Bunga Kelana Satu
3rd
June 2005 to 2nd
November 2005
This vessel
was the most challenging of all the vessel which I had join, the
company show me a 15 pages list of 193 oil major observation before I
join the vessel.They also had to replace all the Liner for Main Engine due to crack and leakage as told by Superintendent Ang when I met him on Eagle Tucson.
“This is
Mission Impossible!” I say.
“Mission
Difficult will be a Walk in the Park for you.” said Superintendent.
On top of
that they are also planning for the vessel to operate in America
which I came to know much later. I spend two month getting the ship
to good condition and manage to clear the oil major inspection with
only 19 minor observations. The company informed me that they plan to
bring the ship for operation in America after that.
I was
surprise that they are able to arrange for USCG (United State Coast
Guard) Inspection in Singapore Anchorage. The inspector was rushing
for time, and with just a boat drill and fire drill he clear the
vessel for America Operation which mark the start of our nightmare.
We had an oil
spill during cargo discharging when the stripping line for one of the
cargo pump give way due to rust corrosion, they trip the cargo pump
and I went on deck to find out what is the problem. The deck crews
were shock and I manage to get Bosun to help me bring the saw dust
from his forward store at the bow to stop the spill from getting
worst.
There are
some leakage from the ship side plug as it is unable to seal tightly
due to rust corrosion and we manage to discover it early and arrest
it with mop before it touch the water. Captain Chowdury from Houston
Office visit the ship and told office that it is not suitable for
America Operation. We had long voyage to Caribbean and South America
after that due to this incident.
When I first
join we had problem with ballast pump suction valve, it is indicating
opening and shut according to the hydraulic indicator but it is
actually stuck shut inside the line. After checking the hydraulic
system with no issue I decided to access the valve from the sea chest
filter side with calculated risk.
It is not a
pleasant experience as I can feel the pressure coming direct on my
face every time a wave hit the suction side of the system. They were
suppose to station one person outside to ensure my safety but due to
shortage of manpower I can only use constant interval reporting to
the wheel house by a walkies talkie.
There are a
long interval when I was busy cutting the fishing net from the valve
spindle that I am unable to communicate with the bridge and that is
when they got worried and send a cadet down to check on me. I had to
drill out the broken stud in order to install new bolt on the valve
secure to the spindle.
After I had
finish with the repair, I met the Burmese Captain Zaw Min in the Accommodation Passage Way. He was so stressful about the vessel
condition that he started speaking Burmese to me, I try to listen
with patient and understand that he is talking about the Deck Air
Supply for their power tools to carry out deck maintenance. Suddenly
he realize that I am Second Engineer and not Electrician Min Aung, I
assure him that I will provide higher pressure from my main air
compressor instead of using the portable deck air compressor which
the company provided.
One morning
we heard a loud bang and we saw the fan blade from the forward port
side ventilation fan had protrude out from the trunk casing. Upon
opening up, we found that the whole assembly was rusted and and the
fan impeller had broken from the shaft. We had to grind off the
foundation bolt before we can remove the motor for shaft replacement
and repair the trunking while trying to balance the fan impeller.
I had a very
heated argument with Chief Engineer when he show me the Docking
Report and told me all the 20 over Fan, Turbine and Pump Impellers
are already send for balancing test during the last docking. It is
only possible to balance about two impellers for those big size
machinery like Vent Fan and Turbo Charger, and the report show all
the impellers are balance on the same day.
My prediction
came truth when we are doing gas free operation at Venezuela
Anchorage, the Inert Gas Fan Impeller also damage the casing when the
shaft broke. Before we carry out the operation I had told Chief
Engineer that the vessel configuration was different from other
vessel which we had sail before. Usually one fan is only 75% of the
maximum throughput but this vessel is design with 100% throughput
according to the system manual.
They wanted
to complete the gas free faster and so the Superintendent decided to
run both fan together. The back pressure became too high and the star
delta connection switching of the motor control was not long enough
to build up enough momentum to overcome the inertia force.
The repair
took me 72 hours and me and my crew work round the clock without any
sleep or break for three days at the IG Fan Platform. The
Superintendent send the Fan Impeller ashore for balancing test and
true enough I win the bet and doesn't had to go home without any
replacement.
It was
actually quiet sad for me as I had to manage manual firing of the
boiler for cargo operation later when the control circuit board got
damage. I had requested for emergency spare and expected to receive
it within two weeks, but the ship had been calling all the remote
location port and the spare took three months to reach the ship. All
my engineers had been so familiar with the manual operation that I
worry they would not get use to automatic control after I fix the
issue.
We discover
that the fuel oil control piston are leaking and need to service,
Chief Engineer ask for the company to send the repair kit as I had
carry out the servicing of the control system when I did my docking
of Eagle Boston. As Chief Engineer smoke and drink a lot, his hand
are shaky and I had to be the one adjusting the control air pressure
from 3.5 bar back to 2.0 bar after we complete the servicing of the
pneumatic pistons.
The vessel
also not discharging with Inert Gas System when I first join, I found
out that the three way pneumatic control valve had been damage and
would not be able to control the vent of the inert gas when the
pressure became high. I did not have any spare for it so I had to
modify another similar one to fix the issue.
We had become
expert in mechanical seal as most of the pumps doesn't have any spare
for overhaul, we had a treasure chest in the work shop where we keep
all the unknown spare inside. We would go to the treasure chest and
savage any useful part and assemble a modify mechanical seal for most
of the pump rapier.
I had raise
the requisition for the shaft and mechanical seal, but due to delay
of the supply of spare I am only able to get the machinery working
condition from 30% to 70%. I was suddenly told by the office that I
had to sign off after 5 months as I had already overstay my temporary
permit from the Malaysia Port Authority.
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