Over the years, several incidents of damage to the upper wing tank transverse web frames have occurred in bulk carriers. Though there are several reasons for buckling to occur, ranging from improper venting during ballasting, poor design to improper loading patterns. However, one of the most likely causes which have contributed to many of the transverse web frame failures is when a cargo tank is used as a ballast hold and the topside tank is left empty, leading to high bending stresses on the transverses. These stresses may be very close to the yield stress and may exceed the ultimate strength of the plate panel, leading to failure.

If a cargo hold of a bulk carrier is to be used for water ballast, it is important to assess the strength of the upper wing tank structure for the pressures induced by this loading. Therefore, it is particularly important to monitor corrosion rates and thoroughly inspect the condition of the structures in way of the ballast holds, periodically. A revised ballast condition, in which the topside tank and ballast hold are fully loaded, as opposed to the condition as shown in the figure above, will reduce the stresses on the transverses, since the hydrostatic pressures will be negating the effects on either side.

Hence regular close up inspections of the tank internal frames and proper ballasting are vital in preventing premature damages and or failures!

Contributed By Technical Superintendent Sanjeev Dubey

The pioneer batch of ESM cadets started the first days of their future seafaring career at SIMS, Lonavala on 08th August amidst a lot of high expectation and determination.

In spite of inclement weather, the mad monsoon fury on July 26th and 27th ,SIMS achieved another glorious milestone with the starting of the first phase of our pre-sea training institute at Lonavala. We had a few busy months poring over numerous application forms received from the aspiring candidates, selecting the candidates for interviews at various centres, carrying out logistics planning for travel and interviews by the distinguished interview panel and conducting interviews. Lastly the list of candidates for the pioneer batch of deck cadets was finalised. In all it was a challenging process for us, but amply rewarding at the same time.

The havoc created by relentless rains put all elaborate plans scrapped as many cadets could not present themselves on time. Finally all the cadets were in place by First week of August 05 and training programme is now progressing in full earnest at SIMS Lonavala.

We are happy to announce that SIMS will now launch the Engineering cadet programme from October, 2005. The details of the programme including application and selection process is available in the website www.samundra.com.