Seafarer's Question Answers

Accidental discharge of oil during bunkering does not take the ship out of business. But if the response after the spill is not correct, it would definately have the potential to not only take that particular vessel but the entire company out of the business. In this case the first priority is to contain the spill onboard and to clean up the spilled oil into the sea. While the spill onboard is...

I suppose it is about the "Variable Immersion Hydrometer". Let me re-phrase it. The section in the book is talking about how the marking are made (Calculated) on the Hydrometer.  Hydrometer is made to float in fresh water at Bottom marking (X) and then at Upper marking (Y) by adding the weight to its bulb. Mx and My are the respective measured weights.  Now with weight of the...

Water tight door - They are designed to take the pressure of the head of water they are designed for. If ballast tank has a door at the lower end and water fills upto 15 mtrs in tank then  that door should be able to hold that water pressure, infact from from any side. Any compartment having water tight door then water should not leak out or enter in. Wheather tight door -- They should not a...

Yes. There vessel may exempt of the lifeboats. All will depend of the convention, trading area, type of vessel, service and another matters.  I'm working to Panama Maritime Flag Authority  and I issue exemption certificates (COLREG, SOLAS, Load Line, MODU Code 79,89,09, MARPOL etc) everyday. The exemption certificates are granted by this administration as long as it is permitted by ...

In one word, Yes. It is required that the approved plans have the current ship's name and approval stamp of present calssification society. However, this may not be a serious observation if the previous classfication society and the present classification society are the member of IACS (internation association of classification societies). All the members of IACS follow similar classificatio...

Congradulations for having a clear view of what you want. It is very important to have a clear view. However while choosing the options for studies, it would be better if any and all the courses are choosen that are co-related. For example MBA in supply chain and logistics may not that well be related with PGD in Maritime law. If you are interested in Maritime law, focus on that. Choose the cou...

You are confusing the term "Combustion" (Burning) with "Explosion". LEL is used to define if the gas concentration will explode if a source of ignition is provided. If the Gas concentration is below the 100% of LEL range (approx 1% of Volume for methane), it will not explode even when a source of igntion is provided. But as the gas mixture will still have small amount of...

The ship's mean draft will remain same. The load line zones are the areas that has been designated based on the weather conditions in those areas. If an area is under "Tropical Zone" it would generally mean that in this area the weather conditions are expected to be good and thus the vessel is allowed to have less freeboard (more draft) than the summer load line mark. But once the ...

There isn't any guide book for this info. Primarily its the MSDS for the cargo to be loaded which nowadays we can get by email as soon you have your cargo fixture.  Secondly a considerable amount of info can be collected by refering to MFAG section in IMDG Supplement. There , specific treatments for particular chemicals/ cargoes are mentioned. For example, in case of methanol the antidot...

IMO has developed guidelines for identification and designation of Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA). Once an area falls under this category and IMO puts this area in the category of PSSA, there are one of these measures that will be implemented according to nature of concern for that area that makes it a sensitive sea area. These measures are The area may be adopted as a special area un...

As per  ISGOTT:  Dilution method takes place when the incoming inert gas mixes with the original tank atmosphere to form a homogeneous mixture throughout the tank so that, as the process continues, the concentration of the original gas decreases progressively. It is important that the incoming inert gas has sufficient entry velocity to penetrate to the bottom of the tank. To e...

This is the main reason why the Cargo Plan made should be as realistic as possible and more detailed. The duration of each calculation statge should be as short as possible. There are mates who make cargo plans for Commencement- 50% Cargo loaded - Completion stages. During the voyage from load port to disport or vide versa, there is sufficient time availiable for the mate to do the calculations at...

Ship sanitation control exemption certificate certifies that the condition of sanitation is good on board the vessel. The certificate is issued by the port health. The certificate neither certifies anything related to flag of the vessel not it is issued by the flag of the vessel. So even if the flag of the vessel changes, it is not required to renew the ship sanitation control exemption cert...