18 hours before. That’s a equivalent to 50% of the ship (S Class) being unloaded and 30% loaded.
I’ve also spent quite literally days in port loading and unloading maybe a couple of hundred containers in total.
There’s a lot of variables to take into consideration.
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Interesting. 👍
Just a general opinion: it looks unstable. Top heavy. How the Hell would it cope in a storm?
What’s the limit? I assume there’s containers below deck as well. Wasn’t the original excuse, that it was blown off course?
 
tangerine_neil said:
Interesting. 👍
Just a general opinion: it looks unstable. Top heavy. How the Hell would it cope in a storm?
What’s the limit? I assume there’s containers below deck as well. Wasn’t the original excuse, that it was
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tangerine_neil said:
Interesting. 👍
Just a general opinion: it looks unstable. Top heavy. How the Hell would it cope in a storm?
What’s the limit? I assume there’s containers below deck as well. Wasn’t the original excuse, that it was blown off course?
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There’s a huge amount a ship below the waterline and naturally a huge amount of cargo and containers too. There’s also 90% of the ships structure (engine room, propellor shaft, pumps, fuel tanks) all low down in the ship. For their size container ships are very light. It’s a bit like taking a a cheap metal shelving unit, wrapping it in foil and then putting it on its side. The structure of the ship itself is minimal compared to the volume of cargo it can carry. The majority of cargo is stored beneath the deck. Also worth noting it’s not as simple as just putting the next container up on top. There’s a lot of very advanced mathematics and computer programmes used to maintain the ships stability which works by pumping vast volumes of sea water around ballast tanks between the outer hull of the ship and inside skin of the storage areas.
For maybe 8 tiers of containers on top of the deck you have another 8/9 in the holds below.

You probably don’t truly realise the incredible scale of these ships until you’re up and close. In typhoons and the very worst storms they do get thrown about a fair bit and roll quite a lot. But it takes quite a lot of bad weather to make it too uncomfortable and you do monitor the weather and plan your route and speed accordingly to try avoid the worst if it.

There’s were a few days and nights where I’ve been working up on the bridge with my immersion suit on and a grab bag ready to go though just incase. 🤣 Quite terrifying when I was still learning the ropes and I’m seeing the other experienced officers looking a bit uneasy !
 
LA1 Seasider said:
There’s a huge amount a ship below the waterline and naturally a huge amount of cargo and containers too. There’s also 90% of the ships structure (engine room, propellor shaft, pumps, fuel tanks) all low down in the ship. For their size container ships are very light. It’s a bit like taking a a cheap metal shelving unit, wrapping it in foil and then putting it on its side. The structure of the ship itself is minimal compared to the volume of cargo it can carry. The majority of cargo is stored beneath the deck. Also worth noting it’s not as simple as just putting the next container up on top. There’s a lot of very advanced mathematics and computer programmes used to maintain the ships stability which works by pumping vast volumes of sea water around ballast tanks between the outer hull of the ship and inside skin of the storage areas.
For maybe 8 tiers of containers on top of the deck you have another 8/9 in the holds below.

You probably don’t truly realise the incredible scale of these ships until you’re up and close. In typhoons and the very worst storms they do get thrown about a fair bit and roll quite a lot. But it takes quite a lot of bad weather to make it too uncomfortable and you do monitor the weather and plan your route and speed accordingly to try avoid the worst if it.

There’s were a few days and nights where I’ve been working up on the bridge with my immersion suit on and a grab bag ready to go though just incase. 🤣 Quite terrifying when I was still learning the ropes and I’m seeing the other experienced officers looking a bit uneasy !
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Wow great information LA1.
Having cruised out of Southampton a few times and therefore being up and close to some of these types of vessels they really are massive( mind you so are some of the cruise boats😉and they are getting bigger and bigger all the time...probably too big for our liking).
One of the terminals we have sailed from ( P&O’s QE2) shares the dock area with the commercial freight but seems to be used for cargo which is not loaded by cranes but driven in through open “doors”rather like the ferries that cross the channel but these ships are a hell of a lot bigger.In fact they almost look like bricks in shape and to be honest are ugly but when you see a ship being loaded you can get a great idea of their size and capacity( eg) one of those huge tonka trucks or large scale military equipment is driven in and they look like a small scaled down versions.( would attach a photo but this never works for me on here so have given up trying🙄)..it would have been of the Dorado Leader(Panama registered)
Quite fascinating to watch as you wait to sail away.😉
 
Their currently building new containerships that have a 24,000 TEU capacity (that’s 24,000 20ft long steel shipping containers) and they’re likely to become the norm in and around major ports. That’s 20% greater capacity than the Ever Given which ran aground in the Suez.
400 metres long and 60/65 metres wide is pretty much the maximum useable build size of these vessels as anything bigger can’t use the Suez or major ports.
I don’t have any pictures but being onboard in one of the holds when the hatch is off and it’s empty of containers but it is quite a sight to see. It’s comparable to an entire cathedral and you’ve got 10ish of these huge spaces on each ship.
 
LA1 Seasider said:
There’s a huge amount a ship below the waterline and naturally a huge amount of cargo and containers too. There’s also 90% of the ships structure (engine room, propellor shaft, pumps, fuel tanks) all low down in the ship. For their size container ships are very light. It’s a bit like taking a a cheap metal shelving unit, wrapping it in foil and then putting it on its side. The structure of the ship itself is minimal compared to the volume of cargo it can carry. The majority of cargo is stored beneath the deck. Also worth noting it’s not as simple as just putting the next container up on top. There’s a lot of very advanced mathematics and computer programmes used to maintain the ships stability which works by pumping vast volumes of sea water around ballast tanks between the outer hull of the ship and inside skin of the storage areas.
For maybe 8 tiers of containers on top of the deck you have another 8/9 in the holds below.

You probably don’t truly realise the incredible scale of these ships until you’re up and close. In typhoons and the very worst storms they do get thrown about a fair bit and roll quite a lot. But it takes quite a lot of bad weather to make it too uncomfortable and you do monitor the weather and plan your route and speed accordingly to try avoid the worst if it.

There’s were a few days and nights where I’ve been working up on the bridge with my immersion suit on and a grab bag ready to go though just incase. 🤣 Quite terrifying when I was still learning the ropes and I’m seeing the other experienced officers looking a bit uneasy !
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Love stuff like this. Thanks for the insight 👍
 
LA1 Seasider said:
Was previously a deck cadet (trainee officer) with Evergreen however left that industry once I completed my training and now work as a civil servant.
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I worked in the MN myself as radio officer though the general cargo ships I sailed on were way smaller than any of the big beasties around today. The upside was we got into nice little ports that didn't have the same slick box lifting gantries if we had containers. If we had bulk the dockside cranes would do the job and we'd be in port for two or three days
 
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