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Cargo ships employment as a special service vessel and passanger service vessels

Defining special service vessels

The vessel is employed for a special purpose, e.g. oilfield supply and/or anchor-handling, carriage of heavy lifts, towage, surveying, salvage, polar supply/research, dredging, wind turbine installation, etc.

i) The vessel may be operated by her owner, or may be hired under a time charter (as in the case of most offshore support vessels) or under a voyage charter.

ii) If on charter, the vessel will usually be employed in a specialised charter market, e.g. the heavy lift market, the anchor-handling supply vessel market or seismic survey vessel market, etc. If the vessel is an offshore support vessel, the charterers are likely to be an oilfield operator or a drilling contractor.

iii) In many cases, mostly where the vessel is time-chartered, a charterer’s representative will sail in the vessel; this is commonly the case where the vessel is engaged in sophisticated operations such as offshore drilling or diving support. In highly specialised, technical operations such as these, a team of technical personnel (e.g. divers and dive support personnel on a DSV) may work from the vessel, in effect using her as a work platform.


Defining vessel employed in passanger carrying services

Passenger liners operating on trans-ocean routes were mostly displaced in the 1960s by jet airliners. A large passenger ship today is therefore more likely to operate as a cruise ship. The ship is likely to be operated by her owner, or apparent owner. In view of the high cost of new cruise ships, the real owner may be one or more banks or finance houses, while the ship is leased or bareboat chartered to the cruise line. Small passenger ships may be operated as ferries or excursion vessels.

i) A cruise ship may occasionally be chartered on voyage or time terms to a holiday operator, or to another cruise line to meet extra demand or replace and out-of-service vessel, or to a club, society, etc. for a special voyage.

ii) The contract between the operator and each passenger is a contract of passage, which on international voyages may be subject to the terms of the Athens Convention.


Other useful articles :
  1. Rope handling safe procedure

    2. Ropes are made of short fibres that are spun into yarns, which are then made into flat or twisted strands. And the strands are spun or braided to make the finished rope .
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  2. Synthetic man-made ropes and hawsers

    3. Although natural fibre ropes are still widely used throughout the marine industry, they have been superseded by synthetic fibres for a great many purposes. Not only do the majority of synthetic ropes have greater strength than their natural fibre counterparts, but they are more easily obtainable and at present considerably cheaper.
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  3. Natural fibre rope

    4. All natural fibre rope is manufactured from manilla, sisal, hemp, coir, cotton or flax fibres.The process of manufacture consists of twisting the fibres into yarns and turning the yarns in an opposite direction to establish the strands.
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  4. Prepare cargo holds prior loading

    5. Washing is always carried out after the compartment has been swept. Drying time for washed compartments must be allowed for, before loading the next cargo; this time will vary with the climate, but two to three days must be expected.
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  5. Strength and stability of the Lifting appliances

    6. The vessel's structure, crane, derrick or other lifting device and the supporting structure should be of sufficient strength to withstand the loads that will be imposed when operating at its maximum load moment .
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  6. Anchoring safe practice

    7. Prior approaching an area for anchoring ships master should investigate fully a suitable anchoring position and conduct a planned approach including speed reduction in ample time and orienting the ships head prior anchoring to same as similar sized vessels around or stem the tide or wind whichever is stronger . Final decision to be made on method of anchoring to be used , the number of shackles , the depth of water, expected weather and holding ground. .
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  7. MacGregor single-pull weather-deck hatch cover

    8. Hatch covers are used to close off the hatch opening and make it watertight. Wooden hatch covers, consisting of beams and boards over the opening and covered with tarpaulins, were once used but are no longer fitted. Steel hatch covers, comprising a number of linked steel covers, are now fitted universally. Various designs exist for particular applications, but most offer simple and quick opening and closing, which speed up the cargo handling operation..
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  8. Cargo holds access arrangement

    9. The access shall be separate from the hatchway opening, and shall be by a stairway if possible. A fixed ladder, or a line of fixed rungs, shall have no point where they fill a reverse slope .
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  9. Lay of Ropes and hawsers - Small Stuff descriptions

    10. The lay of rope is a term used to describe the nature of the twist that produces the complete rope .The most common form of rope at sea is known as ‘hawser laid rope’ comprising three strands laid up right- or lefthanded.
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  10. Stresses in ship structures and how to mitigate

    11. Heavy weights tend to cause a downward deflection of the deck area supporting the load .This subsequently produces stresses, with consequent inward and outward deflections of supporting bulkheads, depending on the position of initial loading .
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  11. Lifting appliances - Maintenance, testing, controls & safety measures

    12. When there is any suspicion that any appliance or item of equipment may have been subjected to excessive loads, exceeding the Safe Working Load (SWL), or subjected to treatment likely to cause damage, it should be taken out of service until it can be subjected to a thorough examination by a competent person.
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  12. Safe operation of Lifting appliances and gears

    13. All lifting operations must be properly planned, appropriately supervised and carried out to protect the safety of workers.
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