In what case will you carry more cargo?
In case we take 20-footers.
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1. If the 40-footers are emptied today we shall take them back. 2. If we reduce port time we shall make more voyages. 3. If these containers meet the requirements we shall take them. 4. If the seals are intact they will take these 2 containers. 5. If these goods are in good condition we shall take them.
III. Listen to the short dialogues, repeat each sentence during the pauses and learn the dialogues by heart:
"Do you think we shall unstuff this container?" "Yes, we shall have to."
"Then, please, call for a Surveyor and a Customs officer."
***
"Will you need a shore-crane to handle 40-footers?" "Yes, they are rather bulky and heavy for our crane." "Then I'll arrange it with the Port office."
***
"There must be something leaking in that container." "What makes you think so?"
"You see the lower part of plating has rusted so much."
IV. Listen to each of the long dialogues again and retell briefly their contents from the point of view of: (a) one speaker, (b) the other speaker, (c) an onlooker.
Make your partner ask you about some details which you missed.
V. Write the dictation:
Containerization has brought about a kind of revolution in the transport system. It considerably reduced the port time for ships and made handling of cargo much easier and quicker. One of its advantages is that it protects the goods from
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pilferage. Containers make it possible to transport the cargoes both by land and by sea in a more convenient way. There are many kinds of containers designed for different goods. The two standard types of containers are mostly used. These are twenty-footers and forty-footers. General structure of containers is more or less the same: steel or aluminium alloy plates are welded or riveted to angle-bar frame, thus forming a box with hinged doors and locking latches. The goods are stuffed into the containers, which are then locked and sealed. When receiving them aboard or delivering to the consignees, no tallying of goods is required. This greatly reduces the time and labour for handling the cargo.
VI. Practise in pairs enacting the following situations. You act as the captain, yonr partner — as the agent. Then you change your parts:
(a) When receiving containers aboard your vessel, you found some defects oti them (scratches, bruises, dents, cuts, broken seals). You ask your agent to call for a surveyor and shipper's representative to survey the containers and draw up an Inspection Report. You arrange with the shippers that defective containers should be checked again and resealed.
(b)You arrange with your agent the procedure of delivering the containers to the consignees, the sequence of discharging different lots, external inspection of the containers by competent persons and drawing up appropriate documents.
(c) While discharging the containers the terminal operator found that the numbers of two containers did not coincide with those marked in the list. You insist that these containers should be unstuffed and their contents checked to verify that they actually belong to the discharged lot. You discuss with the terminal operator and your agent what persons should take part in this procedure for drawing up an official Inspection Report.
V.II Translate into English:
Да, на этот раз мы привезли груз в контейнерах. Их всего 180 штук. 130 из них 20-футовые, а остальные 40-футовые. Все они уложены в отдельных
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грузовых отсеках, а одна партия по отдельному коносаменту уложена на палубе. Вот план размещения груза, копия этого плана, наверное, вами уже получена. Теперь давайте подумаем, в какой последовательности нам нужно будет выгружать отдельные партии, чтобы это было удобно и для вас и для нас. Конечно, нам придется начать с палубного груза, чтобы освободить место для обработки остального груза. Кстати, вы уже знаете, что нам понадобятся два береговых крана для выгрузки 40-футовых контейнеров. Они такие громоздкие и тяжелые. Вы ведь помните, что мы об этом говорили с вами по радиотелефону? Вы даже уже договорились об этом с портом! Ну, замечательно! Теперь о наружном осмотре контейнеров. Вы считаете, что его удобнее проводить на берегу у борта судна. Хорошо, я не возражаю. Надо только, чтобы все расписки и акты осмотра подписывались сразу и передавались нашему грузовому помощнику.
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LESSON 20
TRANSPORTATION OF CARGOES BY RO-RO VESSELS
Words and Word Combinations
term термин
to imply подразумевать, намекать to signify означать, иметь значение
vehicle перевозочное средство, повозка
to roll катить
to wheel катить, везти (на колесах) reloading перегрузка
in spite of несмотря на investment капиталовложение ramp рампа, аппарель
to accelerate ускорять simultaneously одновременно
level уровень
three-decker трехпалубное судно power plant силовая установка
e.h.p. (effective horse power) эффективная л. с. sound здоровый, крепкий
mood настроение, расположение духа brilliant блестящий
licensed имеющий права (водителя)
axis ось
to surmise предполагать, высказывать догадку approximation приблизительная оценка, цифра to stand зд. выдержать
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by far намного
Expressions
safe and sound жив, здоров, цел и невредим to settle the question разрешить вопрос
it stands to reason ad. разумно to my mind по моему мнению
In a way в некотором отношении, до известной степени
TEXT
As the term itselfi implies, the name "Ro-Ro" is an abbreviation of the words Roll on, Roll off. These words signify the way of loading or unloading cargoes between quay and ship by means of rolled vehicles. These vehicles may be wheeled platforms or "trailers" as they are usually called, towed by tractors or, lorries.
The introduction of Ro-Ro vessels led to further progress in International Shipping brought up by containerization. The main advantage of Ro-Ro vessels is that the cargo may be loaded and discharged by the wheeled vehicles which can be used for land transportation without any additional reloading. Rolling the cargo in or out the ship takes considerably less time and labour than lifting and lowering it in a usual way. The rate of handling these goods became much higher than on the ships with the conventional use of cranes and winches.
These two factors naturally attracted attention of the people engaged in International Shipping. Many countries began to build Ro-Ro vessels in spite of the fact that building of new ships and of specialized port terminals required great investments of money. The Soviet Union was one of these countries too. We have built by now many Ro-Ro vessels which are successfully used in our foreign trade.
There is one more advantage of the Ro-Ro vessels which is no less
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important; they can carry not only containers, motor-cars, tractors and trailers, but bulk cargoes as well.
The principle of construction of these vessels is that they are provided with stern ramps which make it possible for the wheeled vehicles to run in and out of the vessels at an average speed of about 20 km an hour. This, of course, greatly accelerated the handling of cargo. If well planned, loading and discharging of Ro-Ro vessels can be carried out simultaneously.
The construction of the ramp enables the cargo to be handled if the level of the pier is 2.2 metres higher or 5.5 metres lower than the deck level. The ramp can be placed in direction of fore-and-aft line or at an angle of about 40' to it. The length of the ramp, when lowered on shore, may be about 35 metres.
The Ro-Ro vessels are usually three- or four-deckers. The cargo is distributed at various cargo levels through fixed internal ramps and movable bulkheads.
On Soviet ships of the Kapitan Smirnoff type, the power plant is of 50,000 e. h. p., which provides operational speed at about 25 knots per hour.
DIALOGUES
1
AGENT. Glad to see you safe and sound and in the same good mood, as usual. It seems to me that you are going to start discharging today, eh? How long will it take you to lower and fix the ramp?
CAPTAIN. Thank you for your compliment, Mr Howard. I am glad too to see you. Lowering and fixing the ramp won't take us too much time. I hope in half an hour we shall be able to start discharging.
AGENT. So soon as that? Brilliant! What are you going to start with? CAPTAIN. We'll start with motor-cars and lorries.
AGENT. Who will drive them down?
CAPTAIN. Our boys, of course! We have 15 licensed drivers among the
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members of our crew. By the way, this work was agreed upon with your Trade Union.
AGENT. Shall we pay them for the job?
CAPTAIN. Yes, you shall. At the same rate as you pay to your drivers. AGENT. Oh, I see.
2
AGENT. According to your stowage plan, sir, you've stowed rice in bags in Hold No. 7. Our surveyor is interested to know whether there is a proper ventilation in that hold. He wants to know at what rate the air is exchanged there.
SECOND MATE. There is normal ventilation in that hold! The rate of exchange is about 6 %. So, the whole volume of air is changed approximately 5-6 times an hour.
AGENT. Thank you, sir. The surveyor is quite satisfied with the figures. By the way, when we were coming here we had a kind of dispute with him. He wanted to know how many tons of cargo can pass over the ramp at a time? I mean over its axis.
SECOND MATE. Did you know that exactly?
AGENT. Unfortunately, I didn't. I could only surmise that. SECOND MATE. What was your approximation, then? AGENT. I told him I thought it was something about 50 tons.
SECOND MATE. You were very close to the true figure. Its nominal value is 55 tons, but actually it can stand even more.
AGENT. Thank you, sir. It's always pleasant to feel that you were right, isn't
it?
3
AGENT. Thank God, we've finished with that lot. The tallyman's receipts fully coincide with your data. Now we shall have to settle the question about trailers. So far as we have prepared some 500 containers on our trailers I think we
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might exchange these trailers for those which you have rolled off from your ship. SECOND MATE. Yes, it stands to-reason to do so. Are these trailers of the
same size and construction?
AGENT. Yes, they are ordinary standard trailers of the same make and quality.
SECOND MATE. To my mind we can do it. But you know I'll have to consult with the Master about this business, it's up to him to pass a decision. What do you think about technical survey of the trailers?
AGENT. Well, yours, in a way, have undergone the survey. While discharging our surveyor carefully checked them and made out a record. I suppose we might do the same with our trailers. You may charge your surveyor with that business and post your man to help him.
SECOND MATE. Yes, I think that's a good idea. I'll suggest it to our Master and let you know the result. He will soon come back aboard.
LABORATORY EXERCISES
I. Listen to the text of the lesson again and answer the following questions:
1. What do the words "Ro-Ro" mean? 2. How is the cargo loaded and discharged on Ro-Ro vessels? 3. What is the advantage of rolling the cargo in and out of the ship? 4. What takes less time rolling the cargo in and out of ships or lifting and lowering it by cranes? 5. Did it require small investments to build new ships and specialized terminals? 6. What cargoes can Ro-Ro vessels carry? 7. What for are stern-ramps provided in such vessels? 8. Can loading and discharging cargoes be carried out simultaneously on Ro-Ro vessels? 9. At what angle is the ramp positioned with regard to the ship's fore-and-aft line? 10. In what way is the cargo brought to different decks of the ship? 11. What is e. h. p. of Soviet Ro-Ro vessels? 12. What is the usual operational speed of these vessels?
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