200367 Shanghai Call

Shanghai Call
MARS Report 200367

Own vessel is a vehicle carrier of 48,039grt and has a LOA of 180M. We recently called at Shanghai to discharge cars. I would like to share my experience of this call at Shanghai, especially the navigation in the Huangpu Jiang River. This is a narrow river on which Shanghai city is situated. I have earlier called at Shanghai several times on large container vessels but our berth used to be outside the Huangpu River.

The passage from Chang Jiang Pilot station to the entrance of Huangpu River is approximately 40nm and our berth was approximately 4nm up the Huangpu River at Work Area No. 9. Two pilots are required for large vessels entering the river. The 2nd pilot boards at the mouth of the river by a tug and the same tug also escorts the large vessels to and from the berth. The inbound passage from Chang Jiang to Huangpu was during the night. There were not many problems as the barge and small craft traffic was mostly resting for the night. Our vessel was fast at the berth at 0200 LT.

While un-berthing later in the morning, it was a different story altogether. Three Pilots boarded (2 Pilots + 1 Trainee Pilot) and the vessel cast off at 0900 with 2 tugs made fast. The river was full of barges, small craft and ferries as far as the eye could see. As we were starboard side to, we had to make a 180 degree turn in the river for the outbound passage. The amount of traffic in the river was enormous and the barges never stopped to allow us to turn. Three container barges were waiting to come alongside at our berth. As soon as we were 10-15m off the berth they started rushing from all directions (1 from bow and 2 from stern) to take our vacated berth. In this mad rush, 2 barges collided with each other just abaft our stern. During the entire turning process, the barges and even small ships continued to pass the bow and stern at less than 5-10m distance.

After the turn, the tugs cast off and the vessel proceeded on Dead Slow Ahead at speed of 6.0 Knots. The 3 Chinese pilots were frantically pacing across the bridge from end to end shouting and cursing. The VHF was blaring with communications and the pilots would often pick up the handset and shout something that I could not understand. When I tried to ask their intention, they would never reply. During the entire passage of 4 miles through the Huangpu River my heartbeat remained very high. There were numerous close quarter situations with small craft and barges as they never attempted to move out of the way and tried to cross the bow at the last minute with less than 10m distance.

Twice I had to override the pilot, stop and order engine astern to reduce speed, as collision with a barge seemed almost certain. It seemed that the barges and small craft were navigating blindfolded, all in great deal of hurry and unperturbed by traffic in the vicinity.

The pilots themselves were helpless with the traffic and there was very little room left by barges and other craft but for them it was everyday affair. They had one hand always on the ship's whistle, which was used constantly but nobody cared. Our escort tug was moving 0.5nm ahead of our vessel when it should have remained close to our bow and in a position to move small vessels out of our way. I told the pilot but nothing happened. I can easily say that under my command experience, I have never visited a worse waterway then Huangpu River. There are no safety rules or regulations in this river and, considering the traffic density, there is little room for navigation for large vessels. Barges, tugs, small craft and fishing boats follow their own 'Rules of the Road', without any control, swamp the entire river. The problem is compounded when there is strong tidal current from astern that makes manoeuvrability difficult (reducing speed and stopping engine causes the vessel to lose steerage quickly).

Much has been said in the books about Master/Pilot relationship but very little can be done if the pilot does not understand what the master is asking him or if the master does not understand the communication that the pilots are having with each other and also with other third parties on VHF. Whenever I tried to ask any of the pilots their intentions, they would just give a stern look, nod their head and wave one hand from which I could understand to mean just one thing, 'stay quiet and don't ask'.

I sincerely hope that the Authorities in Shanghai will make regulations to ensure safe navigation of large vessels navigating in their waterways.