6 August – Off the island of Malta
The Vela has been sitting outside the port of Malta for a full day, in spite of having deliberately dragged her watery feet all the way here. She was originally supposed to dock in Malta on 4 August; it now appears she will not be alongside the port before early morning on 7 August.
Why? No authoritative answer; presumably one or more variables of scheduling, loading and/or fulfillment in the world of shipping. Which is why the cargo ship passenger is repeatedly warned about plans…. and not making any.
A hard if not impossible lesson for the German couple who has been with us since Genoa to learn; they have now re-arranged their flight home for the second time, and have a narrow corridor for success with that. Current estimate is that Vela will arrive at 5 am tomorrow; their flight is at 12:35 pm.
A few facts on our ship. The Vela is a containership, carrying oblong boxes such as those that fit on train cars and 18-wheelers. The captain and crew do not know (or care) what they contain, except to the extent that they may be refrigerator cars or include hazardous materials. She usually spends no more than 1 day in port, as the loading process is designed to be very efficient.
By contrast, the New Orleans is a general cargo ship – much smaller than the Vela, but designed to accommodate a number of items that are not suitable for shipping in a container – the locomotive, yachts and experimental windmill wing are examples that we saw on our Atlantic passage. She usually spends several days in each port as the cargo experts fit together the jigsaw of items to be carried.
Statistics on both ships:
- New Orleans Tonnage (weight it can safely carry) – 30,000 tdw (total dead weight); Vela Tonnage 103,730 tdw
- New Orleans length – 193 meters; Vela length – 347 meters
- New Orleans breadth – 27.8 meters; Vela breadth – 45 meters
(That’s the anchor chain above….)
Some things are consistent – on both ships, the normal mealtime greeting is, “good appetite” or words to that effect, and virtually all of the Filipino crew are avid karaoke participants.
Rose George wrote a book on cargo shipping aptly named Ninety Percent of Everything (as in, 90% of everything we consume spends time in a container ship!). She notes that there are approximately 100,000 vessels involved in the industry, and 6,000 of those are container ships. The biggest can hold 15,000 containers, or 746 million bananas (1 for every man, woman and child in Europe), or else make up a 60-mile long truck convoy.
Our captain tells us that the passage of goods is very much a one-way proposition; many of the containers we carry now are empty – to be replaced and supplemented with full ones in China for shipment back to the West.
If the quality of accommodations and food are any indication, the containership business is more successful at this point than general cargo. Look at the garnishes on this plate!
A couple of “beauty shots” to close out this entry – the first of still another sunset, and the second of the leading edge of the ship as it appears just below the shockingly clear-blue Mediterranean waters. No kidding – not sure why the Greeks called this the wine-dark sea…… Looks like an oblong water melon on a blue plate with Saran Wrap over it…..
Once we dock we’ll have a chance to go into town for a brief look around and a shopping expedition……
Emerald Isle to the Norse Lands 