Ab Seaman

An able seaman (AB) is an unlicensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. An AB may work as a watchstander, a day worker, or a combination of these roles.

At sea an AB watchstander's duties include standing watch as helmsman and lookout. A helmsman is required to maintain a steady course and execute all rudder orders. A watchstander may be assigned to stand security-related watches, such as a gangway watch or anchor watch while the ship is not underway.

An AB day worker performs general maintenance, repair and upkeep of material, equipment, and areas in the deck department, for example, the hull, decks, deck machinery (windlass or winches), superstructure, cargo gear, and smoke stack. Day workers also frequently perform maintenance on lifeboats and liferafts.

An AB may be called on to use emergency, life-saving, damage control, and safety equipment. Able seamen perform all operations connected with the launching of life-saving equipment.

The ship's bosun (if any) is a senior AB. The bosun is in charge of the able seamen and ordinary seaman that comprise the unlicensed deck crew, and reports directly to the chief mate.

Ordinary Seaman

An ordinary seaman (OS) is an unlicensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. The position is an apprenticeship to become an able seaman. Nowadays a sufficient sea experience is required to become certified as an able seaman.

An OS does not stand watch, but he must pass examinations on watchstanding skills such as performing lookout duty and being a helmsman. That’s why an OS will often be on a ship's bridge after working hours.

During the apprenticeship, an OS performs a variety of duties concerned with the operation and upkeep of deck department areas and equipment. These duties vary with the type of ship, the type of voyage, the number of crewmembers, the weather and many other factors.

There is no experience required to get started as an Ordinary Seaman. He comes on board to learn ship's maintenance, painting, cleaning, knot-making, watch-standing duties, tying down the ship, rigging, lookout responsibilities and other types of seamanship.

* the translation of the words in italics can be found in the exercise 1.

Lesson 2. Port Location, Regulation and Facilities

Exercise 1. Read and learn the following words and expressions:

	navigable water	фарватер с гарантированными глубинами
	shelter	убежище
	longshoreman	портовой грузчик, рабочий
	forklift	вильчатый погрузчик
	to feature	отличать(ся), характеризовать(ся)
	customs	таможня
	to be intended to	быть предназначенным
	to debark = disembark pilot высаживать лоцмана
	ocean-going vessel	судно неограниченного морского плавания
	shallow-draft vessel	судно с малой осадкой, мелкосидящее судно
	inbound/ outbound ships	прибывающие/уходящие суда
	to clear a vessel in	оформить приход судна
	inwards/outwards	приход и уход (судна)
	auxiliary service fleet	вспомогательный обслуживающий флот
	traffic control service	диспетчерская служба
	to evaluate	оценивать
	transshipment	перегрузка, перевалка (с одного на другое судно)
	to proceed продолжить движение после остановки
	to put into operation	вводить в эксплуатацию
	depot/warehouse	склад и складское помещение
	waterway; seaway	водный путь; открытое море
	heavylifts/oversize cargo	тяжеловесный груз
	dry bulk cargo	сухой навалочный/насыпной груз
	distinction	различие, отличие
	to contest	соревноваться, бороться
	to claim	требовать, заявлять
	the former/the latter	первый / последний (из упомянутых)
	in terms of , to draw up	в пределах, составлять
	chief stevedore, foreman	главный грузчик, бригадир
	superintendent	начальник, руководитель

Exercise 2. Read and translate the text.

Port

A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbours where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land. Port locations are selected to optimize access to land and navigable water and to provide a shelter from wind and waves.

Ports often have cargo handling equipment, such as cranes (operated by longshoremen) and forklifts for use in loading ships. Some ports feature canals, which allow ships further movement inland water access. Ports with international traffic have customs facilities. Harbour pilots and tugboats may maneuver large ships in tight quarters within the port.

Seaports are intended to perform economic and administrative functions. They are economically responsible for loading and discharging, servicing of inbound/outbound domestic and foreign ship’s transportation, forwarding and warehousing operations and servicing of deep-sea vessels’ passengers. There are several administrative functions to be performed by seaports, they are to ensure safe navigation and proper order within the port, including supervision for registration of vessels and clearance of vessels inwards and outwards.

The world's busiest port is contested by several ports around the world, because there is no standardized means of evaluating port performance and traffic. For the past decade, the distinction has been claimed by both the Port of Rotterdam and the Port of Singapore. The former based its measurement on cargo tonnage handled (total weight of goods loaded and discharged), while the latter ranked in terms of shipping tonnage handled (total volume of ships handled). Since 2005, the Port of Shanghai has exceeded both ports to take the title in terms of total cargo tonnage.

Exercise 3. Give brief answers to the following questions:

1. What are seaports intended for? 2. How is the place for a port chosen? 3. What do you know about cargo handling equipment? 4. What is the function of the tug? 5. How can the pilot help to navigate a ship within the port? 6. How many types of ports do you know? 7. What do you know about economic/administrative functions that seaports perform? 8. What do you know about the contest of the world’s busiest port? 9. What is the difference between “shore” and “coast”? 10. In what cases should we use “canal” or “channel”?

Exercise 4. Give equivalents:

• in Russian: оформлять приход судна, скоропортящийся груз, диспетчерская служба, обеспечивать, прибывающее судно, разгрузка судна, насыпной груз, смежные транспортные средства, холодильные и морозильные установки, обработка груза, береговое грузовое оборудование, глубоководный морской торговый порт, портальный кран, введенный в эксплуатацию причал, внутренний рейд, погрузчик, перегрузочные средства, грузооборот судна, оборудованный железнодорожными путями терминал, хранилище, пирс, быть снабженным, глава порта, причал;

• in English: cargo handling facilities, intermodal transport, shipping service, general cargo, clearance of vessels inwards, loading rate, depot, inland port, superintendent, warehouse personnel, to issue documents, port of arrival, outbound ships, port auxiliary service fleet, stevedore gang, storage facilities, safety of shipping, pier, deep-sea port, safe navigation within the port, harbour, traffic control service, foreign ships, to be intended for, bulk cargo, merchant port, gantry cranes, perishable goods, capacity, to handle, port of departure, to put into operation.

Exercise 5. Read the dialogue between the chief officer and the ship’s agent and then make up your own one.

A: Good morning, Chief Officer.

B: Good morning, Mr. West. How are you going to load our vessel?

A: We are going to start with two gangs.

B: That’s good. I think that one gang can be sent into Hold No2 to load general cargo for Cardiff, and other gang will be working in Hold No3 on machinery for Blackpool. And as soon as we are through Hold No2 and No3, we’ll loading heavy lifts, maybe in the afternoon.

A: But the trouble is that our heavy derricks can’t lift the goods weighting more than 15 tons.

B: I know so. The only way out is to arrange the floating crane.

A: Yes, you are right.

Exercise 6. Match the term with its meaning.

Term	Its meaning
1. port of call	a. it is a port where the cargo should be carried.
2. port of arrival	b. is a port or harbour for landing and distributing fish. It may be a recreational facility, but it is usually commercial.
3. harbour	c. any navigable body of waters. They can include rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, and canals.
4. fishing port	d. is a place where ships, boats, and barges can seek shelter through stormy weather, or else are stored for future use.
5. port of registry	e. Some ports on a lake, river or canal have access to a sea or ocean.
6. port of delivery	f. It is the port where a ship should call at.
7. waterway, fairway	g. A vessel's home port is the port at which it is based, which may is shown on its registration documents.
8. inland port	h. this port is an intermediate stop for a ship on its voyage.

Exercise 7. Choose the right variant.

1. The vessel was in dry dock ____ for two weeks.	a) in	c) while
	b) duration	d) for
2. I am ______ danger of capsizing.	a) around	c) in
	b) with	d) at
3. The boat moved ____ the canal locks.	a) through	c) behind
	b) onto	d) onto
4. It took over an hour to get ____ the port.	a) up	c) out of
	b) between	d) away
5. There are nets _____ buoys in this area.	a) to	c) along
	b) with	d) up
6. To sail from Rotterdam ____ Singapore takes about three weeks.	a) beside	c) at
	b) over	d) to
7. We’ve been instructed to proceed ____ port at 16:00 hours.	a) over	c) into
	b) on	d) under
8. Keep the pilot boat ___ the port side.	a) at	c) on
	b) with	d) between
9. _____ my berthing instructions?	a) When can	c) What has
	b) What are	d) While
10. The ship will be ____ soon.	a) leave	c) to leave
	b) leaving	d) has left
11. The vessel ___ not ___ in port yet.	a) arrived	c) arrives
	b) has arrived	d) has arrived
12. The ETA ___ to 11:00 because of bad weather.	a) change	c) changing
	b) was changed	d) to change

Exercise 8. Translate in Russian.

1. Seaports are responsible for loading and discharging operations, servicing inbound and outbound and foreign ships transportation, forwarding and warehousing operations, transshipment of cargo and clearance of vessels inwards and outwards.

2. To perform all its functions sea ports have water areas, land territories, warehouses and open storage facilities, cargo handling facilities, passenger terminals, approach ways for railway and motor transport and other production units of the port such as port auxiliary service fleet, depots for motor and electric lift trucks etc., repair and maintenance shops and others.

3. Each cargo, handling complex comprises terminals, complex stevedore gangs, traffic control service, warehouse and modern sheltered storage spaces and is headed by the superintendant.

4. The port is well-equipped and mechanized for handling any cargo, it has efficient gantry cranes and floating crane, up-to-date straddle carriers (контейнеровоз-погрузчик) and side loaders (погрузчик с боковым захватом), for handling containers container bridges and for handling refrigerated goods a cold storage facility fitted out with high-duty cooling and freezing plants.

5. The port’s capacities enable it to handle more than 42 million tons of cargo per year, besides this port provides handling all kinds of cargoes: bulk, dry-bulk, oversize cargo, liquid general, heavy-lifts, containers and others.

6. The port has some special areas, for example, to take lighter carriers vessels, and load/discharge them in a closed water area.

7. The port offers ‘board-on-board’ scheme residual fuel oil transshipment handling operations to ensure ecological safety.

Exercise 9. Translate in English.

1. Порт осуществляет работы, включающие транспортно-экспедиторское обслуживание и перевалку на морской транспорт грузов с других видов транспорта и обратно.

2. Погрузо-разгрузочные работы в порту производятся на трех терминалах: терминал генеральных грузов, терминал теска навалом и зерновой терминал.

3. В этом порту 15 причалов и у каждого есть свое специальное предназначение, например, причалы № 1 и № 2 предназначены для приема судов дедвейтом до 70000 тонн, а причалы №16 и 17 сейчас строятся и вступят в строй до ноября 2014.

4. На территории порта расположены 4 склада для обслуживания разного типа груза.

5. Навигация в порту длится круглый год, в нем функционирует паромный терминал, который включает причал и две досмотровые ямы с соответствующим оборудованием.

6. В этом порту одновременно могут разгружаться более десяти судов, перевозящих скоропортящиеся грузы.

7. Все терминалы порта оснащены современными подвижными и стационарными кранами и элеваторами, открытыми и крытыми складскими помещениями, рефрижераторными и морозильными складами.