What’s the hmm container ship doing

[Spare tyre]

I live near southampton docks, me and my daughter chose a random ship to follow as it goes around the world, always returning back to Southampton

https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9869198

Has been sat for a week or so and will remain to do so for a few weeks more

Any ideas?

[toastyhamster]

Might just be in a queue for the dock? I follow Joe Franta on YouTube and his latest vid is him being aboard in pretty heavy weather queuing for a port (forget which one) in Canada, two week wait for the dock.

[Simpo Two]

toastyhamster said:

Might just be in a queue for the dock? I follow Joe Franta on YouTube and his latest vid is him being aboard in pretty heavy weather queuing for a port (forget which one) in Canada, two week wait for the dock.

It seems strange that when the weather is bad, ships can't get into port. I discovered this on a P&O ship where we missed Porto because the weather was too bad. It makes the saying 'Any port in a storm' seem a bit silly!

[toastyhamster]

Simpo Two said:

toastyhamster said:

Might just be in a queue for the dock? I follow Joe Franta on YouTube and his latest vid is him being aboard in pretty heavy weather queuing for a port (forget which one) in Canada, two week wait for the dock.

It seems strange that when the weather is bad, ships can't get into port. I discovered this on a P&O ship where we missed Porto because the weather was too bad. It makes the saying 'Any port in a storm' seem a bit silly!

Should have been clearer, they were waiting for two weeks anyway due to being in a load/unloading queue, the weather was incidental but annoying as it was pretty heavy and they kept having to clear up internally and let out more anchor chain as it worsened.

[Spare tyre]

Cheers, It’s been into rotterdam on sept 9th, now it’s just waiting just up outside The Hague, would there really be a wait of 3 weeks sitting to get into Hamburg?

Mist burn money sitting still

Hopefully I will catch it coming into Southampton soon enough

[sherman]

Simpo Two said:

It seems strange that when the weather is bad, ships can't get into port. I discovered this on a P&O ship where we missed Porto because the weather was too bad. It makes the saying 'Any port in a storm' seem a bit silly!

Not any port can fit a cruise ship though. Porto was probably just facing the wrong way for the weather. Difficult to reoriantate a city you see.

[craig1912]

Sister ship leaving Southampton on Sunday

[Simpo Two]

craig1912 said:

Sister ship leaving Southampton on Sunday

The sister ship should really be called 'Hmm Tricky'.

I saw the docks at Felixstowe today and the cranes weren't moving - are they on strike? I heard something about a strike recently.

[Jaguar steve]

Simpo Two said:

craig1912 said:

Sister ship leaving Southampton on Sunday

The sister ship should really be called 'Hmm Tricky'.

I saw the docks at Felixstowe today and the cranes weren't moving - are they on strike? I heard something about a strike recently.

Port operatives struck a couple of weeks ago and there's another one planned I believe.

There's some heavy dredging going on in the deep water approach and the Stenna line ferry was still shunting back and fourth from Parkstone quay to Holland but it was eerily quiet in the estuary during the strike and it was a pleasant change to see the horizon was clear and bright rather than having the usual tinge of greenish yellow Sulfurous filth from ship exhausts smeared across it.

[addams]

Jaguar steve said:

Simpo Two said:

craig1912 said:

Sister ship leaving Southampton on Sunday

The sister ship should really be called 'Hmm Tricky'.

I saw the docks at Felixstowe today and the cranes weren't moving - are they on strike? I heard something about a strike recently.

Port operatives struck a couple of weeks ago and there's another one planned I believe.

They are probably just on an extended coffee break.
Been a few years since I was last in Felixstowe, but I seem to remember them having a few of those!

Jaguar steve said:

There's some heavy dredging going on in the deep water approach and the Stenna line ferry was still shunting back and fourth from Parkstone quay to Holland but it was eerily quiet in the estuary during the strike and it was a pleasant change to see the horizon was clear and bright rather than having the usual tinge of greenish yellow Sulfurous filth from ship exhausts smeared across it.

There shouldn't be too much sulphur in the exhaust gases these days as all ships in European waters should be using low sulphur fuel.
Plenty of other nice stuff still being emitted to provide that lovely coloured layer of smog around any area where there is a lot of maritime traffic.

[motomk]

Cheating a bit.....
Look away, if you don't want the arrival times.

https://www.hmm21.com/cms/business/ebiz/schedule/t...

No idea why, I like to see where the car boats are in the world. Jasper Arrow is one i look out for. And watching Hoegh Trigger for a different reason!

[Jaguar steve]

addams said:

There shouldn't be too much sulphur in the exhaust gases these days as all ships in European waters should be using low sulphur fuel.
Plenty of other nice stuff still being emitted to provide that lovely coloured layer of smog around any area where there is a lot of maritime traffic.

Lower Sulphur than it used to be you mean...

I was half a mile downwind of one of the Evergreen container ships yesterday leaving Felixtowe just as the tugs dropped their lines and it opened up yesterday afternoon.

That wasn't pleasant at all.

[addams]

Jaguar steve said:

addams said:

There shouldn't be too much sulphur in the exhaust gases these days as all ships in European waters should be using low sulphur fuel.
Plenty of other nice stuff still being emitted to provide that lovely coloured layer of smog around any area where there is a lot of maritime traffic.

Lower Sulphur than it used to be you mean...

I was half a mile downwind of one of the Evergreen container ships yesterday leaving Felixtowe just as the tugs dropped their lines and it opened up yesterday afternoon.

That wasn't pleasant at all.

Indeed, I can imagine that must have been nice!

IIRC the limit in European waters is 0.1% Sulphur whereas it used to contain many times that amount (my memory is hazy so happy to be corrected, probably too many years of breathing the stuff in! )
A lot of the newer and larger ships will have scrubbers these days too although, I never experienced those so no idea how much affect they actually have. I have heard several stories about them breaking down quite frequently so the ships have to run on the 'cleaner' fuel instead until the problems are fixed.
Cleaner is relative of course.

[chrismoose91]

addams said:

Jaguar steve said:

addams said:

There shouldn't be too much sulphur in the exhaust gases these days as all ships in European waters should be using low sulphur fuel.
Plenty of other nice stuff still being emitted to provide that lovely coloured layer of smog around any area where there is a lot of maritime traffic.

Lower Sulphur than it used to be you mean...

I was half a mile downwind of one of the Evergreen container ships yesterday leaving Felixtowe just as the tugs dropped their lines and it opened up yesterday afternoon.

That wasn't pleasant at all.

Indeed, I can imagine that must have been nice!

IIRC the limit in European waters is 0.1% Sulphur whereas it used to contain many times that amount (my memory is hazy so happy to be corrected, probably too many years of breathing the stuff in! )
A lot of the newer and larger ships will have scrubbers these days too although, I never experienced those so no idea how much affect they actually have. I have heard several stories about them breaking down quite frequently so the ships have to run on the 'cleaner' fuel instead until the problems are fixed.
Cleaner is relative of course.

I worked as an engineer onboard P&O cruises until fairly recently. All our ships had scrubbers which allowed us to burn 3.5% sulphur fuel until alongside on S'ton. Legally we could run on it all day there but we didn't due to the black foamy mess we left from the discharges.

What we didn't put out in the air, got dumped into sea. Bit of a con really.

[addams]

chrismoose91 said:

I worked as an engineer onboard P&O cruises until fairly recently. All our ships had scrubbers which allowed us to burn 3.5% sulphur fuel until alongside on S'ton. Legally we could run on it all day there but we didn't due to the black foamy mess we left from the discharges.

What we didn't put out in the air, got dumped into sea. Bit of a con really.

Would that be an open-loop scrubber?
Not my area of expertise, but from what I have heard they are, as you mention, a bit of a con. I think quite a lot of ports don't allow them to be used within the port limits and only closed-loop designs can be used. I assume the closed-loop scrubbers don't discharge to the sea?

Bring back the good old days when scrubbers had a different meaning to poor innocent seafarers!

[chrismoose91]

addams said:

chrismoose91 said:

I worked as an engineer onboard P&O cruises until fairly recently. All our ships had scrubbers which allowed us to burn 3.5% sulphur fuel until alongside on S'ton. Legally we could run on it all day there but we didn't due to the black foamy mess we left from the discharges.

What we didn't put out in the air, got dumped into sea. Bit of a con really.

Would that be an open-loop scrubber?
Not my area of expertise, but from what I have heard they are, as you mention, a bit of a con. I think quite a lot of ports don't allow them to be used within the port limits and only closed-loop designs can be used. I assume the closed-loop scrubbers don't discharge to the sea?

Bring back the good old days when scrubbers had a different meaning to poor innocent seafarers!

When cruise lines are running tight margins, open loop are the cheapest and easiest to operate.
The problem with closed loop is storage of what is sulphuric acid and the caustic soda to neutralize it.
A lot of ports insist on them being turned off once alongside which presents an issue of cross contaminating fuel line with HSFO and MGO... It can take 6 hours or more for a full changeover to low sulphur fuels.

All very stringent and the port authorities are meticulous with checking emissions data, to the extent that Norway fly drones over the stacks.

[addams]

chrismoose91 said:

When cruise lines are running tight margins, open loop are the cheapest and easiest to operate.
The problem with closed loop is storage of what is sulphuric acid and the caustic soda to neutralize it.
A lot of ports insist on them being turned off once alongside which presents an issue of cross contaminating fuel line with HSFO and MGO... It can take 6 hours or more for a full changeover to low sulphur fuels.

All very stringent and the port authorities are meticulous with checking emissions data, to the extent that Norway fly drones over the stacks.

Thanks for the info, pretty much what I thought. I think a few shipping companies have been a bit caught out with the amount of ports that ban open-loop scrubbers as most had gone with the cheaper option but ended up having to use more expensive fuel anyway!

Anyway, have probably diverted the thread with all this talk of scrubbers & fuel - I see the HMM Mir is still sitting at anchor off the Netherlands this evening.