After some 3 weeks of R&R following the disaster after m/y Trident I saw myself joining ship again. This time in Da Nang, Vietnam to commission and deliver a newbuild from Damen. I flew in via Ho Chi Minh city where I was to collect my business visa and then fly onwards to Da Nang.
HCM, or Saigon, was packed with tourists and I queued up the best I could, locals were not very good in it. After reporting to the booth I was told to go to "landing visa" queue for getting visa.
Oh well, luckily there were no people but was told by a surly clerk that I am one day early as per my letter of invitation, come back after midnight, they said.
I went to the airline desk to rebook my flight as I was going to miss my connection but the guy there was of the opinion I would be able to get my visa and join the flight.
He started towards the officials and after some lively exchange I was informed that for a measly 120usd I could buy another day on my visa. Said and done I produced the quoted amount as I was sure it was worth it compared to the hassle and cost of getting a hotel in Saigon and another flight.
Immediately my visa was slapped in my passport and I was on the move to collect my luggage and finding the departure check-in desk and gate. After few wrong turns I managed to check in and then I was running to get in the flight in the nick of time.
The flight to Da Nang was uneventful and the airport was small, I think I've never been so fast out from any airport, the luggage appeared next to the exit, my bag was first. I grabbed it and walked out and saw a chap holding my name on a sign and we walked to the carpark. The drive to the hotel took some 20 min and I realised I was next to the beach and it was lined by high rise hotels all the way.
I checked into TMS Hotel on the 21st floor and had a grandiose beach view of the beach, although a bit from the side as my room was not prime location. Still very impressive to see from a height hour the waves rolled in. Then my technical manager called and we met up shortly for a snack and chat of the project we were about to take delivery of and turned in for the night.
Hotel reception getting in xmas mood
Wedding photoshoot on the beach
View over Da Nang
Beach over Da Nang
Next morning got up early and headed for the restaurant where there was a grand spread set up for any taste. I settled for a self made egg sandwich and some yoghurt followed by Vietnamese coffee and Danish pastry.
The view from restaurant was also spectacular as it faced the beach. It was very easy to gauge the weather by looking at the waves crashing in and how bent the palms were. Then it was time to get to the yard.
Dragon bridge slightly visible
Da Nang beach
View over Da Nang
Da Nang beach
Avalokiteshwara statue
The yard driver met us at the entrance and drove us to Song Thu Corp's premises up north of us. The entrance was grand into an ivory tower and there from the garage to an elevator up to the 3rd floor Damen offices. There I got some safety shoes and a helmet, all overalls they had were baby sizes.
Damen electricans are aircooled
Next in the program was a walk around of the vessel with Ton, the site manager, a tall and haughty Dutchman. The vessel was a hive of activity and a lot of things were going on in the engine room and bridge in preparation for seatrials the next day. After the walkaround I got out on town to get a laptop for the ship and my office use (email, reports, drawings, plans).
Sunny view of the Avalkiteshwara statue
The next day was early rise as we had to be at sunrise at the yard to get on the ship and departure. I was just in the capacity of observer as the vessel had not yet been handed over us The yard crew was entirely Vietnamese, they spoke English with various proficiencies but in general appeared to know their stuff. The yard had prepared a program of tests to be carried out.
FPV Lilibet
FPV Lilibet, note the 4 exhausts
FPV Lilibet, note the x-bow
We did crash stops, turning at full speed starboard and port, zig zag steering, compass adjustment and calibration of the stabiliser fins. Also at end there was a short endurance test at full speed. The consumption was phenomenal, 365 litres/h/ engine (4 main engines onboard). With a fuel capacity of 112.000 litres it would not take long to run dry. It was a long day and as the sun was setting we headed back to the yard and tied up. Everyone got off and we taxied back to our hotel, the yard people used their driver.
Song Thu headquarters
Yard entrance
Local boats
In the evenings we took to find venues behind our hotel in the back streets, there was a plethora of different cuisines available and I can't say we got a bad meal anywhere. The cheapest beer close to our hotel was in a "fake" Irish pub, Radio Dublin, 25.000 dong for a bottle, as opposed to our hotel bar with 45.000 dong. Fake because they served no Guinness, down the road was another Irish pub, The Shamrock, that actually had Guinness, we never had any because a pint was about 450.000 dong (9GBP).
The days started to melt into each other as it was becoming urgent to get on with bureaucracy and get her paperwork in order for sailing as well as organising crew visas and flights. Christmas was fast approaching and also the delivery date 12th of Dec.
Motivational poster as seen
Flights were difficult to come by and increasingly expensive. Also checking the paperwork of some crew was time consuming over the language barrier as the company was hiring Chilean ratings and cook.
Finally the first crew was arriving and I could start delegating duties. In the end we were in total of 10 crew. Mixed nationalities, me as the lone Finn, British officers with various origins and then Chilean ratings and cook.
Looking for PPE locally
I had worked out the provision order for a month and I only needed to wait for it being delivered. Again pending the date we move onboard and we could start running fridges and freezers as well as other services. We also needed bedding, towels and such. The yard provided in their deliverables all crockery and spanners.
Local wildlife after heavy rains
Avalokiteshwara
Local seafood
Thai food for a change
Got gifted Vietnamese origami from an old note
12th Dec came and went, we didn't depart for the simple reason that she wasn't ready yet, at least not in the eyes of various bureaucrats. There was a mad scramble with the flag state authorities to get her accepted and then class to issue certificates.
Great steaks in town
On the 19th Dec we checked out from our hotel and moved onboard. It was nice to come to the final destination opposed to living in a hotel, as glamorous as it may seem, it also becomes boring in the long run. 4 weeks was more than enough to fill my hotel quota for a while.
Old Vietcong look
The next few days went in us being busy getting various systems tested and handed over to us by the Vietnamese yard crew. They were quite proud of the product they've built and I think rightly so, Lilibet is the 23rd sister ship built in the patrol vessel series only in Vietnam, I believe more than 100 hulls of this series exists worldwide.
We still lacked ship trading certificates but on the 20th we had a MLC inspection of the accommodation as well as the crew certification and documentation, later in afternoon I had to move the ship to another jetty to receive fuel. It was my 1st time in the sticks, it went well.
At last we passed muster, the accommodation too as I was given certificates late afternoon on the 21st. Same evening I sent all ships documents ashore to agent to get us cleared out. I also discovered we needed to receive lube oil but there was a bit coordinating issues between various parties.
On 22nd December the agent was clearing us out, they had to bribe the officials with 400usd as we had no minimum safe manning document (we didn't require to have as we were under 500GT) but finally we were cleared. I still was chasing lubricants that were paid for and after calling every man and their dog I finally got a delivery time.
The pilot was booked for 1600hrs, @ 1430hrs the lube oils arrived and were lifted onboard. We lashed the drums on deck and in general had made us ready for sea. Engines were started at 1545hrs.
Pilot arrived 1555hrs and 1600hrs we let go lines from the yard jetty. There was a small gaggle of yard personnel waving us goodbye, by then all the Dutch had left Da Nang for celebrating Christmas in Holland as well as several project members had returned to Hai Phong (another Damen yard) so only the locals remained.
The pilotage distance was not long so in about half hour he disembarked at the breakwater and we were heading out to sea for Singapore to pick up cheap fuel.
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