General Cargo

MV Ocean Hope

General cargo ships are multi-purpose vessels, designed to handle and stow
a variety of freight. This may include forest products, manufactured goods,
heavy equipment, vehicles, machinery, bagged goods, steel and food products,
and containers. Some specialised vessels combine general cargo with heavy lift
capabilities for transporting large, awkwardly shaped components to refinery,
chemical processing and other plant construction projects.
General cargo ships are often equipped with their own cargo handling
facilities, requiring cranes with a range of lifting capacities and outreach ratings,
that can be equipped to handle any type of cargo.
Vessels of this type are normally equipped with hatch covers designed to
bear heavy loads. Weathertightness and cargo hold humidity are important
issues. For tween deckers, stowing length of the equipment must be kept to a
minimum.
Total cargo flow and cargo handling solutions can be developed at the ship
design stage. Cranes, hatch overs and lashing equipment are then supplied as an
integrated solution based on cargo type, space limitations, shipping routes and
other ship business profile factors.
The ship we are going to talk about is 29513 dws tones , 185 m length,
30,41 m breadth, 16,21 m maximum draft, 11,47 m light ship displacement and
with a sea speed 14 knots. The freight are loaded and unloaded during the
gerthing of the ship according to a cargo plan received frome the shore and
checked by the officers on board to avoid any faulty loading or unloading that
can affect the ship stability or worse, breaking of the ship.
The main engine is o 4 stroke Sultzer RTA-58 with a power of 11520
horse power.
Working hours on board differ according to the department you are
working for. Usually the deck department officers have fixed watch keeping
hours from 8-12, 12-16, 16-20,20-24,24-04,04-08. The engine room officers
work from 8-12, have one or two hours lunch break and after that will go back
to work from 14-18. Every day one engineer will be on duty, this means that he
will have to respond to any alarms during the unattended period of the
machinary space. In case any alarms occur during the night he will intervene and

fix the problem if possible. If the problem is critical to the safety of the ship all
engineers will be called and assist to solve the problem.
Beafore arrival or departure of the ship the engine room must be informed
to make the necessary preparations. In case the ship arrives or departs at a time
when the machinery space is unattended the deck department will inform the
duty engineer one hour before the start of the maneuver.
During the port caals seafarers that are not during the working schedule can
go visit the city near the port or the seamens club.