April 30th 2007 - HHI
April 30th 2007
Sea trial and HHI tour
We've received a few emails from friends wondering about the whereabouts of the weekly update - I apologize for the delay but am glad to see some interest for our lives out here !
I have spent the last 4 days onboard our first new-building. After several delays, we finally went on sea trial, i.e. the first time the ship is tested at sea. The vessel turned out OK, even though there is still a lot of work to be done before takeover from the yard. This being the first vessel of a new design, we had expected some minor problems on the trial, and as such we weren't disappointed !! But all in all, there were no serious setbacks. Weather was good, sea was calm but the ship was a bit crowded, so a good nights sleep was difficult to find.
Meanwhile Paula was hanging out with some friends and also got a little maritime touch to the weekend, when she was invited for a tour of the large Hyundai Mipo shipyard. On Friday the container with our things arrived, and she spent the afternoon arranging the apartment. Wednesday we went to get our Korean drivers license. My company's agent drove us to the drivers license office (a place well out of town ... impossible to get to without a car - makes sense, right ?), arranged the papers for us and brought us back to town again. All we had to do was pass a visual and physical test. The visual test was quite normal, reading numbers from a distance and flipping through the color book, whereas the physical test only involved showing the palms of our hands and then sitting down and standing up once .... we passed !! I was a little worried about the book of colors though.
At I'm writing this, a very curious thing is happening. Well, curious at first, then really really annoying. There is a loudspeaker in our apartment, and from time to time, the guard comes with announcements over the loudspeaker. We have absolutely no clue as to what he is on about ! Can't turn the darn thing off, either.
Anyway, enough ranting. Here come some shots from the week gone:
Este fin de semana no salimos a nuestro paseo normal , ya que , Peder tubo que estar embarcado 4 dias para revisar el barco que estan casi terminando. Pondremos algunas fotos que saco Peder desde el barco .
Yo estube en casa de una amiga ,salimos y disfrutamos el clima, ya empieza el calor !y la humedad es increible.....
El marido de mi amiga Francisca , Max nos llevo a hacer una especie de Tour en el astillero de Hyundai , el mas grande del mundo . Fue super interesante y la verdad es que es increible la cantidad de barcos que hacen al año en esta cuidad.
Aqui van algunas fotos :
The three photos above are from the launching of one of the other ships which are being built by the same yard that built our vessels.
Las tres fotos anteriores son de astillero de Peder. Ahi se ve cuando tiran el barco al agua .
The two on the left are ours, the other one is almost ready and will be owned by Evalend. In the small harbor where the yard is located, there are now 5 ships like these afloat. Tomorrow one more will arrive, when they bring our first vessel in from the sea trial. So it's a little crowded !
Los dos barcos de la izquiera son del astillero de Peder, uno esta casi listo y el dueno es Evalend.En el pequeño puerto donde esta ubicado el astillero hay ahora 5 barcos flotando . Mañana llega 1 mas asique estara medio lleno el lugar !
From the sea trial - it's Ulsan in the background.
Desde el sea trial ( los dias de inspeccion que paso Peder en el barco ).Lo que se ve atras es la cuidad de Ulsan.
Ulsan from the sea. Our apartment is just a little to the right of the old Kockums crane (that's the big one on the left). The three chimneys on the very left is more or less where the river mouth is. The real downtown is then 6-8 km upriver, passing the Hyundai Mipo shipyard and the Hyundai car factory.
Ulsan desde el mar. Nuestro departamento esta un poco a la derecha de la grua gigante naranja que se ve.
"I missed you, sofa ......"
"Te extrañe tanto mi sillon ......."
From Paula's visit to Hyundai Heavy Industries. Here a block from the aft part of a ship.
Aqui las fotos que saque en el paseo a Hyundai Heavy Industries. Aqui una parte de un barco. Que pena que en la foto no se puede ver lo grande que esto era.
I have no idea what this is ....
No me acuerdo que era esto....pero se veia impresionante y era enorme .
A very large gas tank when finished.
Parte de un tanque de gas cuando esta terminado.
A main engine. The railing on the engine is about 1m high.
Un motor principal. El pasamano es de 1 metro de alto.
This is what some of my compatriots are working on - a 11.000 teu (20 foot container) container vessel. This yard is probably the worlds largest shipyard with 70-80 new ships built every year. That's one finished every 4-5 days !!
Aqui es donde los daneses estan trabajando. Un 11.000 teu ( 20 pies container ) barco de containers. Este astillero es probablemente el mas grande del mundo. Hacen 70-80 barcos al año. Esto significa 1 barco cada 4-5 dias !!
Fancy a job painting apartment blocks in Korea ?? The guy on the left of the building is attached to one single rope hanging from the roof - not for the faint-hearted!
Aqui es como se pintan los edificios en Corea. ?! La persona a la izquiera esta sujetada solo con un cordel colgando desde el techo .....no es un trabajo para los que tienen vertigo !