port berthing facilities & infrastructure surveyor’s prespective

PORT BERTHING FACILITIES & INFRASTRUCTURE- SURVEYOR’S

PRESPECTIVE.After attending various surveys for P & I

Clubs pertaining to Port Assets such as Pier, attachments like Fender, Bollard etc Port tugs and also alleged touching bottom,

author shares his experience

PRESENTED BY ER. P.SRIDHARAN C.EngFIMAR E. MIIMS (U.K) FIIISLA

PORT INFRASTRUCTURE

• Port infrastructure comprises of following:• Berthing facilities• Cargo handling equipments• Storage facilities• Connectivity

- Road Link- Rail Link- Air Link

• Other facilities

PRESENTED BY ER. P.SRIDHARAN C.Eng FIMAR E. MIIMS (U.K) FIIISLA

BERTHING FACILITIES

• Length of berth

• Clear Breadth available in the berth

• Depth of the berth

• Type of vessel: General cargo vessel, bulk carrier, container vessel, tankers

• Tugs: Types and No. of tugs

• Cargo to be handled


CARGO HANDLING

• For dry bulk : a)Ship or shore crane to offload on wharf by grabs/net slings and thence transport by pay-loaders and tippers. b) Through Self-unloading system from ship to shore by conveyors c) Cargo to be discharged to hoppers/silos and thence by conveyors.

• For liquid bulk: a) From ship to road tanker lorries b) Though permanent shore pipe line connected to shore tank terminal

• For Containers: Gantry Cranes, Tyre mounted container stackers, spreaders of different sizes.

• For General Cargo: Shore Cranes, Floating cranes in case of heavy load.


STORAGE FACILITIES

• For dry bulk/General Cargo: Transit sheds, covered or uncovered. Facilities available within covered warehouse. Safety precautions to control fire hazards. Maintenance of shed/roof/good house keeping.

• For liquid bulk: Shore Pipe line maintenance, pressure test, pig clearance and associated machinery, maintenance of N/R valves at shore tank terminal etc.

• For Container: Adequate foundationed /Paved floor depending no. of max. tiers to be stacked.


CONNECTIVITY

• Road link: well laid dock roads for smooth flow of trailers and lorries. With 2 nos. Container Terminals, but only with one gate , congestions is a perennial problem. You may guess which port I am talking about

• Rail link: Proper lay out of railways sidings inside Port for smooth clearance of bulk cargo/containers to ICD.

• Air Link: This is must for emergency parts required for a ship or any technician to attend to ship or port.


OTHER FACILITIES

By other facilities, we mean the following:

• Ship repair facilities.

• Dry-dock facilities

• Fresh Water supply facilities

• Bunker supply facilities

• Supply of Provisions, spare parts etc.


INADEQUATE OR POOR MAINTENCE OF INFRASTRUCTURE

• I have briefly discussed basic infrastructure and berthing facilities that are required in a Port.

• Let us see in the following slides, how the inadequate infrastructure or poor maintenance of port/pier attachments result in claims to Ship Owners


FENDERS

• These fenders are installed at Pier/berth, to prevent vessel’s direct contact with berth and to prevent impact/chaffing damages both to ship and berth.

• If the fenders are not properly maintained, naturally there will be damages to ship and berth.

• In the following slides you may see some images:


FENDERS


FENDERS

• In the first image, Fender main portion cut and missing and only top and bottom rubber portion and nuts/bolts available.

• In the second image , Fender completely missing and instead used rubber tyres are found tied and hanging.

• This kind of poor maintenance of fenders not only result in damage to ship and also damage to kerb wall of jetty. Any amount of protest letter by Master, will be of little effect and huge claims have to be paid, failing which sailing/port clearance is held up


DEPTH OF BERTH

• After coal is moved to Ennore, this menace is somewhat reduced.

• Spillage of cargo during discharge fall in dock basin, so that they form a mountain-like below water and hence vessel is not coming properly alongside. Periodical dredging of port will ease this problem.

• When ever vessel loading in such berths, Master will be panicky as if his vessel touched bottom.

• He has to notify Charterer/Owner’s H & M Insurer for any damage to hull.


ALLEGED TOUCHING BOTTOM


U/W DIVING


CONSEQUENCES

• Underwater diving and videography of underwater hull for damages, if any.

• Temporary repairs, if required.

• Unnecessary hold up of vessel and loss of productivity.


CASE STUDY

• A Gearless vessel berthed in A Private Port for discharging import coal.

• Stevedoring done by port using shore crane and grabs.

• Vessel completed discharge.

• Whilst removing pay-loader from one of the holds, wire rope parted and pay-loader fell into the hold and holed tank top.


CASE STUDY (Contd.)

• Unfortunately, DB Tank in the concerned hold was a fuel tank.

• Joint Survey was held between Owner’s P & I Surveyor, Charterer’s P & I Surveyor, Port Surveyor and Owner’s H & M Surveyor.

• Class Surveyor was also called by Owners who recommended to repair of the hole in tank top, prior to sailing.

• With great resistance Port accepted Damage Report from vessel.


CASE STUDY (Contd.)

• Port shifted the vessel to anchorage and permitted repair only in the anchorage.

• Since there are no repairs facilities available locally in that Private Port , repair company was arranged from another port town which is about 200 Kms away.

• Being a Gearless vessel, vessel had to come alongside once for taking steel plates, repair gear etc. and went back to anchorage.

• As the DB tank is a fuel tank, they have to thoroughly clean the tank and make it gas free to do hot work.


CASE STUDY (Contd.)

• Entire cleaning of DB Tank, making it gas free, inspection of tank by competent authority to certify fit for man entry and hot work, cropping of tank top plates, welding of plates, Ultrasonic Test, pressure test all done in the anchorage.

• Repair was arranged by Charterers.

• It took 34 days for vessel becoming ready.


CASE STUDY (Contd.)

• Claim:

• Cost of Repairs : USD 35000/- +

• Loss of Hire suffered by Owners.

• Cause of damage: Poor maintenance of Cargo Handling Gear by Port.


CONCLUSION

• I have briefly outlined how inadequate Port Infrastructure, berthing facilities and poor maintenance affect Ship Owners and Productivity .

• Hope my presentation is informative.

• Comments welcome to: [email protected]


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port berthing facilities & infrastructure surveyor’s prespective

Economy & Finance