North sea trading vessels.

[saltyrob]

Hi Folks,

I have an amateur interest in working vessels and find it fascinating looking at vessels on AIS , particularly between the east coast and the continent. I would be interested to know if small cargo vessels of say 1500 to 3000 tonnes are profitable and how they get cargo's . Are these vessels ever owner operated and how many crew do they have. It would appear interesting ,with the chance to visit small and off the beaten track places, although I am sure it must be a hard life in terms of weather and commercial pressures .


In a quite moment at work I looked at Appolloduck and saw that there are mid 1980's vessels for sale at approx. £300K + and wondered if such a vessel would be viable. I would also be interested in details of any books that have been written on the vessels and the life.

I will remain an amateur fair weather sailor, but always enjoy looking at working vessels

Rob

 

[Kukri]

I run bigger ships, so no direct knowledge, but I am told that times are pretty tough unless you have what the Germans call a "River-Sea Ship" - one that can get up the Rhine, etc. Absent that you are going to find yourself in the hard trades like aggregates and suchlike. Yes there are owner operators, always have been, but its much tougher now than it used to be. Crews tend to come from eastern Europe, crew would typically be seven. My son who is a surveyor looked at a 2013 built German owned sea-river ship built in China and flying a Caribbean flag with a crew of seven Ukrainians for an on hire survey the other day and was very taken with her - he said she had been built in China and had nothing fancy but everything was strong simple and workmanlike.

 

[jerrytug]

Hi Rob check out the "Tres Hombres" for a slightly different perspective, high-value goods with kudos, there must be room for more in that trade, cheers Jerry

 

[Downsman]

" what the Germans call a "River-Sea Ship" - one that can get up the Rhine, etc. "

Minn's comment began to be true even back in the1960/70's. I was AB on the coast frequently in those days, I would try for a summer at home closer to the Mrs and kids than the usual Aussi/Kiwi run. I was with Fred Everards (general cargo) Hudson Steamship company ( collier out of Newcastle on tyne) Stephenson Clarke (colliers) and among others, London Rochester Trading Company (later Crescent Shipping) With the latter, we would load China Clay in Cornwall and take it to Rotterdam for discharge. Later it would be reloaded on a big barge and taken inland up the river (Lek? forgotten..long time ago.. )

I came home from the West coast of the States (Blue Star Line) and found that the job with Crescent Shipping had gone. China clay was now carried by a Dutchman who took it all the way from Parr to the inland factory wharf in Holland. There were other causes I know, crewing, freight rates etc but there's little doubt that having a vessel handy for the particular trade was a big factor in who got the contracts and the Dutch and Germans were quick to supply the ships.

 

[DudHooper]

I have recently completed a contract on they type of North Sea Trader you are talking about and I can assure you they are still profitable. We generally carried around 3500 tonnes of bulk cargoes between the continent and the UK + Ireland and it is not often that you would see a ship of less than 3000t of carrying capacity. The ship is 90m and has usually seven or eight crew (Master, Chief Mate, Chief Engineer, OOW and three AB's). As far as I am aware they are not generally owner operated but usually part of a fleet, the problem being with just having the one or two vessels would be that you are far less flexible in charter-party timings etc. I.e if a cargo is delayed a vessel could be sent somewhere else to pick up a cargo and have another one fill in for it when the cargo is available. Flexibility is key in coastal trading as a ship in ballast is not making any money.

Feel free to message me for any more info.

 

[Downsman]

are the ships only manufactured in china or is there any other manufacturing nation of it?

No VR, although many ships are built in the far East, there are many European yards still building ships. Too many to list really but take Blohm Voss of Hamburg, Germany. They'll build anything from a luxury yacht to a 320,000 ton dead weight bulk carrier. Poland, Holland etc: all have yards producing fine ships. Ship builders in Norway make many specialised vessels for deep sea fishing and oil field support. So there is still a European sector to world wide ship building, although China/Japan/Singapore tend to build the real ocean giants, I'm not an expert but I'm guessing labour costs have a lot to do with that process.