In the waning hours of daylight on Wednesday, Global Standard eased off the Port of Port Angeles’ T-Pier and got under way for a three week voyage to Lanshan, China.
The 554-foot cargo ship, which was laden with more than 5 million board feet of logs, was the 19th vessel this year to make port for local logs harvested from private lands.
(In a radio interview last week, the port’s executive director, Jeff Robb, said that in the first nine months of this year more log ships had loaded in Port Angeles than in the previous five years combined.
(And these shipments to China and Korea, where there’s a building boom, has been good news financially for timber companies — higher prices and demand — and for the port. Robb said the port was ahead of revenue projections by more than $1 million.
(He said the port planned to use the extra money for infrastructure improvements.)
Grant Munro, a log buyer (and former Port Angeles City Council member) whose company, Munro LLC, brokered the sale of logs that were loaded aboard Global Standard, arranged for me to go aboard to watch the longshoreman secure the logs to the deck of the ship.
When I got on board, Bob Phaneuf, an employee of the stevedoring company, SSA Marine and the vessel’s superintendent during the loading process, escorted me to the bridge which afforded an eagle’s view of the activities atop the cargo of logs.
It was there that I was introduced to John Dacquisto, a longshoreman and the ship’s “supercargo” — the person in charge of overseeing the cargo aboard ship — who explained to me the process of lashing down the load.
Casual observers of the loading of logs onto the deck of a log ship will see that they are loaded fore and aft atop each of the five cargo hatches and firmly nestled between 27-foot-tall stanchions that line both sides of the cargo deck.
In their final form, each stack of logs will have a subtle crown that slopes off to each side of the ship.
Chains and cables are used independently of each other to lash down the cargo.
Chain attached to the deck on either side of each stack of logs is laid across the crown and joined together by a large turnbuckle that is then tightened down.
On average each stack of logs will have four of these chain sets.
Cable that is likewise secured to the main deck on either side of a stack is brought up to the crown and connected together using a snatch block, and they, too, are tightened down.
According to John, the crown is an important element in the proper lashing of the logs.
He said that when the slack is taken out of the cables and chains, they press down onto the crown and the logs become tightly cinched into the cradle created by the stanchions and the deck.
Additionally, while under way the ship is constantly in motion and some settling of the logs may occur. The ship’s crew will continually monitor the cargo and if need be they will retighten the cables and chains.
And it will be the crown that is once again forced downward causing the load to tighten up in the cradle.
When I left the bridge, I took one last look at the lashed-down load — and the thought struck me that it looked like a laced-up shoe.
Another log ship
Thursday morning, another log ship — the 574-foot Cook Strait — moored to the T-Pier. The ship will be loaded with logs from Merrill & Ring land holdings and she, too, will be off to China.
John also was the supercargo on this ship, and at his invitation I went aboard just after lunch. I spent a couple of hours watching the ship being loaded from the dock as well as the waterside of the ship.
On the waterside, log bundles that had been formed into booms were brought to the side of the vessel by the harbor tug, Port Susan.
Longshoreman ran wire slings under both ends of a bundle, and the crane operator hoisted the load above the level of the holds.
During the lowering of log bundles, the crane operator frequently tapped one of the ends of the load to get it to swing a little so that by the time it was lowered into the hold, it was properly configured fore and aft.
Each of the holds aboard the ship — and this is true of most of the log ships — are about the same size, but there is a bit of variation in each one.
The biggest difference is in the first hold, which is the smallest because it is closest to the bow point. Holds 3 and 4 tend to be the largest.
Logs are loaded into each hold so that log bundles are stacked snug against the forward bulkhead.
Log bundles are also loaded against the aft bulkhead, and the space between their butt ends is filled in with bundles as well.
My grade-school math tells me that the larger holds are every bit of 85 feet to 90 feet long and just about as wide.
According to John, more than 5 million board feet of logs will be loaded aboard Cook Strait.
Inexact science
Estimating the amount of logs to be loaded aboard a ship is an imprecise science because the vessel is either loaded until its weight capacity has been met or the allocated space has been filled up.
In the parlance of the longshoreman, the ship is either loaded to weight or loaded to space.
In the case of the Global Standard, John said she was loaded to space because her cargo consisted of some mighty big logs.
Determining when a ship is loaded is a concert that is played out between the chief mate and the supercargo.
John, as the supercargo, periodically gathers information on the number of bundles that have been stowed aboard ship and shares this information with the chief mate.
Similarly, the chief engineer monitors a number of criteria, including the ship’s draft, to calculate the weight of the cargo.
Between the two of them, the decision is made as to when a ship is loaded.
Port repairs
The Port’s T-Pier will be shut down Oct. 3-17 to allow contractors to complete the second phase of repairs, including replacing chocks and the driving of 18 new piles.
Dave Hagiwara, director of trade and development for the Port of Port Angeles, said that pending some unresolved details, the port plans to enter into a contract soon with an engineering firm to assess available and practical solutions to expanding the T-Pier to accommodate larger ships.
Dave went on to say that expansion of Terminal 3 will give the port needed flexibility in maintaining and growing the port’s marine terminal services.
Out in the harbor
Tesoro Petroleum last Sunday bunkered Sound Reliance, a Crowley-owned articulated tug and barge whose overall length is 600 feet.
On Tuesday, Tesoro provided bunkers to another Crowley-owned articulated tug and barge, Commitment.
Tesoro on Wednesday had its refueling barge alongside Cook Strait as she rode her anchor awaiting berthing at the T-Pier.
Then Saturday, Tesoro refueled BBC Virginia, a 459-foot cargo ship, and Tanir, a Russian-flagged cargo ship that is 436 feet long.
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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats, ships and strolling the waterfront.
Items involving boating, port activities and the North Olympic Peninsula waterfronts are always welcome. Email dgsellars@hotmail.com or phone him at 360-808-3202.
