How was my 4th Engineer experience?

So today I want to let you know about my experiences as a 4^th Engineer aboard Ship.

Starting from the basic thing that is SAFETY. Which is the first thing everybody will teach you from the first day of your life in Shipping sector? As this is essential while you are traveling around the ocean of this world. Maybe you are very far from the coast. Injury at sea is obviously so much dangerous for yourself.

When I get the call from my company PNSC (Pakistan National Shipping Corporation) I make my bag packing ready for departure from Lahore and get a ticket reservation from Akbar Chowk. Rethinking the most valuable item which will be required by me during my six months stay on board ship. Most important are documents which include your travel, academic and professional document. Academic documents eg. BSc. Maritime Studies, FSc and matric may not require by your company but it is fruitful to keep them with you. At least your recent pre-sea qualification ie Bachelor in Science (BSc.) Certificate. I also made a list of few items already which I wrote during my stay on the previous ship. So it is good to tale with that list.

After checking the number of items in the bag, I closed it and lock so that It will be secure during my whole journey Lahore (LHE) to Karachi (KHI) as I have to travel by train (Karachi Express 16 Down). I checked the weight of the bag which have to rolled with me. I also note down it on smartphone device to future reference. Also to check while I am signing off that how much surplus weight I have gained from my ship.

Especially recheck your traveling plus professional documents. Keep your bag ready at least one day before your departure either from train or airline because on the traveling day something you do not remember to put in your bag. You can put it in your luggage. 

So now it time to depart from home. My mother always used to make a dinner for me most of the time it is rice with chicken. But some chicken with chapatti. It always taste good to have home food instead of eating low standard food from station stall (food courts). I also purchased a bread, small pack of jam for breakfast, couple of small milk packets and some cookies (which I like very much ). In my children hood, teenage I like the chocolate very much but now due to the severe impact of these on my teeth. Suffered from teeth pain and overhauling of teeth I have decided to cut down the chocolates to save my teeth for my further life. Some candy and packet of the bubble I also bought. It put extra weight on your luggage but as there is no limitation for bag weight in carrying train so no worries. Also for 17 hours journey, you must at least purchase some handy things. Charged your mobile so that whole journey can use with the smartphone but as your know smartphone are dumb in the battery. But in the old days Nokia 3310 and similar like phone work on for about 3-4 days normal battery timing. They drain it very fast but train coach has 120VAC socket in it for charging. You can keep battery bank (2000AH) will be sufficed for this purpose if you are so much conscious about it.

 I reached the railway station through my car. My brother drops me at the railway station and say good wishes for my journey which will continue including this 2 days plus six months.

Continued Wait for next episode. Thanks. 

Joining of Ship after Class 4 COC (Certificate of Competency)

AlhumdulilAllah by the grace of Allah I joined MT QUETTA after a very long time (about 1 year). I signed off from my previous ship MT KARACHI (9 Months) sailing.

I joined the vessel from Karachi port. I came to Karachi on 02 march 2014 and completed my all documentation on Monday eg. Medical, Result card of 2^nd Engineer COC (Part A), Overhaul (Boiler Suits) and safety shoes from PNSC stores, KPT pass renew, then meet Abdullah Bhai.

When I completed all my documentation, I met with an Electrical Engineer (In Hindi/Urdu Bati Sahab) will name after checking in my mobile contact of the smartphone. I questioned many things from  Bati sahib. Yes, he answered also about the purpose of single line diagram, Which I had seen on MV Multan during my apprenticeship.

I nearly forget the pattern of my watch system. But after seeing and insuring it in only a single bird eye view I remembered back many things which I had learned in the previous ship MT Karachi.

Raza met me on 03-03-2014.  A meeting with Sardar sahib is good he came on the ship to pack his entire luggage. Then the very next day he told me about the entire things which he was doing as a 5^th engineer aboard ship.  Also he told me that the governor linkages were remaining to be greased. He told that shabab alam is a very nice chief engineer. He told me about my trainee engineer that they are good.

Raza told me that he was doing the following work

1.       IOPP tanks sounding

2.       Bunker tanks sounding (also type on computer in excel file)

3.       Log Book (also type on computer in excel file)

4.       Work done (also type on computer in excel file)

Transferring note down.

When I came to the ship and during my first watch I felt like that I don’t remember all the thing but with the passage of time inshaAllah, I will manage all my works.

During my watch today the following things I observed.

1.       No manometer at EGE

2.       No manometer at Turbocharger

3.       Marking on fire and GS pump no. 1 (suction valve)

4.       No alpha lubricator

What I supposed to study is safety and my duties in SMS of PNSC, Safety manual (which is present in Engine room, Smoke room, and bridge)

Check the name tele of Raza (which duties are assigned to him)

Check the fire and safety drawing of the ship

Check the pumping arrangement.

Also I learned from sir ammar today remind 1m3=1kL and

Metric tonne is basically mass of the body we get it by multiply volume x density

(30 April 2015) Later on, I discovered that the ON/OFF button of FD fan for boiler is different from MT KARACHI. It is adjacent to FD fan 02 but on MT KARACHI it on ME LO Tank.

Turbocharger Parameter

Gas (turbine) side

Turbocharger

Sight glass (oil level)

Thermostat(oil temp safety)

Thermometer(oil temp)

Comp. side

Sight glass (oil level)

Thermostat(oil temp safety)

Thermometer(oil temp)

Rpm(speed)

On watch i seen the above things on gas  and compressor side.

A script on Woodward governor

Woodward governor

This electro-hydraulic type of governor is used on many machine eg. Steam turbine to run on a constant revolution per minute, diesel generator to run the alternator on a contant revolution per minute.

It has an output that is linked with the fuel pump for diesel generator and in steam turbine the output is linked with the valve

Maintenance of governor

Following are the point which is dealt with carefully

1. oil of governor is free of foreign particle
2. oil should be of same number that is used previously, eg. Viscosity must be matched
3. clean oil should be used to avoid the malfunctioning of governor.

Common feature incorporate in governor are following

1. speed droop
2. speed limit
3. load limit
4. compensator

speed droop is the time between the maximum load and no load

compensator is used to compensate the variable change for micro seconds.

A rough info during my apprenticeship

1. The spindle valve will be order from marine workshop (PNSC). It will be construct of  M/S. The dimension will be provide when ordering.
2. case hardening advantages are ; long life of metal, realibility, can withstand with long fatigue.etc. it is done by several methods ( nitriding, induction hardening, flame hardening, carbodizing,  and nitriding is most commonly used). Example of component are bearing journal, gudgeon pin, shaft.
3. The importance of maintaining the water level in a boiler to prevent the boiler from dehydration. This water is consuming up as steam is producing. So a constant water level is necessary for production of steam at a constant rate. If the water level is drop significantly. The fracture of plate and bending of tube may occur. If the water level is to rise significantly the thermal shock can be happened. steam will not be saturated or we can say that the output of the steam dryness will be effect.
4. reason of using pure water in boiler is to prevent the formation of  ……slag. To have minimum no. of chlorides, phosphate, carbonate.
5. precaution are gas free the vicinity, check any dangerous gas with explosimeter, electric fan is used for free circulation of air. Other wise the person may fatal, ……………..
6. when taking a watch the main point that will be checked as following.

·        Boiler is running normal.

·        Economizer/exhaust gas boiler is running normal.

·        Aux. Generators are running normal.

·        Main engine is running normal

·        Check the level of diesel oil(service tank), fuel oil(service tank), lub oil, fresh water (check also which side port or starboard is on consume)

·         Check that the log book is maintained in the previous watch.

·        And confirm form previous watch officer that every thing is running normal.

7. smoke detector work on principle that smoke can scattered the light. Thus as shown in the figure the photocell is located in another compartment with opaque restriction between the light and photocell. When smoke come, the light will scattered and fall on the photocell. Where it is amplified, and the bell will ring. It can be tested by smoke of a cigarette or butane.
8.  

Duties of a 4th Engineer on a Ship

According to policies of all shipping companies, seafarers joining any vessel have to be competent, qualified and experienced. Joining a ship as a fourth engineer is the first step towards a sailing career on ship. It is only after becoming a fourth engineer that a mariner experiences real responsibility on a ship.

Though a fourth engineer, before joining the ship has cleared the required exams and training courses, it is appreciated that the training part becomes an ongoing process and there is always a requirement for refresher courses and periodical safety training.

Duties of 4th Engineer by Default
On all types of ships, irrespective of the shipping company, a 4th engineer shall report to the 2nd Engineer, who shall assign the duties to him, both at sea and at port and whose orders he or she shall consider effective and binding as though emanating from the Chief Engineer. Moreover, the 4th engineer shall also assist the 2nd engineer when necessary in carrying out duties of the later.

Duties of 4th Engineer upon joining a Vessel
A 4th engineer, upon joining a vessel, should carry out the following duties.

• Upon joining a vessel, the relieving 4th engineer shall report his presence on board to the Chief Engineer or in his absence to the 2nd Engineer.
• The 4th engineer should take a thorough round of the engine department with the signing off engineer and do a proper taking over of the duties.
• He should check the inventory and location of all purifier and compressor spares.
• He should check Inventory and location of pumps spares and tools.
• He should check running hours and maintenance schedule of his designated machinery.
• He should check general condition of machinery and special procedure for operation.
• Condition and layout of bunkering system including valve operation, tanks and sounding pipe location should be checked.
• Condition and layout of sludge and bilge discharge system including valves and pump operation should also be checked.
• Thorough sounding of all fuel tanks, bilge and sludge tank should be taken.
• Daily consumption of lube oil, fuel oil, marine diesel or gas oil and cylinder oil for daily record keeping in sounding log is to be checked.
• Daily production of bilge and sludge on board for record keeping of waste water sounding log.

After completion of the engine room round together, the 4th engineer shall report the details to the 2ndengineer and notify discrepancies observed, if any.
The 4th Engineer as in charge of Purifier, Compressor, and machinery other than main engine, auxiliary engine and boiler, is responsible for:

• Record keeping of machinery running hours under his charge.
• For carrying out planned maintenance routine under the supervision of chief or second engineer.
• Taking daily tank sounding of fuel oil, diesel oil, lube and cylinder oil on board ship and record keeping of the same.
• Record keeping of sludge and bilge on board.
• Acting as assistant in charge to chief engineer for operation during bunker of fuel, diesel and lube oil.
• Completing the month end official papers for his designated machinery.
• Compliance of environment policy and MARPOL requirements under the guidance of Chief Engineer.
• Maintenance and up keeping of the engine room log book and all those files on board advised by the Chief Engineer.

The above mentioned duties are the basic requirements for any 4th engineer going on board. However, duties might be subtracted or added on the basis of the type of the ship and shipping company.