Academic literature on the topic 'Hei shi hao (Merchant ship)'

Abstract For centuries, the occupations of soldier, sailor, merchant, architect, and builder have required long periods of separation from wives and families. Those situations have produced a variety of anxieties. Since those occupations were all dangerous, a wife might fear losing both a husband and a means of support. Perhaps even worse was the possibility that a husband would simply be unaccounted for because no one reported the sinking of the ship on which he sailed or because he had been taken prisoner. If her widowhood were in doubt, a wife would not have the legal right to collect the dower from her husband’s estate, and she might have to carry on her husband’s business even if she was ill-equipped to do so. Other times she might be responsible for raising a large ransom to get her husband out of prison or for paying his debts so that he could come home. Husbands worried about the deterioration of their businesses, the training of their apprentices, and the rearing of their children while they were gone. But these financial and practical considerations were not the stuff of medieval stories that dealt with separation anxieties. Rather, both men and women wrote and spoke about the sexual continence of their conjugal partners during absences. While a husband was away, his wife might have lovers or he himself might have a family in another port or city. Perhaps the expressed anxieties over unfaithfulness masked deeper anxieties about the real risks that separation entailed.

Shipping plays an important role in the logistic chain. These a worthiness of ships transporting goods world wide is therefore crucial. One element defining these a worthiness of a ship is the condition of her ballast tanks. These tanks are an area of concern for ship owners and crew. They are subject to corrosion; and due to the enclosed environment and complex structure, maintenance is very difficult and costly. This paper gives the results of an “insitu” study of ballast tanks on board of more than 150 merchant ships. No selection criteria were applied from the start and the ships were surveyed as opportunity arose. Most of the ships are worldwide trading and the age varies between brand new and 36years. Figure 1 gives a good idea of the age distribution. Many types of ships are represented in the database amongst others 10oil tankers, 14 liquefied gas carrier, 25 chemical tankers, 28 bulk carriers, 23 full containers carriers, 5 general cargoes, 9 RoRo’s, 8 refrigerated ships. Surface corrosion was assessed, compared and the importance of condition and environmental parameters during coating application recognized. The paper also reveals the significant difference between the average corrosion regression line of the data base and the coating condition in the ballast tanks on board ships to where the operator invested in a superior coating system at new building, with extra attention to surface preparation and coating application. The need to reduce the environmental impact of shipping becomes more and more obvious. Blasting with shot and grit, vast amounts of water used for water jetting and rinsing, surface cleaning and high solvent coatings jeopardize our future generations. Luckily, there duction of the environmental impact has beneficial economic consequences a sit brings down significantly maintenance costs.