port/container ship visit

[Ivan]

Hello,

Any big machinery freaks out there?

I'm organizing a visit to one of those
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A6rsk_E-class.
This will be an unofficial tour with the ship's chief mechanic to
guide us to places where simple mortals don't usually go.
The visit will be on Feb 6th (Monday) in the afternoon (after 12pm,
still waiting for exact time).

4-5 people who need to decide within the next 30 hours. We need to
send our names and passport numbers to the ship 6 days in advance, so
that they can make the arrangements with the port authorities. FCFS.

cheers,
Ivan

[Carl Coryell-Martin]

<jumping up in my chair screaming> yes please, pick me </jumping up in my chair screaming>

oh wait.  this is for the 6th.  I'm out of town that day and I don't think I can cut my trip short to fly back a day early.

Thank you for organizing this though.  It's my dream tour in SG.

-ccm

Ivan

--
Chat: http://hackerspace.sg/chat

[jeremy]

i'm in if there is still space!

On Jan 29, 12:23 pm, Carl Coryell-Martin <c...@coryellmartin.org>
wrote:

[vinnie]

thanks, very cool/awesome offer, i'd love to join if there's still
room.

can we take a camera? i'll post pics to the list.

thanks for posting this to hs.sg,
vinnie

On Jan 29, 12:14 pm, Ivan <van...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Any big machinery freaks out there?
>

> I'm organizing a visit to one of thosehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A6rsk_E-class.

[Ivan]

OK. Sold out.

If there are more people interested in this, reply to this thread.
We'll try to organize another round when the ship comes back in ~4-5 monthes.
I'll try to be less nasty with deadlines.

- Ivan

On Sun, Jan 29, 2012 at 12:14 PM, Ivan <van...@gmail.com> wrote:

[ileftm...@gmail.com]

interested!! hopefully theres a next trip.
Thanks Ivan!!

> --
> Chat: http://hackerspace.sg/chat

[Coleman Yee]

people, you do not want to miss the experience. it's like a totally different world (even within the pasir panjang container port itself). and those things are unimaginably long - standing beside it on the dock, you can't even see the front and tail ends...

coleman.

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Chat: http://hackerspace.sg/chat

[Benjamin Scherrey]

Definitely interested in a future opportunity!

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Chat: http://hackerspace.sg/chat

[Gibson Tang]

Same here, definitely interested if there is another trip.

Regards
Gibson Tang
www.azukisoft.com

+65 96565537
www.gibsontang.com

[Roland Turner]

Definitely interested next trip.

- Raz

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Chat: http://hackerspace.sg/chat

[Flo.]

Yes yes yes!!! Please do another visit!!!

[Alexandre Gravier]

Ivan, it sounds great, please count +2 ppl for next trip if there is still place (my wife and I). Have fun for this round!

Alexandre

[John Berns]

I am out of town on the first trip, so if we have a second opportunity
I would love to go!

[Kelvin]

I would also like to go for the next trip!

On Jan 29, 2012, at 11:17 PM, Ivan wrote:

> --
> Chat: http://hackerspace.sg/chat

[Ivan]

Okay, looks like 'big boats' are rather popular (or is it 'simple
mortals' bit?)...

Hopefully a young enterprising mind will see this as a viable
opportunity and will fill the gap in the local tourism market.

Until then we have a demand and supply problem: 1) the ship's cycle is
about 5 months, and 2) visiting group size is limited to 9 people.
It's also not 100% sure that every time they can/want take visitors.
Risky and not sustainable...

Now, I hear that Singapore is #1 or #2 worldwide in terms of container
volume handling, ~30M/year [1]. That's ~80K / day or ~20 'big boats' /
day. I don't know about the number of oil tankers, but probably on the
same scale (and it would be really nice to check out pumps that empty
those). Somebody on this list must know somebody who is close to the
port and ships...

[1] http://www.singaporepsa.com/throughputfigures.php

[Alvin Jiang]

Yeah your friend is doing us a big favor as there are few ship captains
and owners willing to assume the risks with having visitors on board.

Alvin.

[Patrick Haller]

On 2012-01-31 15:25, Alvin Jiang wrote:
> Yeah your friend is doing us a big favor as there are few ship
> captains and owners willing to assume the risks with having visitors
> on board.

I agree that it's a great favor, however the risks are all on the people
venturing into the vessel. If you darwin-award yourself onboard, that's
not his problem. ;)

[Alvin Jiang]

My point was that no ship owner/captain really wants to have these
clueless visitors bumbling around, getting hurt and threatening to sue
or call the police. Not to mention the prospect of stowaways or
smuggling. Much easier to keep your head down, drive the boat and enjoy
the time in port.

[Patrick Haller]

On 2012-01-31 16:46, Alvin Jiang wrote:
> My point was that no ship owner/captain really wants to have these
> clueless visitors bumbling around, getting hurt and threatening to
> sue or call the police. Not to mention the prospect of stowaways or
> smuggling. Much easier to keep your head down, drive the boat and
> enjoy the time in port.

And my point wasn't really about the ship. The more people fixate on the
risks in life, the more we turn potential future costs into real current
costs and impoverish us all.

[Alvin Jiang]

Sure, tell that to a ship owner/captain you know. Those I have have
cited those reasons despite my pleas, so pointing out that the risk
ought to be mine isn't helpful... I do know it's my fault if I die on
board, and I'll even sign a liability sheet but if they won't do so
because they're afraid of the risks, what's the use in insisting that
they're ignorant of the bigger picture?

And for those of you who haven't tried, it's really not easy getting
yourself on board one of these things, even if you happen to have a
large shipment on the same boat. So I'm really appreciative to Ivan's
contact, especially since it seems like you'd be going on board with the
full knowledge and support of the Captain and company, not snuck on.

But if you enjoy yourself, I've considered taking these:
http://www.flightlesstravel.com/plan/cargo-ships/

[Alexandre Gravier]

Yeah well no big deal for me, remove me and Joanna. It should not blow out of the 9 ppl every half year scale, it would become a headache for you Ivan.

[Nagarjuna]

I missed it...My son likes very much..Me and my son would have come
definetely.

Regards,
Nagarjuna

On Jan 30, 1:05 pm, Roland Turner <r...@raz.cx> wrote:
> Definitely interested next trip.
>
> - Raz
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 11:18 AM, Gibson Tang <gibt...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Same here, definitely interested if there is another trip.
>

> > On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 11:15 AM, Benjamin Scherrey <proteus...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> >> Definitely interested in a future opportunity!
>

> >> On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 4:46 AM, Coleman Yee <coleman...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> >>> people, you do not want to miss the experience. it's like a totally
> >>> different world (even within the pasir panjang container port itself). and
> >>> those things are unimaginably long - standing beside it on the dock, you
> >>> can't even see the front and tail ends...
>
> >>> coleman.
>

[Vikram Verma]

If there's going to be another trip; I'm also interested.

Thanks.

--
"Data! Data! Data! I cannot make bricks without clay!"

[Yanying Huang]

+1 

I am interested as well! :D

[Kheng Yew]

*Eagerly awaits the announcement of a 2nd run*

[Ivan]

oook. Enough demand to keep me 'busy' for the next 1.5 years...
I still can't believe i'm the only one with a 'special connection'.

This ship's cycle is 10 weeks, *but* my 'special connection' is now on
3 months on-, 3 months off-duty.

Visit origanization is a bit tricky and uncertain until the last
minute. The list of visitors need to be sent to the ship 6 days in
advance, and we can't add/remove people after that. However, the ship
is not a train. If the ship docks in the afternoon, it's really hard
to get on it (unless somebody in the group has another 'special
connection' with port authorities who will provide a vehicle to drive
around the port at night).

We got lucky last monday. The ship was only delayed by 4 hrs and we
had the final OK at 11am.

- Ivan

[Martin Bähr]

On Wed, Feb 08, 2012 at 10:59:19AM +0800, Ivan wrote:
> oook. Enough demand to keep me 'busy' for the next 1.5 years...
> I still can't believe i'm the only one with a 'special connection'.

maybe the only one in this group.

can you ask your special connection if he has suggestions on where to
dig up other such connections on other ships?

which social network do ship crews frequent? surely it is not just the
bars in red light districts.

or does anyone have connections to levels higher up? i think someone
like meng could talk a ships owner into supporting the tech and
young entrepreneur community.

> (unless somebody in the group has another 'special connection' with
> port authorities who will provide a vehicle to drive around the port
> at night).

talk to the government? support and educate the youth?

what about schools that do training for ship crew?
do such schools exist in singapore?
they ought to have connections like that...

just throwing out some ideas for someone else (not necesarily ivan) to pick up...

greetings, martin.
--
cooperative communication with sTeam - caudium, pike, roxen and unix
services: debugging, programming, training, linux sysadmin, web development
--
pike programmer working in china community.gotpike.org
foresight developer (open-steam|caudium).org foresightlinux.org
unix sysadmin societyserver.(org|net) realss.com
Martin B�hr http://societyserver.org/mbaehr/

[vinnie]

Ivan, big thanks once again, it was a great time and i learned a lot
of cool things - such as the importance of a good cook and why it's
best to avoid engine fires while out at sea !! ;-p

Here's some pics I snapped for the list:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vlauria/sets/72157629231086399/

Vinnie
twitter.com/vlauria

On Jan 29, 12:14 pm, Ivan <van...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Any big machinery freaks out there?
>

> I'm organizing a visit to one of thosehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A6rsk_E-class.

[Meng Weng Wong]

On Feb 7, 2012, at 5:20 PM, Yanying Huang wrote:

+1 

whatever floats your boat …

[Martin Bähr]

On Wed, Feb 08, 2012 at 07:22:27AM -0800, vinnie wrote:
> Ivan, big thanks once again, it was a great time and i learned a lot
> of cool things - such as the importance of a good cook

oh, why is that? other than not making people sick when there is no
chance to fill the vacancy?

> and why it's
> best to avoid engine fires while out at sea !! ;-p

please schedule the next engine fire after the next hackerspace visit.

> Here's some pics I snapped for the list:
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/vlauria/sets/72157629231086399/

who set off the firealarm? ;-)

[Gibson Tang]

I guess a good cook will prepare good food for the long distance away from home to boost morale and won't torture the crew by serving crap. Back in my days in the Navy. When the crew got seasick, some cooks take pleasure in cooking curry

Martin Bähr          http://societyserver.org/mbaehr/

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Chat: http://hackerspace.sg/chat

[vinnie]

ha Martin, I think Gibson nailed it. It's more about morale for the
8-10weeks a sea. He also mentioned that since the laws changed about
5 years ago, banning alcohol while out on sea, it hasn't been the same
fun social atmosphere at night - and it doesn't help solve the problem
about alcoholic abusive captains - they'll still sneak it on board...

yeah, when that fire alarm went off in the engine room, i kinda
crapped my pants, but it seems like it's all normal as long as it
doesn't last too long :-p

[Martin Baehr]

On Wed, Feb 08, 2012 at 05:09:17PM -0800, vinnie wrote:
> ha Martin, I think Gibson nailed it. It's more about morale for the
> 8-10weeks a sea.

indeed, i later realized that just as you can't fill in a vacancy for a
sick crew mate, you also can not replace a bad cook or pick a different
place to eat.

(this might be a good place to mention that after highschool i wanted to
go to a merchant marine school, if dental braces hadn't required a
monthly doctors visit. gee, the last 20 years of my life would have been
completely different :-)

greetings, martin.
--
cooperative communication with sTeam - caudium, pike, roxen and unix
services: debugging, programming, training, linux sysadmin, web development
--
pike programmer working in china community.gotpike.org
foresight developer (open-steam|caudium).org foresightlinux.org
unix sysadmin societyserver.(org|net) realss.com

Martin B�hr http://societyserver.org/mbaehr/