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VOYAGE CHARTER :- In this form of charter, charterer are mainly interested in seaworthiness and condition of cargo spaces. Surveyors check whether vessel can carry the cargo of the particular quantity and to be able to discharge the same, within an agreed period of time. Chief engineer’s role :- He should take care of cargo handling equipments and tank condition. If any repairs are necessary, to keep the same in good condition, they should be carried out, as it is a requirement to prove that the ship is able to carry the cargo safely and the vessel should be able to reach in agreed time. TIME CHARTER :- a) Before putting the vessel on time charter first ON HIRE SURVEY is carried out. There will be an agreement that an on hire survey will be carried out to establish  Quantity of bunker remaining on board  The general condition of vessel  Tanks or holds are fit to carry the cargo Holds of a dry cargo vessel must be dry and swept clean. Tanks for oil/chemical must pass the

PORT STATE CONTROL :- It is an inspection programme under which all countries work together to ensure that all vessels entering their water are in compliance with strict international safety and antipollution standards. All countries share their findings with each other and the ships that are found to be in violation of laid down standards are detained in port, until their deficiencies are rectified. OBJECTIVE OF PSC INSPECTION :- The objective of PSC inspection is to defeat and deter owners from operating substandard ships that endanger not only the ship crew and the port, but also the environment. This minimizes the threat to life, property and environment. KEY ELEMENTS :- Key elements of PSC inspection are:- 1) Ensuring compliance with international rules regarding safety, marine pollution and threat to working environment. 2) Detaining substandard vessel till all deficiencies are rectified. 3) Implementing a initially agreed figure of annually inspecting the minimum numbe

An insurance policy is a contract. The insured is referred as first party to the contract. The insurer i.e. the insurance company is who issues the contract is the second party. A stranger to the contract who makes a claim against insured is known as third party. THIRD PARTY LIABILITY :- It is obligation to compensate the another person harmed or injured or suffered a loss due to negligence or mistake or wrongful act of first party. When the insured – first party causes a loss then the second party assumes the insured liability up to the policy limit. Examples of third party liabilities are collision, third party injury or death claim, oil pollution liability, cargo claim, crew claim, unrecoverable general average contribution etc.          When the agreement is signed by the parties, they agree on certain conditions and goals written in the agreement. They also get certain liability towards each other for successful achieving of the goals. But by any reason a third party gets affe

Bunkers have become now a day very significant expense in day to day running of ships. Hence saving in fuel is a very important aspect for all shipping companies and their vessels. A small saving in bunker expense surprisingly contributes a significant amount in the long run for the ship. Sometimes external factors influence the consumption of fuel. Following are some external factors on which fuel consumptions depends a lot:- 1) SHIP’S HULL CONDITION :- Ship’s hull condition definitely influences the fuel consumption. Ship’s movement is restricted by resistance experienced by heship, which is comprised by two types called frictional resistance and residual resistance. Frictional resistance is a function of density of water, hull roughness and length of ship. Residual resistance is due to wake forming tendency caused due to movement in water and shape of ship. Frictional resistance can be up to 70% of total resistance of the ship and hull condition is a major contributory factor in

Fuel remains one of the highest single cost factors in running a ship and also the source of the most potent operating problems. Fuel contributes to 30% to 55% of the total operating cost of a ship. Fuel oil characteristic changes with change in its properties and its content. Influence of following properties/ contents on fuel characteristic and economy are:- 1) VISCOSITY :- Fuel grades are based on viscosity. High viscosity fuels are generally less expensive than lower viscosity fuel. But high viscosity fuel will require more preheating prior to centrifuging and fuel injection in order to lower the viscosity. This increased heating will cause more steam to be consumed resulting in more fuel to be burnt to get that steam. Caution must be exercised when heating prior to injection to temperature above 135 degree Celsius because cracking may occur, gases may be given off and water may vaporize forming steam pockets in fuel line. Also if correct viscosity of oil will not be injected t

Bunkering is one operation on ship which has been the reason for several pollution related incidents in the past. Bunkering operation requires utmost care and alertness to prevent any kind of fire accident or oil spill. Chief engineer is the overall in charge of a bunkering operation. So, before bunkering operation chief engineer should plan in the following way:- 1) He should calculate and check which tanks are to be filled once he receives confirmation from the shore office about the amount of fuel to be received. 2) It might be required to empty some tanks and transfer the oil from one tank to other. This is required so as to prevent mixing of two oils and prevent incompatibility between the previous oil and new oil. 3) A meeting should be held between the members that will take part in bunkering operation and should be discussed about the whole process regarding tanks to be filled, sequence of filling, contingency plan etc. 4) Bunkering checklist should be filled up and n

In the last decade a large number of bulk carriers were lost. From 1990 to mid 1997 a total number of 99 bulk carriers were lost, with the death of 654 people. This forced IMO to think about the safety of bulk carriers and a new chapter was included in SOLAS which is chapter XII. What were the reasons which caused so many losses of bulk carriers? We will discuss the reasons one by one. 1) AGE OF SHIP :- Age is a contributing factor in the loss of bulk carriers. Statistically ,bulk carriers 20 years or older exhibit a greater chance of total loss than their younger counterpart 2) CORROSION :-Certain products including coal, phosphate and raw sulphur transported by bulk carriers can rapidly corrode the hold side frames and promote fracture. For a capsize bulk carrier carrying coal and iron ore it has been recorded that a hull web frame with an original thickness of 10mm can corrode to only 3 to 5mm along bottom portion of the hold in a short period. Corrosion increases the structur

In spite of taking all safety measures and following all correct procedures, sometimes unfortunate incidents do occur on board a ship. These result in personal injuries and machinery damage. After every incidence, investigations take place and insurance claims are raised.  The insurance underwriters appoint damage surveyors who come on board and do their investigation. In the process of doing it, they ask for all the relevant documents. Suppose a main engine crankcase explosion has taken place on your ship in which main engine was badly damaged and two engine room personnel suffered serious injuries. Now, you will have to present your vessel for subsequent inspections by P&I and H&M insurance companies. We will see step by step what all should be done after the incidence:- 1) Take care of persons injured: - Since persons are seriously injured, give them first aid and ask for medical advice from a rescue centre. Give the information to owner and charterer and seek their ad

 After July 2010 it became mandatory to carry out internal audit annually under ISM code. Clause 12.1 of ISM code says " Internal safety audits are now required to be carried out on board and ashore at intervals not exceeding 12 months, in extreme exceptional cases it can be extended to 3 months." So, what should be the objective of internal audit? OBJECTIVE OF ISM INTERNAL AUDIT 1 ) It acts  as a tool to monitor how  well the SMS system is implemented on board regarding the safety practices and pollution prevention activities. 2) It helps in checking whether company safety and environmental policy is continually in compliance with the requirement of this code. Provides an opportunity to possible changes in the SMS system 3) Shows the evidence of the SMS working and that the procedures are being followed 4) To determine compliance with regulatory requirement How it helps external audi t: - Normally an internal audit is carried out 4 weeks prior to external audit. The

As a chief engineer to run the ship with minimum interpersonal conflict is a big challenge. As we all know every individual has its own attitude and perception towards the world and the people living with him in the society. Ship is like a society in which people from different socio-culture background work and lives together. CULTURE :- Culture is a system of values, beliefs, assumptions, and norms shared among a group of people. The group can be a country, religion, profession, organization or even a generation. SOCIO CULTURAL DIFFERENCE BECOMING INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT Major merchant ships trade internationally and have multinational crew on board. Thus the environment on ship is mostly multicultural. Crew from different culture and different social background have different beliefs, values, attitudes and perception. The culture within which a person is brought up is very important determinant of behaviour of a person. The personality of an individual to a marked extent is deter

Registration of any sea going ship or coastal ship is laid down in various international and and national convention or law.Like:- 1) UNCLOS 1982 article 91 2) MS act 1958 part V section 22 Registration of ship in any country gives the ship the nationality of the state whose flag they are entitled to fly. It makes a genuine link between the state and the ship. Lets know the basic steps of a ship registration under MS act 1958 as amended. As per MS act 1958 as amended, every Indian ship other than 15 NT and on coast of India must be registered.The ports at which ships can be registered shall be the ports of Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai and such other ports in India as central government may declare in its official Gazettes.The basic steps are:- A) APPLICATION FOR REGISTRY :- For registry of the ship under section 26 of act, an application for the registry shall be made by individual, joint owner or company or society. The owner makes a proposal to the Government of India. The appli

We all have heard about the ISM code and why this code came in force. To minimize the human error in ship operation and management this code was adopted in SOLAS. We also know that under this code two certificates are issued by administration or any RO duly authorised by the administration. First certificate is issued to the company as defined under ISM code and is called DOCUMENT OF COMPLIANCE (DOC). This certificate is ship specific type. For example a company will require a DOC for crude oil tankers and a separate DOC for dry bulk carrier and so on. The second certificate is issued to the particular ship and is called SAFETY MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATE (SMC). Let us see what is the process of issuing of these certificates in India under Directorate General of Shipping. Suppose a company has bought a second hand ship and the ship type is new to company. For immediate sailing of the ship interim DOC and interim SMC will be required. 1)  To get the interim DOC the company will have

We  often hear that particular ship has been detained because of its unseaworthiness. Or we often hear that particular ship is unsafe.Have you ever thought  what is the meaning of unseaworthy ships or unsafe ships.Let us see the definition of unseaworthy and unsafe ship and difference between them.  Well, in the M.S. Act 1958 of India as amended the meaning of unseaworthy ship and unsafe ship is as follows:-  Under section 334 a ship is said to be unseaworthy "when the materials of which she is made, her construction, the qualification of master, the number, description and qualification of the crew including officers, the weight, description and stowage of the cargo and ballast, the condition of her hull and equipment, boilers and machinery are not such as to render her in every respect fit for the proposed voyage or service." Under section 336, unsafe ship may be defined an unsafe ship, that is to say, is by reason of the defective condition of her hull, equipment or ma

First of all lets know something about green house ga s and how it affects us                                   Life on earth depends on the energy from sun.About 30% of the sunlight that beams towards earth is deflected by the outer atmosphere and scattered back into space. The rest reaches the earth's surface and is again reflected upwards. This reflected radiation is absorbed by the green house gas and this keeps the earth's atmosphere warm.This phenomena is called green house effect and it is believed that without green house effect the earth's atmosphere would have been 30 deg Celsius colder, which would have been too colder to sustain life on earth. These gases are carbon di oxide, methane, water vapor, ozone etc. But there is a proverb in Sanskrit and which says " ATI SARVATRA VARJAYET". This means there is a limit to each and everything.After industrial revolution and invention of internal combustion engines, fossil fuels were burnt and this started incr

Question: - State the applicable regulation of SOLAS and MARPOL under which it is mandatory for a flag state to conduct an investigation into any casualty. Write briefly the salient points of casualty investigation code and recommended practices for a safety investigation into a marine casualty or marine incident. What do you understand by the term" very serious marine casualty." ANSWER : -----Every flag state has  to carry out investigation in any casualty occurring on board the ship flying its flag. This responsibility is laid down in various conventions of IMO. Following are the conventions and articles under which above responsibility is laid down:- 1) UNCLOS:- Article 94(7) states that " each state shall cause an inquiry to be held by a suitably qualified person/persons into every marine casualty or incident of navigation on the high seas involving a ship flying its flag and causing loss of life or any other incident involving another state or marine environment