Hello John !
Speaking of less water. This ship arrived alongside with just about 40cms under her keel. That is not much when you consider the size of the ship. Therefore, with traffic control, the river pilots, and the Master we have to coordinate well her voyage upstream to her discharge port.
Why so tight ? ? ? ? But For money of course !
A quick calculation , a ship of this size is sinking by abt 1 cm for every 50 mt loaded. If you load a ship even keel , ( i.e. draft forward and aft are the same ) at 10.70 m to reach Becancour. Situation is tight , you have to come with the rising tide. Or you may chose to cut 30 cms or 1500 mt of cargo and arrive at a draft of 10.40 m even keel and arrive without restrictions.
Depending on the freight rate, operators may loose easily 50,000 to 115,000.00 dlrs in the net profits. Freight rates of course are relative to the distance made during the voyage. As this is actually the most valuable cargo. All the voyage expenses are paid anyhow. These last tonnes are the most profitable ones, the gravy.....
Of course it is a gamble too. To complicate things, It also depends on the seasonal fluctuations of the river water level. Many ship's are coming from Australia. That is a 40 days trip. Weather and Water-level predictions may not be accurate for such a long period. During her voyage to Canada, due to a long period of fair weather, the water-level may drop drastically. In some cases, we have to divert the ship to another port to discharge part of her cargo before proceeding further up to Becancour. Fortunately, aluminium plants are numerous along the Saint-Lawrence river. Seven Islands, Baie-Comeau, Ville Saguenay, Deschambault, Becancour all have major facilities. Alcoa & Alcan are owning and sharing these plants. As buyers, they have the flexibility to accomodate each other in these rare cases.
In these rare cases, the extra port call port expenses are often paid by the additionnal revenues created by the extra cargo loaded.
In this case, the subject cargo was coming from Jamaica ( home of the Red Stripe beer...... )
Cheers!
Robert |
Canada
CB Paradise (8)
perryhooter
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