ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A BOOK with the range and depth of Bulk Carrier Practice can only do justice to the subject if information is available from numerous sources. It has been my good fortune to write this book for The Nautical Institute, a body with an unrivalled wealth of experience amongst its membership in the operation of bulk carriers. Much of that experience has been put at my disposal by members who have provided information, contacts and advice, and I have been fortunate in receiving generous assistance from a number of very capable and experienced colleagues. Captain Peter Roberts, BSc, FNI, and Captain Les Hesketh, MNI, both serving shipmasters, have read the entire book chapter by chapter as it was written and provided me with a very considerable number of constructive comments which demonstrate their commitment to best operating standards and the practical approach they both employ. A third serving shipmaster, Captain Francois Hugo, FNI, spent weeks of his spare time in designing a set of documents for all the standard deadweight, trim, stability and stress calculations, and supporting them with a comprehensive set of worked examples and explanations. He also checked all the other calculations which the book contains. Captain Peter Boyle, FNI, and Captain Eric Beetham, FNI, FRSA, FRMetS, FRIN, like Peter Roberts and Les Hesketh, were members of the Bulk Carrier Working Group which guided the project and gave me much useful advice. In addition Peter Boyle provided much of the information for Chapter 21, whilst Eric Beetham wrote the text and provided the illustrations for the section on combination carriers. Captain Peter Swift, FNI, and Dennis Barber, MNI, were also members of the Working Group who could be relied upon for prompt information, assistance and support when it was needed. When seeking a shipowner with a modern versatile handy-sized bulk carrier which I could use to illustrate the text of the book I was fortunate to meet Mr Henning Oldendorff of Egon Oldendorff. He and his staff, particularly Mr D. Kannenberg, were immensely helpful to me, and it was a pleasure to visit mv Regina Oldendorff in Liverpool and to note the immaculate condition in which she was maintained, as illustrated by the photos in the book. Tony Vlasto and Paul Dickie, solicitors with Clifford Chance, provided very necessary advice about the legal aspects of charterparties and cargo documents, and Captain Richard Evans brought to my attention many commercial considerations for the same two chapters. Keith Taylor, BSc, CEng, managing director of MacGregor-Navire (GBR) Ltd, provided considerable assistance with Chapter 4. Captain Geoff Cowap, ExC, MPhil, MRIN, MNI, gave generously of his time to put the hydrostatic characteristics of the Regina Oldendorff into a computerised loading program. I am indebted to many other people for their contributions on particular topics or their assistance in improving my text. Amongst former colleagues from Jebsens Ship Management Ltd I am particularly grateful to Simon Evans, MIMarE, for advising me from the chief engineer's point of view, to Captain Derek Clements, MNI and to Captain Steve Barnet, MNI, for practical information on a variety of topics, to Captain Tony Gatt, MNI, for welcoming me aboard mv Telnes, and to Captain Allan Brown, MNI, for the prompt provision of useful information. Captain David Greenhalgh, MNI, revealed his experience of log carriers in a letter to Lloyd's List and was then prevailed upon to provide notes on that subject for the book. David Phipps of Arlona Engineering in Durban supplied notes upon the cocooning of cargoes and the use of grabs. David Robinson, BSc, CEng, MRINA, a principal surveyor at Lloyd's Register and chairman of the IACS working party on hull damages, and his colleagues provided much useful advice on safe loading procedures and the avoidance of damage to bulk carriers. Dr lan Dand, CEng, BSc, PhD, FRINA gave advice and encouragement on Chapter S.John Stott, CEng, MA, BSc, MIMarE, FInstR, improved my words on ventilation and applied his usual scrupulous standards to the text. Captain Ken Harper, FNI, provided invaluable notes on the measurement and transportation of forest products, and for authoritative advice on the carriage of steel I was able to consult Arthur Sparks, MNI. Jerry Colrnan, FRINA, MRIN, CEng, and his colleagues provided advice on several stability matters, and on bulk carrier losses. Captain Kelvin Ferries, MNI, supplied information about Munck gantries, whilst Captains John Houghton, FNI, and Gordon Mackie, FNI, gave me data and advice about weather routeing services. To Captains Angus McDonald, FNI, Francois Baillod, MNI, Andrew Tinsley, MNI, John David, MNI, and Gordon Blythe, MNI, I am indebted for thoughtful advice based upon their varied personal experience. Douglas Foy, FNI, has a long and creditable record of drawing attention to the scandal of bulk carrier losses, and I have been encouraged by his support and assistance. The Nautical Institute's Seaways magazine, and in particular its letters section, has also been enormously useful to me as a source of sound professional opinion.
BULK CARRIER PRACTICE 9

For advice, information and encouragement I am grateful to Captain Tim Lant, Mr O. H. J. Dijxhoorn of the IMO, Donald J. Sheetz, MNI, Captains lain Steverson, MNI, Chris Colchester, MNI, and Sam Household, FNI, to David Ralph of the DOT and Derek Maidment of BMT Cortec Ltd, to Richard Clarke, BComm, MNI, Kenneth Long, BSc, FIGS, FNI, MCIT, Phil Anderson, FNI, and Karl Lumbers, MNI. I am deeply indebted to Julian Parker, BSc, FNI, Secretary of The Nautical Institute, for his unfailing support and encouragement during the three years during which this project has matured, to David Sanders, ExC, FNI, production editor, for his skill in making the very best of the material provided, and to Lieutenant-Commander Mike Plumridge, FNI, RN, Deputy Secretary, for arranging for my attendance at several relevant seminars. To Captain Peter Lyon, FRIN, MNI, my partner at Eagle Lyon Pope Associates, I offer my thanks for the patience and generosity with which he has accepted my extended absence from our consultancya period during which our office became, for me, hardly more than a photocopying agency! I am also grateful to him for improvements to Chapter 11The Loading/Discharging Berth. My wife Audrey is no expert on bulk carriers, and her contribution to the book cannot be identified within its pages. However, the book would never have been written were it not for the generosity, tolerance and equanimity with which she kept the household running during the last three years even accepting, with hardly a hint of protest, that when we went on holiday the word processor went with us! I owe her a very substantial debt of gratitude. My debt to all those mentioned above, and to any others I may have forgotten, is considerable. If the book contains errors the fault is mine.| | Jack Isbester

Photographs and diagrams

Photographs of the Regina Oldendorff in Liverpool are by Tangent Commercial Photography, Mersey side L64 3UG. Diagrams drawn by David Henderson. Additional artwork by Brian Mehl.
10 THE NAUTICAL INSTITUTE