and now..higher pilot fees
Higher pilot fees unpopular on Great Lakes, from freighters to Viking boat | MLive.com

I find these posts fascinating please keep 'em coming.

Read the requirements to be a Columbia River pilot on the link Cashflyer posted. Amazingly high standards that ensure a safe passage...those guys are truly the pros from Dover.

More
 

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A few shots heading up inside one of the cranes
 

Noisy, tight, steep, noisy, everything whirling and turning. And Loud and noisy. Things spinning all around. Every time the craneman makes a move something whizzes by. Even the ladder up the centre of the climb moves with the crane.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1483397938.jpg
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All in all it was a nice clear cold sunny day, great for working!

Do the "totes" contain grain/edible or something else? Looks like a fun job being the crane operator.

Very cool pix!
Keep them coming!

...and the windows have racing style hold downs!!! :D

I bet he could grab the pink unicorn out of the "one armed bandit" thing at Hometown Buffet. Every time.

Something else. Don't ask. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1483408471.jpghttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1483408526.jpg

Ok! At least with the totes...no cleaning the corners onboard!

True enough, thanks

Here's an interesting piece of equipment.
 

As you may have noticed the full (1.25 Mt) of product gets knifed in the top of our hopper then passes tru to the trucks below. Well every lift had 14 or 16 extra large fibre type bags to dispose of which was not easy. So our solution was to convert a hay bailer into a bag bailer, which, I'm proud to say worked great, and because it worked well got us a lot of business over the years.

. About 10,000 bags/ship and about 500 bags /bale

Here's a photo or two.,http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1483494456.jpg
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This one was quite a scuzzy ship, down at the waterline!http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1483495201.jpg

Fisher said the Great Lakes Ports Association is mostly focused on how the increased rates could discourage freight traffic on cargo ships on the Great Lakes and Seaway.
But there implications for tourism as well.

Loss of freight.
Loss of tourism.
=Loss of income.

And that's all she said, folks.

I'm a bit confused yellieperil. Your first post was about ships leaving without pilots.You thought that was a bad idea. I thought you were a pilot, no? Your last post is showing the inside of the ship in port unloading. Now, are you a port pilot, or a helping hand in the port? I think I see a pattern here: you are sad that your friend is retiring after so many years as a pilot, you would like to be that person, but you can see the writing on the wall that his job is going away, replaced by gizmies or computers that can see better. Correct me if I'm wrong here.

I thought the video of the Viking ship Captain was very interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwb8-HGytDE

I am not a pilot, my friend is. He's retiring. I do not want to be a pilot but I do think we should continue with pilots I think a pilot is safest option for vessels coming in or leaving. For example, I could probably drive a semi on a freeway, maybe for a short time, but it would be a different story if I tried to drive in Manhattan.

But really, I was only showing a few pics, thinking it may be interesting to some who are not living in port cities to see "how it's done". It's always been interesting to me, and I thought I would share. I wasn't trying to start a debate on pilots versus no pilots. Thanks for looking.

I am really enjoying your photos and commentary. Please don't stop. I would like to see something similar from others here who have interesting jobs.
One suggestion - put a carriage return between photos please. I don't often know what I'm looking at, and it makes a photo even harder to figure out when I don't know where it ends or begins.

Yeah, I should've done that. Better next time. Thanks for letting me know.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1483549390.jpg


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We've got several ports here in Charleston SC. I'd love to hang out for a few hours and/or take a tour of the ships while docked.

Keep the pix coming!

I have to say I too like big ships, but there none around here, daggummit.

I'm really diggin' the pictures they bring back so much...I spent a lot of years climbing in and out and around those ships. Just hearing Lakers, and Saltie's are terms I hadn't heard in over twenty years...I had to run back to the sea for a funeral of one of my mentors and it brought back odd stuff. Just glancing at the water to see if the tide was ebbing or flooding. I did that for twenty years on the run. I did it without thinking, but I noticed later I had did it...Ughh miss the sea. Here's my last re-cert check-ride before I retired.-WW

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Sounds like you really enjoyed it.

If I was somewhere on that boat, I would be helplessly clutching something while puking up my breakfast, lunch or dinner.....

It was one of those deals were you long for home all the time, then when you get home, you long for the danger...it's wierd. In about a half an hour I'm on my way to go hay the cattle and break holes in the ice for'em to drink. It's -14F and two feet of snow....From sailor to cowboy.-WW

Yeah well, by the looks of that ship on your post, I'd say "rodeo Cowboy" In a good way!

Last ship of the season
 

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This ship is all ready to go. (No gangway)


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So season is over till next summer or fall. I may be retired by then, who knows.


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Good season. Thanks for all the pictures, Dennis.
By the sound of things you might spend the rest of the winter shoveling snow.
Best
Les

I'm loving these photos too. I've always been fascinated by those big ships.

This was my last duty:


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What is the brown open end pipe in that pic? Air intake?

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/28GrXgEHMzE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Yep, one of many intakes and exhausts for below deck.


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I just want to thank yellowperil again for posting his photos. Most people don't get to see how this way of shipping huge amounts of materials takes place. The photos and discussion are very interesting

Sweet 82! Pretty awesome Chief. I was not well rounded at all...surf duty almost my entire career. Boatswainmates' the only rate.-WW

Wow... so you only unload for 4-5 months/year?

Guess I mispoke about the season being over
 

This I believe will be the last ship for us until July or August. This ship a bit BIG and too deep for our home port, so we're of loading in Port of Charlottetown, only 40 miles away.

This thing is 200 m LOA (656 feet) quite large for a small town. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1485896743.jpg
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