Bulkhead Entry

Bulkhead entryways resemble doorways one would have in their home only bulkhead are found onboard marine vessel and vary in size and materials used as well as the fact that most are installed with water tight seals that can seal off sections of the vessels that may be taking in water.

Bulkhead Entryway

There may be dozens of bulkhead entry ways that lead to different sections of the vessel and may range in different sizes depending on their location but all retain the iconic shape and structure. Most bulkhead entryways can be found with the iconic rounded corners and made of heavy metal. These two factors work in unison as they are both designed for the safety of the vessel as mentioned below.

Rounded corners: they are also shared by the port holes for the same reason; rounded corners help increase the capability of a seal to retain its integrity. Test in the early1900s showed that seals with perfect edges are less effective then rounded seals and the design continues to be in use on most vessel porthole and bulkhead entryways.

Cost of Idle Oil tankers

Shipping vessel are constructed to remain on the move and the cost of idle oil tankers could run in to the tens of thousands per day for a empty vessel and even higher for a oil tanker that is loaded with crude oil and sitting idle due to mechanical failure or technical difficulty.

Shipping companies incur heavy losses in terms of the cost of idle oil tankers that average between US$25,000 to 30000 per day for empty idle oil tankers and the amount could raise rapidly if the vessel were to stop sailing for any mechanical or technical error when loaded with crude oil while on transit. To avoid this from happening ship manufacturers put in place backup systems that assist the vessel to remain on course, so as to deliver the cargo and receive quick repair or maintenance to damaged components.

Ocean Carrier Code Lookup

Ocean Carrier Code Lookup software or website catering to the codes are not in public use as yet but individual companies and organizations like the IMO and MARPOL do have the data concerning different ocean carrier identification codes. The codes are provided to each vessel after manufacture and could be used to identify the vessel just as the ones found on a automobile.

Ocean Carrier Codes

There are several different ocean carrier codes that are found on each ocean carrier each of which is used for a different form of identification. Automobiles also have these codes such and the registration number, chassis number and model number which help identify individual vehicles. Having different codes and numbers for different parts on board a vessel helps reduce time when ordering replacement parts for a vessel while at sea since the distance involved are vast and there is no time to waste.

The IMO, MARPOL and local government registration offices also indicate these codes on to different certificates that are required to be maintained by the vessel owners. Plotting these numbers on to the certificates ensures that shipping companies do not tamper with certification since the numbers are permanently engraved in to the vessels hull and other important parts on board a vessel.

How Many Ships Are There In the U S Coast Guard

US Coast Guard.

It would be unfair just to mention only the ships

U S Coast Guard Ship and Boat

that the us coast guard has since there are many other equipment that are integrated to work together with the ships to make any missions successful. Ships (cutters), air craft, boats, small arms, communications and personnel all contribute immensely towards smooth operation during any mission. With one of the biggest coast guard fleets in the world the US coast guard was a huge fleet of vessels as well as equipment that patrols its 88,633 miles of tidal shore lines on a daily basis.

The nation’s cutter fleet of is made up of a staggering 560 ships with the biggest measuring 420’ where as the smallest 65’. Different cutter types as integrated in to the fleets making up of  ice breakers, small harbor tugs, inland buoy tenders, inland construction tenders, patrol boats, surface effect ships, auxiliary tugs among many other vessels that are used for different operations during coast guard patrols and rescue missions on inland water ways as well as coastal waters.

Container Ship Fire

Container ship fire may not sound important or even difficult to occur since the cargo is carefully packed in to strong weather resistant shipping containers, but this is not the case and each shipping container cargo must be declared, inspected and verified by the customs representative before being loaded on to a container shipping vessel.

This inspection is usually done by the customs department who must check the contents for any cargo that may require tax revenue to be paid but at the same time the officers check for any hazardous materials or cargo that may be hidden within the cargo as a safety measure. Container ship security and other law enforcement agencies also work together with the customs department to make sure that the cargo within each container has been declared and is safe for transportation.

Alaska Cruise Ships

Alaska cruise ships play a major role towards transporting the many tourists that come each year to enjoy the Alaskan wilderness. Famous for the annual trout run and dangerous grizzly bear and its hunting seasons many tourist visit the northerly U S state each summer to enjoy the summer heat while vacationing and enjoying Alaskans wilderness.

Alaska Cruise Ships

Alaska cruise ships are seasonal and usually operate after mid spring in to early autism when the ice has toured and the frozen water ways have melted. Cruise ships are not equipped to break ice and it is not possible to cruise these waters once frozen oven. So most of the cruise ships that have open licenses to cruise around the U S usually move southwards towards states that do not experience sever cold weather and continue running cruises there until the summers resume when they can also resume their Alaskan cruises.

Unlike most cruise packages offered by

salmon fishing

ordinary cruise companies, Alaskan cruises differ since most of the holiday goers prefer to spend time with nature thus stopping more often to enjoy the flora and fauna before setting sail to the next stop over to do the same. Some packages include fishing and hunting trips since Alaska is renowned to have the best fresh fishing grounds on the planet. Big game hunting such as moose and elk deer are also an attraction to the state and many hunters usually combine their sailing holiday with these hobbies making it more interesting for them.

gold mining

Gold panning is another attraction that many holiday makers would take a go at while on a cruise to Alaska since it carries a big chance that a person will be able to harvest some gold from the rivers of Alaska and the ability to see a variety of different whale species is another major attraction to the state. All these above mentioned activities are also only possible during the summer when the ice and snow have melted making these activities possible.

The Alaskan summer is a time of bounty for the cruise companies since many holiday goers choose to visit Alaska repeatedly and each year the numbers of visitor’s increase thus improving the local Alaskan economy of the state and the local people who live their via finances that are brought in by the tourist. This income has greatly improved the states infrastructure with the construction of modern marinas and harbors that can be used by the Alaska cruise ships that bring tourist in on an annual basis.

This seasonal business has also made the cruise ship companies that have taken up this route to become versatile, moving from state to state during different seasons thus maintain an income for the crew that work on board the vessel rather than sending them on compulsory leave when the cruises stop due to the frozen water and severe cold that deters many tourists from venturing in to the Alaskan wilderness during the winter season. The future is bright for the Alaska cruise ships since more tourist include the state to their destination list and the future looks bright for the cruise companies as most holiday makers prefer to visit the state over water since many of the aquatic life can be seen only in these waters during the summer season when they come to feed and breed in the Alaskan waters

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Winterizing Boat Engines

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Winterizing boat engines above the topics is an essential to prevent the engine from getting damaged by the severe frost and freezing conditions. Boat owners living nearer to the equator do not need to worry concerning this since the climatic conditions there are stable and are rarely fall below 0°c the freezing point for water.

There are several factors that must be tended to

Winterizing Boat Engines

by boat owners before the winter sets in to avoid damaging their engines during the freeze as mentioned below. Since water plays a critical role in the cooling process of most marine boat engines, it is important that the cooling fluid ‘in most cases water’ be flushed and replaced with fresh cooling fluid containing anti freeze fluid that reduces the freezing level of the cooling fluid within the engine block. This must be done before every winter since constant fill up of used fluid could lead to dilution of the antifreeze leading to the freezing of the liquid within the engine block.

Plug in heaters must also me checked for any mal function before the winter set in, the heater plug in are usually plugged in to a electrical supply that gradually heats the frozen fluid or maintains the fluid at a temperature above freezing during the winters. Plugs that have malfunctioned must be replaced and tested. Besides maintain a higher temperature within the engine they also play an important part with making the engine easier to start during the winter season. Winterizing boat engines helps reduce starting problems in freezing conditions but by maintain a worm atmosphere within the engine block the engines start easier whatsoever the weather condition they may be exposed to.

Most engines also have an additional feature know as freeze plugs, this is a safety feature that help reduce the damage to an engine block in case of forgotten heater plug in or cooling fluid drainage during winter. Heating plugs’ can be installed instead of the freeze plugs can to maintain wormer cooling fluid temperature within the engines water jacket during winter. The freeze plugs are designed to pop out in case the cooling fluid freezes to ease the strain within the engine block and avoid damaging the block since ice occupies a greater volume than water thus expanding when frozen.

Greasing and lubrication of all moving parts is also

frozen boats

critical since a layer of grease or lubrication prevents moister from find its way in to the moving parts and freezing. This is very important since the moving parts are usually connected to the acceleration and steering of the boat and gammed ones could lead to disaster. When not in use it is also advisable to drain the fluid from the fuel tank and pipes and run the engine out of fuel before storage. This helps prevent the fuel from freezing within the pipes and causing starting inconvenience when required.

Manuals concerning winterizing boat engines are available from most engine manufacturers and one could easily obtain this information from the internet if required but it is important to study different methods of winterizing boat engines to avoid getting stranded or suffering damages to your boat engine that could easily be avoided advance knowledge
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Marine Radios

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Marine radios have played a major continual role ever since the days of the Morse code and continue to bridge the communication gap between sailors and people on land even in the 21^st century despite advances in modern technologies like wireless telephones and the internet. This is possible since the radio vhs wave lengths travel immense distances and massages can be relayed from one radio to another over vast distances and remains one of the cheapest and most reliable modes of communication in the shipping industry ever today.

Marine Radios

Marine radios still plays a major role on board marine vessel today both big and small since the communication wave lengths are not restricted to distance and one is able to communicate or send distress signals on different wave lengths from most places around the world. Each company or vessel is assigned a unique wave length called a channel that he is to communicate on but most radio systems have an adjustable dial that the user can adjust to contact other radio channels that may be available around his vicinity incase his channel is not being picked due to radio wave interruption by bad weather, geographical location or sheer distance from the next radio on the same channel.

Covering vast distances is made possible

Marine Radios

by having stations that boost the waves which in turn continue travelling by bouncing between the atmosphere and the ground as they travel. The radio officer onboard vessels also have powerful marine radios that he uses to communicate with the outside world and he is trained to maintain and repair the radio in case of failure while at sea or docked at a harbor. He must be capable to operate and maintain all communication equipment onboard the vessel without any hesitation.

Today ever though the marine radios still plays a major role in communication, modern technology such as satellite communication, mobile phones and the internet have helped ease the pressure on the radio. Today many sailors carry mobile phone that have roaming tariff that can be used from different networks around the world thus reducing the need for sailors to rely on the radio solely to communicate with loved ones. The devices are not as efficient as the radio since the signal wave lengths are shorter but signals are possible to get when vessel approach or come closer to land masses that have operating networks.

The Seattleite phone can also be used from any position on earth but it is very costly and mostly avoided only to be used during an emergency. One again with a communication gap sailors usually return to the old faithful marine radio through which they can communicate or send massages to loved ones while at sea. each day we see a new form of communication device being unveiled but the radio remains and plays a major part of the shipping community for its reliability which can easily be proven by the clear abundance of marine radios onboard most if not all marine vessel sailing the inland water ways and vast open seas around the world.

Aluminum Propeller Contributions to the Shipping Industry

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Use of aluminum propellers in the marine industry have seen tremendous rise in the past two dacades, this has come about due to the advances that have been made on the metal itself. Aluminum metal is the most common metal found on earth’s solid matter making up 7 %. The metal is made up of 270 different minerals which naturally occur on the planets solid surface but require an intense chemical reaction to bond and form the material.

aluminum propellers

This chemical reaction occurs rarely thus leaving the minerals ore deposits known as bauxite in formations that can be mined and be shipped for processing, aluminum on its natural or pure stage is a metal that carries many good qualities that are desired in the engineering world but also had a major negative quality. The metal when in a pure state is soft and malleable; this made it practically unusable on comportments or parts that underwent high pressures when working.

The metal remained in use on marine vessel where it was used on parts that required minimal pressures, but two decades ago researches made a breaker through when they developed a stronger form of aluminum that could withstand more heat and was stronger. This was what the engineering industry was waiting for since they wanted to use the metal due to its anti corrosive and light weight qualities, this was a welcomed discovery, and marine engineers began immediately designing parts like the ship and boat aluminum propeller among many other parts that required to be protected from corrosion. The propeller was the main concern since it is exposed to salty corrosive water and required replacement over time, with aluminum the problem would be solved and gives two major advantages:

1. Anti corrosive properties: the corrosion problem has and still posses’ major concerns in the marine industry and vessel manufacturers and owners must ensure proper maintenance to prevent corrosion from destroying their vessels. With the evolution of stronger aluminum the problem has seen significant improvement in some parts and components on board marine vessels. Since it is not practical to manufacture the complete vessel from strengthened aluminum some smaller parts like the propeller and rudders are being manufactured using the metal.
2. Light weight: aluminum light weight is a special property that few metals have and one that many engineers desire, aluminum weight is almost half the weight of steel but a little weaker than steel. This property has increased the capability of usage of metals; marine engineers realize that the weight difference contributes immensely towards the power produced which in turn reduces the fuel consumed by marine vessels. Fuel economy has been a major concern in the shipping industry due to huge quantities that are consumed by marine engines. The propeller made from aluminum reduce fuel cost something that the vessel owners have welcomed.

bauxite

These positive factors noted on aluminum propellers has brought  major changes in the shipping industry fuel economy but further concerns are yet to be solved concerning the use of aluminum propellers. Factors such as brittleness and the ability to adjust pitch remain major factors shipping companies would like to the resolved with regard to aluminum propellers
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