Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Podunk Below the Masthead (Tuesday, June 8, 2010)

The welcome mat goes out for the newest container ship to call on Prince Rupert, Gary Coons brings a friend to seafest and keep an eye on your mail slots, some of the items of interest for Tuesday's files.

Daily News, front page headline story
PORT WELCOMES COSCO MALAYSIA ON ITS MAIDEN VOYAGE -- Some background on the welcome provided to the crew of the Cosco Malaysia as the container vessel made its first call on the Port of Prince Rupert last week.

The new Community Policing Access Centre is set to open and the Daily outlines some of what is available from the City Hall location.

Nakiun's struggles to bring its plans of power production to fruition have suffered a number of setbacks in the last few months, the Tuesday edition of the paper outlines some of the items of note of late.

The Sports section features part two of its look at the Ward brothers travels in the world of junior hockey.

(Daily News Archive items for Tuesday, June 8, 2010)

Port welcomes COSCO Malaysia on its maiden voyage
New access for community policing
Naikun project may be blowing in the wind
Update on McLean tragedy

The Northern View
Government to protect the marine environment around Gwaii Haanas-- Some background on the plans to offer protection to areas around Haida Gwaii (see article here)

The Northern View
Rupert’s MacDonald sworn in as UNBC chancellor -- A former resident of Prince Rupert joins the ranks of chancellor of the University of Northern British Columbia (see article here)    

The Northern View
NDP leader coming this weekend -- Gary Coons is bringing a little company with him for Seafest weekend, NDP leader Carole James will be in town with Coons to take part in Seafest activities (see article here)

The Northern View
Two hospitalized after assault involving a knife in Kitkatla-- Details on recent events in Kitkatla that sent two residents to hospital after an assault (see article here)

The Northern View
Study backs Skeena stock diversity -- A look at a recent issue of the magazine Nature and its findings on the Alaska fishery and how they could be of use in British Columbia (see article here)

CFTK TV 7 News
Mail slots and crimes of opportunity -- Details of a bit of a crime wave of late (see article here) Sahar Nassimdoost also provides a video report for TV 7 News (see video here)

CBC News Northern BC, Daybreak North
Daybreak North is only posting selected items on their website now.

The most recently posted items can be found on the archive page for Daybreak North click here

Daily News, front page, headline story
Port welcomes COSCO Malaysia on its maiden voyage 
By Monica Lamb-Yorski 
Staff Writer 
Prince Rupert Daily News
Tuesday, June 8, 2010


 After a ten-day maiden journey across the Pacific Ocean, crew aboard COSCO Malaysia were welcomed officially to the Port Of Prince Rupert.

Upon arrival, they were greeted by Harbour Master, Director Operations & Security Gary Paulson on June 4. 

With an 8,500 TEU (Twenty-foot container Equivalent Units) capacity, the Malaysia is the largest vessel to have called on the port to date.

It arrived around 6 a.m. Friday morning, a few hours after the Hanjin Washington, another container ship, departed at 2 a.m.

 “For every ship on its maiden voyage that comes into the Prince Rupert harbour, we present it with a plaque, as a token of our appreciation and good luck,” explained Paulson.

According to Paulson, maiden voyages are pretty special for mariners. “It’s the first operational voyage of that ship since that ship builder and owner have put that investment into the ship and they have handed it over to the captain and his crew to safely cross the Pacific into the Port.”

Welcoming a ship on its maiden voyage is an honour for the Port, said Paulson. “In this particular case it’s a real honour because it’s the largest container ship carrying capability of TEUs for the Port of Prince Rupert.

We are proud to provide a safe, secure and efficient harbour for the captain and his crew to come here. We’re proud that the ship has come to Prince Rupert on its maiden voyage and crossed the Pacific safely.”

“If you think about it,” he added. “There are some ships on maiden voyages that didn’t quite work out. So it’s a big deal for the captain and his crew. They are going about their business of delivering containers to the North American market and taking containers back from the Northwest to Asia.”

Fittingly, the plaque was a print by artist Bill Helin, featuring a traditional Tsimshian canoe. “It’s a mystical journey and from the perspective of the Port Authority, we look at this as a mystical first entry into the Port, much as the First Nations did thousands of years ago and the Polynesians did as they crossed the North Pacific,” explained Paulson as he presented it to Captain Eustace D’Souza. “Our wish and hope for fair winds, falling seas and God-speed and God protect the ship and crew of the COSCO Malaysia,” he said.

Thanking Paulson, D’Souza told listeners he was proud to be the captain of the ship. “I’m proud to work for a company like Seaspan and without the help of the crew onboard this voyage would not be possible.”

There are 22 crewmembers onboard the ship, D’Souza explained. “Seaspan Ship Management Ltd. is the owner of the ship and it’s chartered out to COSCO. The first one was the COSCO Japan, then the COSCO Korea and COSCO Malaysia. We’ve got the COSCO Indonesia coming out in July, then COSCO Pakistan and two more.” 

There are eight ships going to COSCO in total and the Malaysia is the fiftieth ship of the company.

 “In another two years there will be a line of about 72 ships. They are turning out one ship every two to three months.

They are built in Korea and it’s amazing to see how the ships are built.” They are built in two pieces, he explained. “You will see the ship lying in the yard.

You will have the end section and the next day you will see that another section has come into the yard.”

The Malaysia voyage was D’Souza’s fifth trip across the Pacific, but it isn’t the largest ship he’s captained.

He described the trip as uneventful and beautiful. “Except we drifted around two kilometres this morning because there was another ship at port.”

 Originally from India, D’Souza said the multicultural crew speaks to each other in English.

 Chief Engineer, Michael Artemyev is from Urkaine. Smiling he said the only Indian word he knows is “namaste”. 

Standing on the upper deck, enjoying the sunshine, Artemyev said the scenery at Prince Rupert reminded him of Siberia. “It’s very nice nature. All the mountains, trees and big forest.”

When asked how the journey from China was, the engineer was reluctant to make a comment.

“When I get home safely then I can say, the ship is very nice,” Artemyev said smiling.

When asked about the complexity of docking at the terminal, Paulson described it simply. To arrive at the port, all container ships sail past the container port to a spot where the water is deep near the BC Ferries dock.

 “They will stop and twist around using tugs, the main engine and bow thruster, and then make an approach to the container terminal,” he said.

Pointing from the upper deck toward the containers, which are stacked eight high above the deck and eight below, Paulson commented on the role the containers play in becoming part of the ship.

 “They are forming the ship’s super structure so the weight has got to be balanced. If they are taking off ten thousand tons, then they want to put back on ten thousand tons to keep the stability of the ship even,” he said.

 If the seas are rough, the weight and the size of the ship manage to keep it fairly balanced, he added. “It displaces 90,000 metric tons of water, so it’s like a full back in football that’s low to the ground. It kind of breaks through that heavy weather quite nicely.”

The COSCO Malaysia will travel from Prince Rupert to California and before departing for Asia return to Prince Rupert to collect more cargo.

It’s the second ship in COSCO’s CEN service to make a return port of call, which has added capacity to the port’s handling. COSCO’s Longbeach was the first one.

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