Oops! (Blush): 17,000 km Out…

Look! Our Ship, the Hyundai Singapore, which I have been tracking over the past three weeks or so from Cape Town to Las Palmas, to Rotterdam, to Hamburg, to the Thames, to Antwerp and on to Le Havre, appears not to be Our Ship, after all! Gulp! (blush slightly)

Mind you, I do not have official confirmation of this allegation, merely the word of a shipping clerk in Wellington – and I must believe her, ‘cos she seems pretty positive about her facts: Our Stuff has changed ships twice, and has come via Port Louis in Mauritius. I ask the question: Did any of my readers doubt that Our Stuff was on the Hyundai Singapore? (up until now, anyway).

Dum…dum…dum… Here is Our Real Ship:

Please meet Our Real Ship:  MSC Geneva hails from Germany with call-sign DDJH2, currently travelling south (193º ) along the East Coast of Australia from Sydney down to Melbourne at 16 knots, expected ETA 23:00 UTC on 24 February.

We shall wait to see the next port of call after Melbourne. Hopefully, MSC Geneva will set sail Eastwards in our direction on a trip of approximately 2,600 km as the crow seagull flies.

The next day or two will tell. Unless they go sail-about to other Australian and New Zealand ports before pitching up in Wellington next to the Cake Tin.

Over and Out. Roger.

A Day-Trip to Hamburg

Today sees me watching Our Ship (with Our Stuff), the Hyundai Singapore as she leaves  Rotterdam-Maasvlakte  in The Netherlands and heads for Hamburg in Germany at a speed of 17.7 knots direction 76°. How much further North can she go?

About Hamburg? Interesting (not confirmed by me) stuff includes:

(1) "“Hummel, Hummel” greeting was originated from a Hamburger water carrier, Georg Daniel Christian Hummel, who during delivery always been accompanied by a bunch of children shouting his name. His successor Johann Wilhelm Benz has been treated in the same manner even so his last name was different. He is upset because of this and angrily answered “Mors, Mors” a short way from saying “Klei mi an’ Mors” which translated as “kiss my ass.” (Mors (North German slang) = ass). If you are in Hamburg and someone greets you with “Hummel Hummel”, you reply with “Mors Mors!”."

(2) John Lennon: “I was born in Liverpool but raised in Hamburg.”;  (3) Hamburg's official name is the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (German: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg);   (4) It has become a media and industrial centre, with factories such as Airbus, Blohm & Voss and Aurubis;  (5) The city takes its name from the first permanent building on the site, a castle ordered built by Emperor Charlemagne in 808 AD;            (6) Hamburg had several great fires, the most notable ones in 1284 and 1842; (7) During World War II Hamburg suffered a series of air raids, which killed 42,000 civilians;           (8) Hamburg surrendered without a fight to British Forces on May 3, 1945;  (9) On February 16, 1962 the North Sea flood of that year caused the Elbe to rise to an all-time high, inundating one-fifth of Hamburg and killing more than 300 people; (10) With an area of 755 sq km (292 sq mi), Hamburg's area is seven times that of Paris and twice that of London. The living space per person in Hamburg is an average of 30 square meters per person, thereby making Hamburg the city with the largest average living space in the world;  (11) A large number of rivers and canals are found meandering Hamburg, christening it with the name 'city of rivers'. Small adorable canals are found running all along the city like veins in a human body. Moreover, with over 2500 bridges, Hamburg is also known to have more bridges than Venice or Amsterdam.

All Tied Up in Rotterdam

Our Stuff on Our Ship, the Hyundai Singapore, is safely tied up and lying alongside in Rotterdam, preparing for the long trip towards the East. Probably one-third of the journey is now complete

Not Hitched Yet

The camera never lies. True. But people do, and the the photo of our ship the HS proves this point. Even though the ship appears to be leaving Cape Town, in reality she is lying just of the coast of The Netherlands near Rotterdam. This is an old photo.

Rotterdam is quite busy at the moment judging by the crowd of vessels lying around. As can be seen in the clip below, the HS (yellow inside the red parentheses) is lying at anchor and moving with the wind and tide (blue track lines). The crew will be sleeping in late while waiting for the All Clear sign from the port authorities. The important point is that the two week trip Cape Town to Rotterdam via Las Palmas is over, bar the shouting.  “Hello Rotterdam!”

Into the Channel

The Port of Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe, located in the city of Rotterdam.  From 1962 until 2002 it was the world’s busiest port, now overtaken by first Singapore and then Shanghai. In 2011 Rotterdam was the world's fifth-largest port in terms of annual cargo tonnage. Covering 105 square kilometres, the port of Rotterdam now stretches over a distance of 40 kilometres.

And of what interest is the Port of Rotterdam to us? Well, Rotterdam is the next destination for HS Our Ship (The container vessel Hyundai Singapore, remember?) She is due in port this weekend 16th. Currently moving Northwards at 18 knots in the English Channel.

Waiting for our ship to come in...

She is called the Hyundai Singapore, a Cyprus-registered container ship, operating under call sign 5BZP3 since 2006. She measures 303 metres by 40 metres and has a dead weight tonnage (DWT) of 85,250. And she is “our ship” – the one that is transporting our stuff from Cape Town to Wellington. “Our stuff”

One never really thinks about shipping routes, vessel speeds or the total time taken by ocean freight, until you are directly involved… like Waiting for your ship to come in… from half-way around the globe!

It is almost disheartening to see from the world shipping routes map that Wellington is actually “off the map”! That’s not a good sign…

31 January – Depart Cape Town

On 28 January, we received the following email. They managed to get my name wrong in the subject line. Let’s hope that’s the only mistake they make in the move!

Allied Pickfords Ref 947887 personal effects shipment for Mr T Andrew

I am pleased to advise your personal effects  for  Mr T Andrews are due into the country soon. At this stage the shipping line have advised it has sailed from Cape Town with an approx date of arrival into Wellington  on the 8 March. Once the shipping line confirm the vessel details and arrival date we can send you out the necessary declaration forms for NZ Customs & Quarantine. These should be completed and returned to us as quickly as possible at which stage we can get the clearance process underway. This may involve a Quarantine inspection - particularly if your shipment includes outdoor furniture, gardening equipment, Xmas decorations, sporting or camping gear, bicycles etc. There is a charge for any inspection but we will confirm this as soon as known.

Hyundai Singapore (to be called by the affectionate abbreviation “the HS”) only left Table Bay somewhere around 31st January, according to the shipping watch website, headed for Las Palmas.

11 February – Depart Las Palmas

I have never been to the Canaries and know even less about the archipelago. The Canary Islands, also known as the Canaries, are a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 kilometres west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries consist of (largest to smallest): Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro, La Graciosa, Isla de Lobos, Montana Clara, Roque del Este and Roque del Oeste.

I am not quite sure where the HS is headed, but she is making her usual progress at 18.1 knots direction 15º (33.5 kph @ 1.852 conversion).

As I am keenly awaiting my scanner, battery charger and a change of socks and underclothes, you will understand that I keep a close watch on shipping progress, just like some folk look at their Facebook pages. With (maybe) another 15,000 km to go – I really don’t know, travelling at 30 kph, the HS should dock in Wellington in … 15000 divided by 30 = 500 hours = 20 days??? That’s barring stopovers in ports along the way…

To be updated on a regular basis.