Wednesday, September 22, 1999

Columbus Caravelle

07.04.1999 - 22.09.1999
M/v Columbus Caravelle

LOA: 117m, GT 7560, Passengers: ~200

M/v Columbus Caravelle in Port Klang

After Oihonna I was in touch with Captain Reijo Granqvist and he asked me to join back to Columbus Caravelle (CoCa) as Chief Officer and as the boat was now under new Ownership, I agreed. There was nothing keeping me at home as my marriage was on the rocks in my own mind, I was stupidly divorcing Tiina-Maria.

The charter of CoCa had expired and there was a clause that after expiry the charterer have to buy the ship or forfeit the guarantee deposit of 2mil USD. As the Casino biz was booming they bought the ship as a natural evolution of things. So, now she was under Ownership of Conning Shipping and a proper shore Organisation was setup as per ISM standards. It was very nice to work together with Technical Manager/ DPA Mr. P.K.Yeung.

CoCa was still sailing out of Hong Kong on casino cruises so not much had changed, only the new development was that on Sundays we were doing a day cruise. We left around noon and was back around 10pm and after this the crew could relax until Monday evening.

Monday, March 29, 1999

Oihonna

11.03.1999 - 29.03.1999
M/s Oihonna

M/s Oihonna

After Railship I was called from FG-Shipping to do a stand in on M/s Oihonna as First Officer. I signed on in Helsinki and we sailed on liner traffic to Luebeck.

As usual cargo was the normal ro-ro stuff - trailers, mafi's and trucks.

The "Oihonna" name is hailing from the now defunct Effoa Shipping Company, she was still displaying the "eyes" on her bow. There was an embossed star in a circle on p/sb side of the bow. Old Effoa hands said one of the eyes were looking for cheap bunker, the other for cheap provisions.

Oihonna was built in 1984 by Rauma Yards in Finland. She has length overall 155m with DWT 12870 and lane length 2070m. Also a very well working tool.

Wednesday, March 10, 1999

Railship I

07.03.1999 - 10.03.1999
M/s Railship I


M/s Railship I (Photo by A. Sporri)

Having arrived home from my vacation in Burma and Thailand it was time to get back at the grinder and I was called from the job centre to urgently get to Turku port to fill in as First Officer on M/s Railship I for a round trip to Luebeck, Germany as the steady person had taken ill.

Railship I was originally built to take train wagons and it still could do that as the rails were still on the deck but nowadays she also took a lot of trailers and other ro-ro cargo. As it was only a round trip I did not have much time to get familiar with the ship, all I can say that she was built in Germany in a very ascetic style. Very well working tool. She was built in 1975 by Rickmers Werft in Bremerhaven, length overall 177m and DWT 8970 with rails 1307m.

She was scrapped in Alang, India by 2001.