Trinidad!

Καλή Χρονιά!! Happy New Year!!

The Apollonia pulled into Point Fortin, Trinidad in the middle of the night on December 30^th. The loading operation began at sunrise and took about 18 hours in total. We departed in the early hours of December 31^st having been in port for about 24 hours.

Trinidad is one of the top five global exporters of LNG and the gas industry makes up a large portion of the country's economy. As the shore facility transfers the LNG into the ship’s four cargo tanks, the natural gas that occupied the empty tanks is displaced by the liquid cargo. The two high-duty (HD) compressors transfer the gas at high rate to the terminal where it can be properly handled.

On the left are the four tugs that helped the vessel maneuver when docking and departing. The shore facility’s arms can be seen connected to the ship’s manifolds. The tall white masts, one at each tank, are emergency vents to prevent damage from overpressurization. On the right is the cargo machinery room where the HD compressors send the displaced vapor ashore during loading.

The LNG terminal and jetty running out to the ship

The LNG carrier moored behind us was is in need of a paint job. It has spherical tanks (Moss-type) whereas ours are shaped like octagonal prisms (Membrane-type). These are the two main systems for carrying LNG, and each has its strengths and weaknesses.

During the middle of the loading process we had the opportunity to go ashore for the afternoon and evening. A short van ride from Point Fortin to the city of San Fernando allowed us to see a few different areas of the island. Some parts were highly westernized, as evidenced by a mall that contained chain stores like Cold Stone and Auntie Anne’s. Other areas are more traditional to the country’s interesting culture that results from the demographic consisting mostly of people of African or Indian descent. This was reflected in the delicious ethnic dishes we tried at a seafood restaurant in San Fernando. We even got our first authentic “Yeah, mon!” reply during a conversation with one of the islanders.

FYI in case ever travelling to Trinidad & Tobago…

At this point in our voyage, we've been split up during the work day to experience the different departments on the ship. Nick is working with the deck while Ian is in the engine room, and we will switch halfway through the sea term. (As we are both writing this blog, we will both write in first person plural whenever possible, but we will switch to third person singular for activities specific to either of us. Sorry for the breach of stylistic etiquette.)

The afternoon before our arrival in Trinidad Nick worked with the deck crew preparing the lines and winches for mooring. Despite their enormous size, the operation of the winches is fairly straightforward, consisting of sets of drums controlled by brakes and clutches and driven by a hydraulic motor. The hydraulic system is powered by electric motors located in the steering gear room (aft) and bosun locker (forward).

The mooring line arrangement on the aft deck. Although they are only 42mm in diameter, each synthetic line has a breaking strength of 127 tonnes!

While life on deck became increasingly busy as port approached, the engine room remained relatively unaffected. Ian typically helped the engineers with the numerous maintenance and operation jobs performed each day. Some were scheduled preventative measures to keep everything running smoothly such as changing filters or opening and cleaning various pieces of machinery. Other jobs were simply part of running the ship such as starting up the fresh water generator or transferring waste oil from a holding tank to the incinerator service tank. Still other jobs were corrective operations needed to fix machinery problems or respond to alarms.

One of two plate-type freshwater generators on the ship, which use hot engine cooling water to boil sea water in a vacuum. The plates seal against each other with gaskets under the clamping force of the tie bolts. Each unit can produce 35,000 liters of freshwater a day, which is used for domestic purposes as well as in the engine room for machinery cooling and boiler feed water. 

Illustration showing fluid flow through the two kinds of plates in the FW generator. The plate stack alternates between heat transfer (left) and distilling stages (right). Green is seawater, red is hot jacket water from the generator engines, and blue is the condensed freshwater. (Source: Alfa Laval) 

We crossed the equator yesterday. Next stop is Quintero, Chile via the Strait of Magellan!