Talk:Bulk carrier

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WikiProject Echo has identified Bulk carrier as a foreign language featured article. You may be able to improve this article with information from the French language Wikipedia.

Why isn't there any mention of earlier bulk carriers, such as the wartime examples? 06:55, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

This entry also does not recognize the developments made in handling bulk cargo on the Great Lakes both in ship design and in on shore handling facilities. The long clean decks premiered with the RJ Hackett in 1869 and by 1910 there were more than one self unloading vessels.

[edit] Translation

Hello,

When wikilinks are translated, it could be useful to use this tool which automatically fetches the corresponding wikilinks in the target language. See this example which I'm sure you will enjoy :-)

Another point : in the "history" section, the original article devotes a long part to Skaarup's design, yet I didn't find any reliable sources on this. It may be worthwhile investigating this topic to see how much this ship has changed the bulk carriers' world. As far as I know, the sloping ballast wing tanks and the wide holds were present even before the 1950s, the aft engine room/superstructure was becoming the new fashionable design, so I don't see why this design was particularly innovative. But I can be wrong :-) le Korrigan →bla 23:22, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Please note also that "échantillonnage" is the translation of "scantlings" (ie hull width) and not surveys :-) le Korrigan →bla 13:57, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Hey Korrigan, I wanted to take a stab at the references before getting back to you, but you're so quick! Thanks so much for reading through this. As you've noticed, technical engineering terms and slang are giving me some problems. I understand scantlings as "thickenings and reenforcements to offset the weakening of the hull structure due to large open hatches." If I missed it again, please let me know.

Also, I have no idea what the final quote says, something about an impotent baby with 3 feet?!? :) Also, I agree with you about Skaarup: it's a plausible story, but doesn't appear to be verifiable.

I'm having trouble with one of the refererences. It seems like "Reflets OMI" should probably be available in English, but I can't seem to find it. Have you tripped over it? Cheers. Haus^Talk 14:37, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Right, let's try to get it clear ;-)

• "Scantling" means "hull thickness", period. Basically, during the design phase, after the architect has done some general arrangement design, you want to know the hull thickness at various points as well as the reinforcements, and you draw all this on the midship section. When you know the scantlings on various points, you know the quantity of steel you need, hence the hull cost. It is particularly important for bulkers as the hull thickness decreases with age due to corrosion, and it is believed that insufficient thicknesses were responsible for some structural failures. During inspections/surveys, the hull thickness is also checked to make sure corrosion hasn't gone too far. (on a side note, please pardon my English,I guess I'm speaking British English and I don't always know the American English equivalent !)
• The final quote is from the Pierre LD Master (the Pierre LD is a French ore carrier, 170,000 DWT), and he describes his ship as "a huge impotent baby, large like three football fields, with the engine of a Solex" (the link says it all !). For "impotent", you could also say "disabled", "crippled"... you get the idea :-)
• For the documents from IMO, have a look at [1], and the document in English is at this address. The IMO webmaster should be shot, it's quite hard to find anything on their website ! le Korrigan →bla 15:05, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Ok, that clears most everything up. I'd never heard of a solex before, but that was laugh-out-loud, spill-your-coffee funny. Thanks much for the links and clarifications, and no worries at all with the English, I'm infinitely more fluent in British English than in French. :) Haus^Talk 15:21, 9 April 2007 (UTC)