Shania Twain Centre

[Tower]

No news really to tell you. We have been sailing in slight seas and rain for days and have passed the mid Atlantic Ocean point and even though we are more than 2500 miles away I have been listening this morning to a New York news and Weather station on Medium Wave which has had a very strong signal in.

We are GMT -2 now ships time. More when I have some news. Last nights location is shown below. We still have no idea what our first load port is.

[Tower]

Great News, Our Cargo's are confirmed and our original time table should be possible providing there are no delays in the loading and the weather stays good, and of course we don't breakdown.

We are in a long lazy swell right now and the motion of the ship was enough to wake me up and I am feeling rather uncomfortable right now, so as further sleep is out of the question I thought I would go on line.

So with a little luck the Donkey and Shrek Holiday will be on and young Chris will see the home of the Beatles, as well as my beloved Scotland The thread in this section will be activated from the 28th of August if you would like to join our 'virtual holiday blog' for the duration. We plan to post heaps of photo's of our adventures!

I need this break, this has been a very tough trip for me physically as the lift has not worked for the past 2 months and this is a very, very large vessel and the daily (many times daily!) climb from the bottom plates to the Navigation Bridge is well over 50 meters vertical hight and the heat in the Engine room is 48 deg C right now at 100% humidity.

My knees and hips are sore from the effort and I really need a day off. Still half day today so life is not that bad and once I clean out the pool, I should be able to relax this PM, floating on my back in the warm sea water, a great tonic for sore joints and bodies.

[Timmins4Ever]

you also need this trip so you can have a beer
AND
30 days left

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Told you this thread would end on a Cliff Hanger and as one more hurdle to me paying off in time to meet Chris in Glasgow on the morning of the 2nd of September falls into place I just have one more to get.

Our destination for both Cargo's is confirmed as the Gulf of Mexico Yeah!

BUT we now require permission from the Charter of our 2nd Cargo to transit back via the Island of Saint Helena and allow us time for the crew change at Sea. So an anxious wait for that, as they could insist that no crew change be done until after they have received there Oil and that would add 3 weeks on to my trip sigh.

We are only about 100 miles off Africa but few Medium Wave stations break through and we are a little too far for FM Radio as yet.

[Tower]

Well yet more pieces of the puzzle are coming in, I got an email from the ETO who is relieving me, Marcin who is Polish and a regular on the British Pride is at home having enjoyed his full leave and now he has been told by email that he will have an extra 3 and a bit weeks leave as he is to stand by for travel orders on or about the 24th August to rejoin this ship.

No destination mentioned of course, but fingers crossed it will be Saint Helena and I will get a few days home in Valletta before joining Chris in Glasgow for the 1st leg of his whistle stop UK 'tour'

Our first Cargo is now confirmed as Gas Condensate, A very light volatile and highly flammable by product of making natural gas and much in demand to be refined as it is a great solvent and cleaner as well as of course maker of Petrol or Kerosene which require the lighter oils this fluid contains. We use it (with great care) for cleaning machine parts.

We will be sailing with 1.1 Million barrels of that, sometimes known as Naphtha in addition to 1 Million barrels of BP Crude Oil, so we will be down to our marks for sure on the return trip.

[Timmins4Ever]

So a month from today we well be in Glasgow YEA!!!!

[Tower]

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We are a few days early, so stopped the main engine yesterday and today to do maintenance on it, the engineers today inspecting the inside of the huge crankcase, taking wear and tear measurements.

The Main engine stands 5 stories tall and this afternoon I will try and get a photo of it to share with you all.

Soon we will be alongside the AKPO FSPO and some details and photo's of it are produced below:

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key facts
Key Data
Builder
Hyundai Heavy Industries, Technip
Owner/Manager
Total, Total Upstream Nigeria Ltd
Length (OA)
310m
Breadth
6m
Draught
n/a
Water Depth
1,325m
Oil Storage
2 million barrels
Full specifications

The Akpo floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) was commissioned in mid-2005 by Total Upstream Nigeria following the successful development of the Akpo oil and gas field, 200km south of Port Harcourt off the coast of Nigeria in West Africa. The FPSO will be permanently moored in 1,325m of water in the Akpo field situated at OML 130 (oil mining licence).

The construction of the vessel was awarded as a lump sum turnkey contract to a consortium that included Technip of France and Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) of Korea. The consortium was responsible for engineering, supply, construction, offshore commissioning and procurement of the vessel.
"The Akpo floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) was commissioned in mid-2005 by Total Upstream Nigeria."

Technip was the project manager and was also responsible for the initial engineering phase. HHI was responsible for the construction of the hull and also the construction and integration of the topside modules.

Some of the engineering tasks (fabrication of components) was carried out when the vessel reached Nigeria.
Construction

The vessel is 310m long, 61m wide and has facilities to accommodate 240 crew members. The hull (36,000t dry weight) was launched at Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries' (HSHI) Mokpo Yard in January 2007. The topside fabrication and fitting out was completed in December 2007 and the vessel began operations at OML 130, approximately 150km south of Port Harcourt,Nigeria in March 2009.

The Akpo hull has a storage capacity for two million barrels of oil and the deck was designed to accommodate 17 topside modules, which includes two processing trains for the separation of oil and water.

The Akpo FPSO is expected to produce 225,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The oil produced, which will be 80% condensate, will be transferred through a buoy, situated 2km from the vessel. The gas produced will be piped 150km to the Amenam AMP2 platform and then to the Bonny Island liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility.
Contracts

Contracts totalling $850m were awarded across several companies.
"The Akpo hull has a storage capacity for two million barrels of oil."

Rolls-Royce was awarded an $82m contract in October 2005 for six RB211 industrial gas turbine power generation units. These were installed to provide electrical power for the FPSO vessel. The six RB211 gensets are capable of providing the 100MW of electrical power needed to operate the subsea components of the field. The subsea set up includes 22 oil and gas production wells, 20 water injection wells and two gas injection wells.

HHI contracted Nexans to install 1,185km of offshore cables for power and instrumentation infrastructure. In addition, Total awarded a contract to Saipem to supply of all the umbilicals, flowlines and risers for the vessel under a turnkey basis.

The contract also includes EPC engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning of the oil loading terminal, the FPSO mooring system and the gas export pipeline from the FPSO to the Amenam platform.

In April 2005, Cameron was contracted to provide the subsea production system including the supply of Christmas trees, manifolds, connection systems, control systems and engineering.

The main automation contractor for the FPSO is Emerson Process Management who provides digital automation architecture to digitally integrate the topside module control systems.

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Even if we were alongside we could not go ashore due to the kidnappings and murder of Oil industry workers ashore in this part of the World, so we are better where we are. At least the Mosquitoes will not be a problem unless they have long range wings hi

[Timmins4Ever]

Is a few days early a good thing for us Sir ?

[Tower]

We are underway once again after our routine Main Engine stop, we will be offshore but the closest large population is detailed below:

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Port Harcourt is the capital city of Rivers State, Nigeria. It lies along the Bonny River and is located in the Niger Delta.[2] The population of Port Harcourt is estimated at 1,620,214 (2007), the Port Harcourt Urban area is 2.7 million while the Greater Port Harcourt Area is almost 5.7 million in population. The Mayor of Port Harcourt City is Azubuike Nmerukini, an Ikwere native.
History

Port Harcourt was founded in 1912 by the British in an area traditionally inhabited by the Ikwerre, an Igbo subgroup.[3] It was named after Lewis Vernon Harcourt, Secretary of State for the Colonies.[4][5] The initial purpose of the port was to export the coal which geologist Albert Ernest Kitson had discovered in Enugu. In August 1913, the Governor-General of Nigeria, Sir Frederick Lugard wrote to Harcourt, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, "in the absence of any convenient local name, I would respectfully ask your permission to call this Port Harcourt."[6] To this the Secretary of State replied "It gives me pleasure to accede to your suggestion that my name should be associated with the new port."[6]

Geography

The main city of Port Harcourt is the Port Harcourt town in the Port Harcourt City Local Government Area, consisting of the former European quarters now called old Government reservation area (GRA) and New layout areas. The Port Harcourt Urban Area (Port Harcourt metropolis) is made up of the city itself and parts of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area.[7]. Port Harcourt City, which the capital of Rivers State, is highly congested as it is the only major city of the state. A law has recently passed by the state house and governor Amaechi's administration to spread develop to the surrounding communities as part of the effort to decongest Port Harcourt. The greater Port Harcourt City, as it is officially known, spans eight local government areas that include Port Harcourt, Okrika, Obio/Akpor, Ikwerre, Oyigbo and Ogu/Bolo. Also, other ethnicities includes Tai, and Eleme.
[edit] Infrastructure

Some of Port Harcourt's more popular and well-known residential areas are Port Harcourt Township (better known simply as Town), G.R.A phases 1-5, Rumuomasi, Orogbum nu Oro Abali (known as Ogbunuabali), Rumuola, Diobu, Amadi Flats, and Borokiri. The main industrial area is located in Trans Amadi. Face-me-I-face-you architecture is quite common to Port Harcourt.

The city plays host to the Rivers State University of Science and Technology; there is also a University of Port Harcourt, which is Located in Obio/Akpor which was carved out of Port Harcourt Local Government Area for ease of administration.

The Podium Block of Rivers State Secretariat is an icon of the city. An eighteen storey building, it has the tallest building in the South/South and South/East Geopolitical zones combined. The city has an international airport, Port Harcourt International Airport, two seaports (F.O.T Onne, PortHarcourt Wharf), two stadiums (Sharks Stadium which is actually the civic center] and Liberation Stadium located in Elekahia and two refineries.

The city is sprawling in nature as building codes and zoning regulations are poorly enforced. Land is cleared and 'lean to' buildings constructed sometimes overnight. This adds to flooding and sanitation problems since with no proper drainage or sewer system, parts of the city flood during the very heavy monsoon-type rains that fall for half the year.
[edit] Climate

Port Harcourt features a tropical monsoon climate with lengthy and heavy rainy seasons and very short dry seasons. In fact, only the months of December and January truly qualifies as dry season months in the city. The harmattan, which climatically influences many cities in West Africa, is less pronounced in Port Harcourt. Port Harcourt’s heaviest precipitation is seen during the month of September where on average approximately 370 mm of rain is seen. December on average is the driest month of the year, where on average only 20 mm of rain is seen during the course of the month. Temperatures throughout the year in the city are relatively constant, showing little variation throughout the course of the year. Average temperatures are typically between 25°C-28°C in the city.
Economy

The city is a major industrial centre as it has a large number of multinational firms as well as other industrial concerns, particularly business related to the petroleum industry. It is the chief oil-refining city in Nigeria.Rivers state is one of the wealthiest states in Nigeria in terms of gross domestic product and foreign exchange revenue from the oil industry, crude oil being its main export earner.
[edit] Security issues

In recent times, the activities of several armed militant gangs has cast a huge shadow on life and commerce in the once peaceful town. These gangs that for the most part claim to fight for the interest of the indigenous people of Rivers State and the Niger Delta region of Nigeria by asking for a share Nigeria's oil wealth, are however better noted and feared for violent conduct that include random and targeted killings, arson, kidnappings of both foreign workers and indigenous people and bombings. After a spate of violence in 2007, a curfew was imposed on the town, this was however lifted by the Governor of Rivers State in the last days of 2007. On New Year's Eve 2007, Port Harcourt was once again rocked by violence which left at least sixteen people dead. Ateke Tom, the leader of one of the more prominent militias claimed responsibility for most of the fatalities. But now,Port Harcourt has seemingly had some sense of peace and security due to the introduction of the amnesty by the federal Government for the militants.
[edit] Greater Port-Harcourt City

In early 2009 the State Government under the leadership of Governor Chibuike Amaechi announced plans for the creation of a new city to be called the Greater Port-Harcourt City. The new city is to be located close to the Port-Harcourt International Airport.[8]

[Tower]

A little treat for you all. When we stopped our main engine for a routine inspection of the Crankcase I got a chance to take some photo's and here they are. NOTE the huge size of everything. The main engine is about 30 feet tall or more, it rises a fair hight.

Hopefully you will get an idea of the scale of things from the pictures of men working down on the plates. Sorry about the blur but not the best of places to take pictures in with the vibration and heat.

In the view below you can see the top of the main engine and the 2nd Deck with the engineering workshops, boiler, Economiser, AC plant, Steering flat and air compressors and galley freezer compressors. Below that in this picture is the 3rd Deck with the Generator flat, Main Engine Air Intakes and my workshop and main switchboard room. Also on that level is the sewage treatment plant, Boiler distilled water tank and the Oil purifier room.

Below that again and out of sight in this picture are a further two levels with the 4th Deck housing the giant Ballast pump electric motors and our 3 steam turbine cargo pumps, Sea water coolers, Main engine Air intakes and exhaust gas turbine.

Below that again are the plates with the pumps, Oil sump, Bilge holding tanks, Oily water separator plant, main engine turning gear and propulsion shaft and stern tube and glands again out of sight, so this picture truly is just the 'tip of the Iceberg' as far as the total size of our engine room goes.

My pictorial journey takes you from this point down to the very bottom of this vessel.

[Timmins4Ever]

25 days left Shrek

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Also just outside my Workshop door and out of sight is the Sewage Treatment plant, which (Thankfully) has been well behaved this trip.

Below you see our 3 Generators which stand 2 meters high