Important thing you need to know about ship Ballast and De-ballast operation

In shipbuilding,  the word "stability" matters a lot.  Therefore, ship was built in such a way that she can Withstand the roughness of the sea with or without cargo. 

The word Ballast is always use in ship and aircraft. In shipping,  Ballast simply means the "sea water"  use to stabilizing the ship.

Operations and process

It's very important to have an experienced officer onboard, who can handle the loading, Discharge of cargo and stabilization of the ship.  Sometimes,  the upright stability of the ship also gives the engine a better speed.

Ballasting -  Is a process of taking in the Sea water into the ship tanks made for stabilization of the ship. This is ranging between port, starboard, forward and aft wings of the ship.

De-ballasting -  This is an act of removing or taking out the water filled into the Tanks for stability. 

Ballasting and De-ballasting can be done while loading or Discharging cargo,  at sea,  during rough weather.  If a ship is wrongly Ballast or De-ballast,  it cost the ship to list either port, starboard, forward or aft. In that case,  the ship may lose it stability and may capsize.

Five important things you must know while handling ship CO2 system

The CO2 system is built in a ship to fight fire in a major areas of the ship,  example: the engine room,  pump room,  etc.  There are important things the ship crews must know about this system, to avoid malfunctioning or misuse.

1. Familiar with operations : while onboard,  there is need to explain to all crew the right way of operating the CO2,  to avoid some new crews who like to touch unknown things from releasing the system unknowingly.

2. The CO2 release cabinet point must be kept always accessible: the CO2 room must not be luck down,  there should be always free accessibility. 

3. The CO2 room must have exhaust fan and its switch must be outside of the room. Always take note of this,  don't forget to start the vent fan before entering the CO2 room.

4. Maintenance of CO2 room and lines are very important.  As the ship moves between different weathers,  the temperature of the room may change,  since we got gases inside the bottles or cylinders, some condensation may occur,  which will brings corrosion to the lines. Therefore if these corrosion block the lines,  it may lead to less functioning during emergency or fire hazard.

5. The CO2 bottles room must be equipped with special hanging scale to weighing them in regular interval and class survey intervals.

Ghana signed seafarers cooperation agreement with Denmark.

Ghana been in first recognized Maritime country in West African,  last week signed a bilateral agreement for the mutual recognition of her seafarers certificates.

According to the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA), " This development will bring a very high advantage to Ghanaian seafarers and ship manning agencies,  also access the Danish maritime labour market.

The ceremony which took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, last week when a maritime delegation from Ghana participated in this year's Danish Maritime Forum from 6th to 9th October, 2015. The delegation was led by the Deputy Minister of Transport, Honourable Joyce Bawa Mogtari.

In other hands, the Director Generals of the two institutions, Rev. Dr. Peter Issaka Azuma and Mr. Andreas Nordseth, initialed for their respective organizations.

Five common things about seaman carrier

Five things  you must know about offshore Carrier.

People like to join Maritime Carrier,  maybe  because there friends are doing well on it or because they love to travel from one country to another,  that is all part of it.  On this article will like to enlighten you on things you need to know before embarking on an offshore or seaman carrier.

There's need to know these Five things before you proceed to seaman profession:

1) Job offer : It's known that seafarers or marine offshore workers are always in search of job. This is because the nature of the job and/or company's salary differences makes it very difficult to place someone on permanent staff, as been done in an onshore jobs. Therefore you must have it in mind that no company may keep you as permanent staff for long; highest maybe 6 years and you will get tied of same company.

2) Family : This is another important point for some people who may love to see or be close to there families always. You must note that "to become a seafarer,  it means you agree to miss your family for months while at sea" , because no company will allow you to go home daily or weekly to see your family, except if your contract is on weekly basis.

3) Unstable salary : There's an option of low and high salary in many cases,  so you must not put your mind in what others receive. Every on negotiate his or her salary pending on your capabilities.

4) Risk : In an offshore jobs, there are a lot of risk to take; a) risk of life b)  risk of  injury.  But if you maintain all safety precautions,  you will work safely and earn safely.

5) Sea illness : While first time at sea,  people use to fall sea illness like; vomiting,  purging and others.  So you must know your body status before joining the ship.

Falling of Crude oil price & it impacts to oil and gas industry, shipping industries

The price fall of crude oil,  what are the positive and negative impacts  it gives to shipping industries?

On this article,  we will like to review the oil price of today and it positive or negative impacts it has given to Maritime industries, countries and the world. 

Following an interview we carried out with some of the oil producing industries and there workers , the price of oil which fall up to $28/barrel, has automatically brought many oil & gas a set back.  According to one of the oil platform worker,  he said" we have been on standby for over 9 Months,  no contract was awarded to our company and the company has been owing us 10 months salary,  many workers left the company with an unpaid salary from July  2015 - till date. "  

This set back has spread to the marine offshore vessels in many countries,  example ; Nigeria,  Angola,  etc.

It gathered that, this crisis has cost large number of unemployed and decrease in salaries of both oil & gas industry and Maritime industries .  So far,  it has been a difficult time to oil producing countries and the world may hit by another financial crisis if no proper solution to the situation.