The Dry Dock Experience

One of the perks I have been blessed with by hanging with Svend, is to get a view of the shipping world that few outsiders have. I bore anyone who will listen about my Panama Canal experience. Now once more, three years later I am aboard the Sunbelt Spirit, high in a dry-dock at the Chengxi Shipyard on the Yangtze River on a warm and smoggy day.

This doesn't look at all scary and yet it was. 

Getting onboard was not what one would consider easy. It wasn’t the slippery dock that was being hosed down or 100 plus metal steps into the dry dock itself that got to me, I was prepared for that. It was the metal bridge that went from the dry-dock to the ship, hundreds of feet above the water on what seemed (but wasn’t) a rickety apparatus. I’m still wiping the sweat from my palms. I believe Svend purposely left out that step when he explained what it was like to get onto the ship. But now I’m onboard and like Scarlett O’Hara I will think about getting off later. 

Right now I’m using the ships washing machine and catching up with the blog and trying to stay out of the way of all the important men doing whatever it is they do. In fact there was really a lot going on. From the outside the enormous ship was being sand blasted. 

Hard hats rule!

Seeing the Sunbelt Spirit, out of water with nary a Toyota in sight is a weird thing to see. There are 12+ empty  car decks with occasional teams of Chinese or Polish (or Swedish) people  doing things. There are 2 captains and 2 chef engineers on board right now, which means the executive Nancy and Svend Hansen cabins are being occupied by these people. Outrageous! But Svend found a lonely unoccupied cabin where the exercise equipment is set up for me to use as a hideout. (not to exercise) My new best friend Burt the steward made it nice for me. By the way I am invited to the Philippines where he will show me and Svend around when we visit. Little does he know I’ll probably take him up on that offer.

Look at Svend, pretending to be a mild mannered driver!

Everyone knows boys never grow up, right? So it was with Svend when after lunch he took me on a tour of the work being done.  Twelve empty decks, no cars, ramps in between them and a John Deere ATV. You know where this is going. Let’s try and scare the girl! Of course I was scared, but I have to admit it was fun! 

I don’t know if the Chinese welders enjoyed the a hardhatted western woman walking through their cutting torches and hoses. I wasn’t overly crazy about it myself, but this was an important part of the job removing a chunk of the ship and replacing the steel.

There’s a bend in the ship that was made by heavy waves and bad weather, isn’t that scary? It’s a big darn ship. It really is amazing to think of how much planning and coordination  goes into a job this big. It was good to see what Svend really does, even though I already know how valuable he is to Farefield Maxwell. SUPERintendent! 

And so the exciting day ended when the bus driver picked up all the weary workers for the 5:50 ride back to the hotel. Oh wait -what fresh hell that was!!! I was almost lured into taking back some of my disparaging remarks about the Chinese professional drivers. But no, this guy was horrendous!!! Lucky me,  in the front seat getting a bird's eye view of the little family on a scooter coming right for us (btw many of these electric scooters have no lights, but that doesn't stop them from riding around at night with a baby being held by the mom sitting behind the driver.) Or then there was the time he shot over to another lane leaning on the horn to get ahead of everyone else, naturally - a huge truck coming our way.  . Even the burly Russian shipyard workers were looking a little nervous. But once again we survived. I really wanted to slap this guy too!

Excuse me while I eat this beautiful piece of cake someone just brought me while I sit poolside. (obviously not still onboard the Spirit) There's thank-you-to-the-workers  soiree going on and one of the kind hotel managers just brought this over.

Why is my life so hard???