(Thursday, February 18, 2016)
Admin note: I DID go back and slightly modify previous posts, even though I wrote earlier I wasn’t going to do that. Mostly just dating them correctly, but I couldn’t help but make some modifications as well. Okay, admin out of the way.
I can’t see internet reliably, daily, so I am not sure if the Rickmers’ website is up to date. But if it is, and if some of you are following along, you were probably expecting some sort of explanation by now. Here it is!
I am learning about freighter ship management. One of the things I’ve learned is that a lot of the management is remote. The “home office” (my past corporate life forces me to giggle at this point, so we’ll pause… okay) decides what cargo gets loaded and discharged where and when, and even decides how to load the various holds. Officers and seamen follow instructions from afar, and the delivery and takeaway trucks arrive according to a schedule worked out by the home office and organized by the agent we meet at the dock. The Captain is in total control of the ship, but not the business.
So, we go where they tell us to go. We discharge and load what they tell us, when, and exactly where on board. I don’t have a problem with that, really. They are making the best shipping contracts they can, and they might even have some experts who work those loading and discharge situations well.
That’s a round-about way of introducing some changes.
We have a new schedule. Remember, it’s all about cargo, and what we’re being paid to take it from somewhere to somewhere else.
Here’s a snippet of our current schedule:
— Xingang (Tianjin)
— Qingdao
— Shanghai
— Masan (South Korea)
— Yokohama
— Panama Canal, and onwards, etc.
Here’s our new schedule:
— Xingang
— West Africa
— South America
Notice the difference? Well, being the seasoned traveler I am (cough cough), and having some idea of where continents are located, I noticed. That’s three continents in three visits. Impressive! It’s probably more complicated than that, but that was what I got in an email.
While the captain was telling me about this change I was thinking fast, thinking “this is so cool, I get to go to Africa and South America by accident!” Then the bad news: No passengers on that part of the voyage. I am not allowed to go. Well, darn.
They (that would be, of course, the “home office”) made me an offer and I did not refuse it. I will disembark the Rickmers Shanghai in Xingang, spend some time there, about 10 days or so, and embark on the Rickmers Antwerp. That ship is on a similar schedule to that which was originally the schedule of the Rickmers Shanghai. Not exactly, but close. I will post the new schedule (and change the map!) when I am more sure of it.
They, and this time “they” is the agent in Xingang, not the home office, will help me find a hotel nearby. Also, they offered to upgrade my cabin from my “passenger” cabin, already quite okay, to the “owners” cabin. That’s a nicer suite, with a separate bedroom and a much larger living room. Posh – though that’s not an accurate “on board” term. They might have pictures on one of those Rickmers or Maris websites. I’ll take a photo or two when I get on board.
Xingang is, from what I understand, just a port. I hope nobody from Xingang reads this and feels offended – ports are great! Xingang is near Tianjin. Tianjin is the third-largest city in China (after Beijing and Shanghai), and is one of only four “municipalities” (a special thing, bigger than city, smaller than province), along with Beijing, Shanghai, and Chongqing (central China, on the Yangtze). So Tianjin has a long history, museums and parks, etc. etc., and should be fun to visit. It is, as I understand, linked to Beijing via a fast train, so that might be fun as well. I will write about it.
I expect to have wifi at the hotel of course, but it might come with the same guidance that helped me in Shanghai. See “Communication Breakdown”. We’ll see. I will have some more time, so I might post some small selection of pictures via the regular blog technique. No promises – I really don’t know what I’m getting into.
I’ve been on this ship for about three weeks give or take, and have made some new friends. The word is getting out that I’m leaving. I’ll be sad to leave many of them. They have been good to me. That’s the way it goes. It will happen fast – after today we only have one full day then a half day of sailing to get to Xingang.
So all is well but changed, that’s all.
I should have tried to learn to do something useful on board in my first few weeks. Then, as my fantasy continues, I would have been able to stay on board as crew. That “learn to do something useful” is a pretty interesting concept, eh? I’d need a beer or two to write more about that.