Deck-Officer.com

[chrisdicko]

Has anyone been/worked on ro ro's? As im going on one next week as my first ship, and dont really know what to expect, as at college, we didnt even touch them, just ULCC, VLCC, General Cargo, Oil Tankers etc etc but not ro ro's........what work can i expect in the sense of loading/unloading the cargo?

Thanks

[intrep11]

is is passenger roro or freight (unoccompanied that is)

its a very busy environment and very dangerous totally depending on how many port calls you do in a day but most roro operations are running on the very edge of what STCW 95 / ILO180 allow for hours of rest

what run are you going on ?

[chrisdicko]

There un-manned military vehicles most of the time, tanks, lorries etc etc just what ever the MOD need.

Im working (well doing cadetship) for AWSR (Andrew Weir Strategic Ro Ro's), which the MOD has took out a huge contract with, and they go from port to port delivering what-ever they need.....also, we only deal with MOD ports, not the normal inustrial ones...

I know at first i'll be going round Europe and the Gulf, but this can change at any time on the MOD's discression.

[intrep11]

Having ahd experience of that side as well as commurcial the military ports way of doing things is much easier

i dont know enough about AWSRs contract with MOD but it is likley that MOD will be doing the stevedoring in the UK and the occupied contries...

Your job is likely to be supervisiing to make sure they do it safely (dangerous goods and stablity wise) to get an idea of what it is like think about a lorry park where the dirvers are on a job and knock contract.

make sure you ware high vis clothing and a bump cap (or hard hat) around the cargo and keep one eye on moving traffic at all times the main problem is that the driver of the vehicle cannot see the off side in most cases for the back 1/3 of the trailer.

the other thing to watch is that the lashing of the cargo is done the way the company wants it not the way MOD wants it

in the main though enjoy yourself the work is hard but so is the play and loading the MOD way means (most of the time) 9-5 only.

[chrisdicko]

Thanks for that.

9 - 5 sounds decent if that happens. I no im working along side the cheif officer, so will be having 4-8 shifts probably, which i dont no if that is good or not really,hehe.

I aint got a hard hat yet, but no doubt will get issued with one on board, and my overalls have loads of reflective tape etc on them so that shouldnt be a prob

Ill have to remember that about the lashing aswell, cheers.....whatever the master/chief says ill be doing anyway, so wont listen to the MOD's ways then