Word: europoort
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...Rotterdam's Europoort, oil business goes on as usual. Giant tankers glide across the busy harbor to docks where workmen connect the ships to shiny umbilical pipes that drain their heavy cargoes of crude. Near by, five gigantic refineries crank out prodigious quantities of fuel for the thirsty North European market. The only abnormal thing about the scene is that it is not supposed to be happening. Like three other nations,* The Netherlands is still officially being embargoed by the Arab oil states that last month ended their five-month ban on exports...
...Your article on the VLCC tanker Europoort [March 29] cited a perfect example of the kind of foolhardy action that results in the fouling of our oceans and beaches by oil tankers. It is frightening to realize that in order to save four days' time, the captain of the tanker was willing to risk damage to his ship and the "pollution of beaches from Holland to Spain." Penalties should be leveled and be stiff enough to make the loss of time a very attractive alternative...
Along with ennui, tankermen are prey to fleeting fears. In the past two months, mysterious explosions have sunk three tankers off the coast of Africa. Last week four crewmen were killed when a Swedish tanker blew up in a Hamburg drydock. Loaded, the Europoort carries enough oil to pollute beaches from Holland to Spain, though Esso strictly bans any ocean discharges except in dire emergencies. Empty, the ship is as potentially explosive as nitroglycerin, with a rich mixture of oxygen and oil fumes in its massive tanks. To prevent inadvertent explosions, a Japanese company has designed an automatic system that...
Parachute Brake. Empty or full, VLCCs are so underpowered (to save building costs) that Europoort, for one, needs two hours to hit top speed of 16.5 knots. As a further result, the behemoths are plagued with the problem of stopping, which can take up to ten miles. By "slaloming," or steering hard port and then hard starboard, with engines full astern in open water, VLCCs can stop within two miles. Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is now testing a special parachute that it hopes can cut a tanker's stopping distance by onefourth. But with bigger and bigger...
Fortunately, VLCC skippers are among the world's best-trained ship captains. Despite his seven years' previous experience as a tanker master, Europoort's Huib Jansen was not allowed to take command until he attended a "captain's school" in Grenoble, France, site of the 1968 Winter Olympics. There, in a 40-ft. boat, he was pushed around a man-made lake by a minuscule half-horsepower engine, maneuvering his craft with his eyes at the same level he now gets from the bridge of the Europoort. "It looks rather foolish with...