Container Travel: Piracy Talk to Southampton and Disembarkation

Sunday 24th February 2013

Day 30

I wake at 3am and we are underway. It will probably be a late arrival and we can leave the next day. It gives us time. There will be no problems with emigration this time! It had been a momentous and amazing journey of such interest that I am thrilled to have experienced. The arrival of the SAS officer onboard and the opportunity to get some inside information from him is hopefully going to help us. He will be busy, all over the ship. But we hope to get a chat. We are traveling back down to the English Channel and will be passing the Isle of Wight, to enter the upriver port of Southampton. :::: I settle down to meditate and Roy wakes at 7am by my watch and we noticed there has been a retard overnight. I was going by the ship's clock. So we have time to shower and dress. Roy goes to the outside deck. His experience and knowledge of other men's areas of expertise has been amazing to see. We go to breakfast. We go back to our room and I sort the washing but there is already another person's load completed. It is a little moist still so I reset the low temp dying to complete in an hour. We check the bridge and there is little happening. We are on slow speed along the south coast of UK. No definite idea of arrival yet. I check washing and take out the person's dry stuff then set off our own. We settle in our room to rest. I need to give my pelvis and back ease. Last night when going out to watch the lifeboat drill, I dropped my camera onto my left large toe; just before putting on my shoes. It was painful but I ignored it. This morning it is throbbing and bruised. Such a small accident with such a poignant pain. I wear sandals for as long as possible. Roy falls asleep once again, from reading to oblivion. I do some puzzles to also relax. Then I begin to pack. All the items that I know I won't need. Eventually Roy wakes. I ask him to wait before heading to the bridge. I have packed a lot and we sort out the essentials. We go up to the bridge and we are opposite the Isle of Wight. ::::

Calculating route into The Solent

Chart with proposed ship route.

The SAS guy is there too. He is trying to catch the Captain for a safety and security check on bridge. We chat while he waits for the Captain's time. He has had an interesting life training people to be prepared and some on armed vessels. These FAL are all unarmed. Israeli ships shoot first, at any approach. Other ships are not as clean, spacious nor as well fed as this line. He cautions us to choose with care. He basically recommends this line only for passengers. He has a prepared talk for the crew in Conference room at 3:30pm. Come early if you want space. He can only get so many in and Captain doesn't want to impinge on his crew's free time. There's an hour's talk then just time for everyone to forget what he's told them and then a drill. This involves going down to the stronghold. Have we been there? No, but we'd like to, this is the bolt hole if there is a bridge take over. He says access is narrow, claustrophobic, and the space is tiny. Climb down steps, not suitable for skirt and sandals. I am wearing this for this morning because of washing. Roy says we might give it a miss but I am keen to get a picture. We will see. This Dave is busy with Captain making security calls to on shore. Testing response and various signals. Captain has explained that we are expecting a pilot on bridge at 8am, then probably port berth at 11am. It is Monday so better for hiring car onshore. We are to wait until then. I try to take a console picture, of this Isle of Wight anchorage, and the camera refuses to focus. Maybe the drop on my toe damaged more than my poor foot. It does work again later. We stand and talk over coffee and then as we watch a navy vessel cross in front of us. This Dave lives in Valencia, Spain. His wife has lived in Perth, somewhere starting with M, 20 minutes north, English sounding place name. He has learnt the local language. Spain is really just a group of individual tribal provinces, separate education, laws and under an uneasy Madrid government. The climate is mild. There is a Catalonia language but most speak a Valencian tongue. He has had to learn it by immersion. He did a Spanish course which was useless really. He has to go and it is almost lunchtime. We watch as the Captain brings the ship to its designated anchor point. Joey says there will be a person on the bridge during anchorage. I take an image of the current position then realise we are just a few minutes from the Greenwich Mean Time line, to the west.

Crossing the Greenwich Meridian.

We drop our stuff at our cabin and go down. Again Roy goes to bed, while I sort out packing. The washing is dry and I roll and stow this. I leave out only what we need for our transfer ashore, both tomorrow and to drive to Hornchurch. :::: We get ready to go downstairs to the upper deck to join in the talk Dave Lever from Acuity is giving on piracy and security. We meet him in the corridor and go down to B deck for a tea. He is looking for a white sheet for a makeshift screen. We then go down to the small room next to ship's office. Men are gathering. We sit on a back corner. Initially I stand but so many insist I take a chair, I have to defer. There are many who come.

Security/piracy film and talk.

Dave starts a little hesitantly but warms. He starts by showing areas under attack, which everyone knows, incidents over the past three years and the decline using bmp (best management practice), real images of the types of boats the pirates use, including skiffs, ordinary fishing boats, the hijacked large vessels that they then use to approach. He shows named freighters. They keep the fishing crew on board to prevent navy attacking them. He shows the damage their weapons (rocket propelled guns and assault rifles) inflict. The rpg make huge holes but do not cause big fires, as shown in the movies. He has images of real ships with real holes. The fact that the bridge, bulkheads and cabins look just like their own is unnerving. The bullets penetrate the metal. This could happen to them, this has happened to others. There are over 200 persons held hostage right now, 20 ships have not been returned. It is the crew that they are after and the ransom. The cargo is negotiated for but the real big money is on humans lives. He iterates that everyone must be in the stronghold, not one crew member must be left out because the pirates will use the threat to shoot them forcing the Captain to open the stronghold door. The navy will come to the ship’s aid under three strict conditions: the whole crew must be in the stronghold, all accounted for, the ship propulsion must be disabled, and there must be communication by VHF. They will come within hours. Only one situation occurred when the men were left waiting longer than three days. Mis-communication had kept the navy away and the crew had left equipment available onboard. This is quite shocking to these men, who have to return to the pirate infested area. He tells them they must be vigilant when on deck. Prevention starts with detection. These skiffs can go 30 knots, faster than this ship. They have boarding ladders. Seeing anything early can give time to take action. If anything is unusual report to watch. Blackouts at night. Boats are attracted to lights. One ship recently used manoeuvers for three hours, and even though the skiff was faster it eventually went away. This was what was happening when we had Milos on watch and he moved away from a suspicious vessel, whose details given didn't match the vessel in view. This talk gives us an idea of how likely it is that, with that vessel turning towards us instead of away, it might easily have been considering an attack. I wonder if we were not as diligent as we should have been concerning blackouts when we traversed the pirate area. They tend to wait till dawn before attacking but they are fast. 7 nautical miles in 12 minutes. Not much time to make decisions. Dave makes the point about this very real danger and then hammers home the issue of keeping to the bmp. He explains that moving into the stronghold, making sure you've been mustered and do the roll call. Take your kit, kept handy, with medications, music, snacks and a book to keep you occupied while waiting for rescue. We will take the access to the stronghold. We will be taking a drill in 15 minutes. Roy asks if we can tag along. Captain gives permission. Please take care as the company will sack him if anything happens to passengers. Captain talks to the men stating that when we reach Southampton the Marco Polo will be in port. The ship's owners, company director and another big wig VIP will be visiting. Please wear all ppe (personal protective equipment) and don't stop working. You have a job to do. Security will be maintained at gang way with identification to be checked by the bosun.

Captain introduces Dave
and preps men afterwards.

Everybody files out. I tell Dave it was interesting and he says many of these guys wouldn't have understood all of what he said. That is the language difference. The pictures say a lot but it is frightening. Roy heads up by lift and I go to make a quick cuppa. The alarm goes off before I have a chance to return to our cabin. Gary takes a towel, for warmth, and I put my cup back into the galley. I wait for Roy to start down the stairs. I call to him and wait. We try to access the area using the door entrance rather than lift but as soon as we enter the space we are lost. Where's the exit door? We go down by lift instead, it’s a drill. We hear the Captain act out his part, giving a good rendition of an attack, the instructions to muster, the disabling and his arrival down in the muster room. Only then can we leave to reach the safe space. Actually the Chief Officer stands in for the Captain, today. With Vido taking his 2^nd officer role. We all leave, enter the room, pass through a door way and along the route. It is an exclusive experience. We follow in single file and it is now quite cool. In the Gulf of Aden it would be warm. We go down and it is quiet. We are at anchor. We are told this space is the stronghold. The men have gathered together in the metal framed compound of a wall to waist height. There are stores packed for use if the crew were stuck for days in this space. I expected a tiny cramped space with just enough room to sit side by side but this has plenty of emptiness and height. I take some images but I don't want to embarrass anyone. Ereneo shows what is prepared, games, water, biscuits to keep alive while waiting for rescue. Ricky stands beside me and he is very intense. Why does the company have this attitude, he would be happier armed. I tell him that I see he is so uncomfortable. I intend to ask this question of Dave. When we return to the upstairs, I ask Dave and he answers that a team of trained armed men is expensive. I explain that it only needs a few trained crewmen to fire some warning shots to deter boarding pirates. This is obviously very complicated as he starts to explain International rules about yachts, carrying pistols for hunting only. But he gets out at B deck and we travel on to F deck. We will have to ask later. We rest for a while, Roy goes to the bridge. I lie flat. Later I tell him about the funk that Ricky was in and maybe he is expressing what the crewmen feel. We go to dinner; Dave joins us at our table afterwards and I hope to get an opportunity to ask further but Roy has the floor. They speak of the migrants in UK. He feels that the South African red necks are like our ockers. He relates an incident when there was shooting at boats at 200 mile limits without being fired at or seeing suspicious activity. They could have been coastguards or CNN journalists. The team leader had instructed to shoot but still, the trigger is pulled by the gun man. We move to interest rates for buying houses and then investment returns. Dave has to leave to instruct another watch and will be working until 1am. He assumed we were disembarking by pilot boat in the morning, 8am. No, we stay aboard until the ship docks, depending on the tide. It might depend on the unloading of a ship in berth now. If it runs late then we might have to wait for the next tide. We are just going to hire a car and stay aboard one more night before heading off to family. Dave has a family funeral, close aunt, to return to near Colchester but will be flying to Spain on Tuesday, first. These plans are all subject to change depending on docking, emigration, tides and weather. We relax in our room, though Roy heads to bridge for a while. All quiet. :::: We settle in bed and I have found a Daily Mail puzzle page. I tackle some. We sleep. I wake at 11pm and 1am. Roy is getting up. He walks the ship.

Monday 25th February 2013

Day 31

I wake again at 4am. Roy wandered to the bridge earlier. I dress and go up to the officers' office. Men are cleaning every surface, handles, tables, stair handrails, floors. I write an email to family. I start to go down and decide to write a quick email to the kids. Just telling them where we are, quick synopsis of the piracy talk, with visit to the stronghold. I will write a more detailed description in my own blog or newsletter. I didn't want to reveal the exact details because emails are not secure. Also if I disclose the methods used to thwart pirates and the position of the stronghold it could be used to inform pirates to make their attacks more successful. It is important to be sensitive to the other side of disclosure on the web. As we discussed this morning, these pirates are not just opportunistic fisherman, there is a huge criminal organisation behind the hostage taking and negotiations. Then I go down to make a cuppa. Back to our room. Roy sleeps a little longer and I wash and dress. Roy shaves and we go down to breakfast. Ban is there and Vido comes in. We chat pleasantly. Nobody is certain about our entry into port today; maybe 2pm or maybe late tonight. I’m told there is plenty of time because Chinese New Year will interfere with unloading schedule. They will be traveling dead slow. :::: We relax in our room and listen to Shantaram. There's a knock on the door. Captain has a paper. An email from the port agent which I read: “Confirming two Australian passengers coming ashore. How long do they intend to stay and what is the purpose of their visit?” 18 months and visiting family. We might not need physical emigration, but electronic landing. Whatever that means? As he rushes upstairs, Dave, the piracy lecturer, intercepts him and tries to get his shore transport, as soon as possible. I remember that our EU passport details might be needed for emigration. So I go up to tell the Captain. He is already on the phone. Dave has a 6am flight tomorrow from Stansted. Can he go onto the launch that delivers the pilot onboard? Captain will call to arrange. I tell him we have European passports, as well. He has found in general, if it is just a standard form to fill in, less information causes less complications. I return and we listen to more Shantaram. Captain again knocks, bringing us an email from our UK family. All is well. They are pleased to get the delay to prepare for our arrival. We continue listening to Shantaram. Roy falls asleep. He wakes at 11am. He steps outside and his breath is misty. We are not docking until tonight, must wait for tide. :::: Roy goes up to the bridge while I organize our packing. I can see the coast from the porthole. He returns with quite a story to tell. Dave had managed to hitch a ride with the pilot boat to return to shore. He was concerned with the urgency of catching his flight. Then with our delay waiting in The Solent for the tide, some electricians were delivered by launch, to begin maintenance work aboard. The Captain is kept busy with the expected dockside arrival of the bigwigs from the shipping company. Everything must be shipshape. When the launch arrives to deliver the electricians, one of the less able, middle-aged workman missteps his transfer and falls into the ocean. This is quite a drama as the water is freezing cold and hypothermia is a real threat. Roy had watched as the man was rescued by his fellow travellers and wrapped in blankets and foil before being taken to shore. There’s a story for him to tell to his family. It is more paperwork for the Captain, though less now that he didn’t actually board the ship. We go down for lunch and there are more diners at the spare table. We are at anchor and the extra pilots and workers are accommodated. We will be staying on board this evening and will be able to go ashore in the morning to arrange a hire car for the following day’s disembarkation and drive to family. It seems that the Seaman’s Club is not near the port of Southhampton but in the town centre. We are excited about the closing days of our container ship journey. We head up to the bridge at dusk to take some chart images. The pilot is on duty and there is much banter and social conversation. It is pleasant to converse with a native English speaker and catch up on local news. The arrival of the newest container ship CMA CGM Marco Polo is big shipping news. She is the largest container ship of this fleet and has docked already, ahead of us, by this pilot. Her berth will be adjacent to our own. We hear that the winter has been more severe than expected and a late season snow is forecast. We can see the shoreline of the English coast and I take pictures of the setting sun. I note that Portsmouth is so close to Southampton. The Isle of Wight, which we had missed visiting in the 1970s due our failure to catch the ferry, protects the entrance to Southampton, a long river which leads to our berth. I note on the chart that the projected track of our ship CMA CGM Thalassa after passing the Isle of Wight is into a battle-axe shaped area marked on the chart.

Pilot negotiate tides, sandbars
to enter The Solent

To enter the Solent and round the island there will be a sharp turn to the starboard then to port before entering the long river called Southampton Waters. Apparently it is one of the trickiest manouevres with the tide being variable and sandbanks changing constantly. We are finally given the OK to proceed at 11:25pm. So it is very dark and hard to capture images. We just enjoy the ride. We can easily see the main town on the Isle of Wight and can look down from a unique vantage to its harbor. It all looks so typical of an English seaside town and we enjoy the view. We stay on the bridge for the whole process and the tension is palpable. The pilot’s concentration is full-on. The Captain tells us, in an aside, that the English pilots are the best. He has no qualms about handing over the control to these in comparison to the others. After skirting the Isle of Wight and sweeping into the river, Southampton Waters, we stay on the bridge as we head to our berth. It turns out to be at the very, very northern end of a cul-de-sac.

Cruise terminal.

There is a lovely view of the cruise terminal then Southampton bridge, crossing the River Itchen, all lit up and then ahead we see a ship almost identical to our own. It is the CMA CGM Marco Polo which has everyone straining their eyes. She is all lit up like a Christmas tree and I take many photos.

CMA CGM Marco Polo.

We pass her to our starboard and, once again, the docking just ahead of CMA CGM Thalassa’s sister ship, is an art. Two of the largest ships in the fleet are docked side by side.

As we pass, she looks identical to Thalassa.

We pass to berth ahead of
CMA CGM Marco Polo

What an amazing sight!

No wonder the Captain and officers are feeling the strain with inspections, surveys and bigwigs all arranged for their stay. We don’t stay to watch the cranes set up overhead and start their unloading. We head downstairs to bed. Tomorrow we will be going ashore!

We are at the very end of Southampton Waters.

Tuesday 26^th February 2012

Day 32

We wake in time for breakfast despite such a late night arrival and arrange to meet the port agent, Emma, at 9am after the Captain has finished. He is very impressed by her efficiency as he has dealt with her in the past. We explain to her our need to organize a hire car today and she calls Europcar for us. They are not answering so she advises calling from ashore. She finds their number. We don’t have a functioning UK sim card. It seems the old O2 one expired after six months of no use. We dress warmly against the UK cold and prepare to go ashore. Gary is as excited as us that we shall soon be leaving. It must entail a change of routine for him as steward. He asks if we will be returning for dinner and we are aware this will be our last meal aboard. They are not expecting any new onward embarking passengers. We know the disembarking drill now. Collect our passports from the office and we have already been approved for departure. We again descend the gangway stairs and wait on the dock. As I watch the crane to my left as I face away from the ship’s side starts to move towards me on the rails. I step clear with haste. The shuttle bus arrives and takes us to the port entrance. The office is just a small functional donga, with no fancy facilities. We expect to be returning with a hire car and ask where we can park it overnight. The lady is helpful and tells us the Seaman’s Mission is open at 9am. So we order a taxi. It is so easy to be able to converse with native English speakers and I love the broad southern accent. We watch carefully to find directions as we will need to return under our own steam and these ports are like a warren. We arrive at the mission and enter. It is an old building, warm inside, but with electronic door security, on an ordinary streetscape. It feels like a business office there is nothing nautical about the decor. This is very different from the last two we have visited, no celebration of the shipping life. Our conversation with one of our officers had given us an inkling that they were not very impressed with this club. On entering, there is apparently a board meeting about to start and we are ignored, as men are directed to their meeting room. There is no welcome and the office behind glass is unattended. We stop a couple of guys and ask for help. The secretary will be around shortly and we make ourselves comfortable. Despite showing our ship’s passes and explaining we have come off the CMA CGM Thalassa, a container ship, this lady grumpily agrees that we may use their landline phone as there is nothing for the public to use. The tea/coffee making facilities have been taken for the board meeting and we generally feel we are too much trouble. No help is offered as we wait. I feel sorry for any visiting sailor who asks for help. As we are deciding what to do, two men arrive and offer to make us cups of tea. They are both cheery blokes, helpful and full of good stories and certainly welcoming. It turns out they are visiting pastors who assist seaman having trouble on the ships. There are many different scenarios, ranging from complaints of abuse and homesickness. I do use the phone and try to call Europcar to arrange a hire car. They have no small or medium cars available and the rate is extortionate for what they offer. The call connection is broken. The secretary is irritable when I politiely ask if I can make another call and I exit the office. We decide that our best bet is to try to arrange a sim card for my phone and then organize from there. I offer to pay for the phone call to call for a taxi but am waved off. “The boss wouldn’t be happy if he saw you in the office,” she says. The two pastors suggest that we travel with them in their car to the main shopping centre and we are very grateful. They couldn’t have been more helpful and we enjoy our chatty trip into Southampton city. They refuse any money; true gentlemen. We enter the shopping mall. We stop for a coffee and find the Three mobile outlet. Once again we are given every assistance and when my phone is working again we are independent. I love this technology and we have unlimited internet. After 32 days at sea, I can research whatever I want! Such freedom. We call the local Enterprise car hire, at the docks, and they only have a manual transmission available at 2pm. We will swap for an automatic tomorrow when we leave the ship permanently. This company deals with people coming off the cruise ships that dock here. Naturally we want to shop and explore. After buying some huge Quality Street chocolates to give to the crew and officers, we just relax as we wait to be collected by the hire car company. It is just wonderful to people watch and do ordinary things that are now so novel. Once we are collected and organize the paperwork at the docks, we get into our car and are free. Roy just drives out of town and we find ourselves stuck in a traffic jam of trucks, loaded with containers. Such irony is not lost on us. We eventually find a wonderful country inn and order beef and Guinness pies, a pint of ale and a wine for me.

Aah, the English cuisine and atmosphere.

We are back in England and it is wonderful. We explore a little of Southampton before we realize we must return to the ship and the last night in our cabin which has become ‘home’. As expected we do get lost in the warren that is the dockyards. We finally find the office donga, park the car and order the shuttle bus back to our berth. We are welcomed aboard and have some sweet treats for our man on watch. They all know we are leaving and we shake hands. The Captain explains that as the sailing time for Thalassa is at 9am next morning, it will be necessary for us to disembark at 6am.

Final onboard sunset.

This is not a problem as we are mobile again. Gary has kept our dinner for us and afterwards we are happy to fall into bed.

Wednesday 27^th February 2013

Day 33

We wake to our last morning onboard. We say goodbye to Gary when he comes to collect our luggage from our cabin. Roy gives him our final tip. Also we show him the full cartons of Heineken beers and Mountain Dew lemonade for him to share with the crew. We have no complaints and have been very comfortable. Unfortunately after breakfast the Captain is too busy with his duties to say goodbye and we understand this. I send him a farewell and thank you email once we are on our way to our family. And so our container ship cruise is over and a new adventure begins.

Our hire car at the terminal.

One final lucky break occurred whilst we waited in Southampton for the swap to our automatic hire car. We were just enjoying a peaceful park on the bank of the River Itchen, watching the river traffic.

Enjoying the view at Southampton Marina.

Just then passing away in the distance was our ship. How opportune. And so a final farewell was given as we waved off CMA CGM Thalassa on her return to the east. I couldn’t resist taking a final image