Thanks to our members, our non-nautical staff have had the opportunity of going to sea to train and get a feeling and understanding of the general day-to-day work onboard a cargo ship.

Towards the end of November, our FD&D Manager in Gothenburg, Martyn Hughes, was fortunate to be able to spend a couple of days onboard the Sirius vessel MT Nautilus. The vessel was loading unleaded petroleum in Gothenburg for discharging in Helsingborg, further down the Swedish west coast.

Loading was significantly delayed, apparently due to production problems shore side – frustrating from the vessel’s point of view but ‘all part of the business’.

Martyn attended the loading operations, departure from Gothenburg down in the engine room and arrival in Helsingborg on the bridge, as well as the initial preventive steps taken during discharge to minimize the risk of a spill, in the event that cargo inadvertently moved from one tank to another during discharging rather than going directly ashore. There was a lot of careful monitoring and adjustments made to reduce the quantity in each of the tanks before the vessel was ready to discharge the bulk of its cargo.

Not much time was spent in his cabin, but this was more than made up for by the chance to experience, first hand, operations on board, and the Michelin star food produced in the galley certainly helped make up for any lack of sleep.

Our thanks to Sirius Shipping AB, Wallenius Line, Donsö Tank and Harren und Partner for making this sea-going experience possible. This is an excellent initiative and staff at the Club have to thank our technical team for organising everything.

Photos: Martyn Hughes, The Swedish Club