Bulk Carriers,The Backbone of the World Economy

Bulks the Life..

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1. Have you ever dreamed of transporting gold? Every Shipowner would dream to load and carry gold on his vessels and get paid by this gold as well. However, this is not a dream but a real story which happened in 2012 during the transportation of gold ore. The Russian-registered vessel, Amuraskaya, was enroute from the port of Kiran to the port of Okhotsk and loaded with 700 tons of gold ore, when was magically disappeared in the Sea of Okhotsk on 28 October 2012. In the area there was stormy weather and the vessel sent Mayday signals which were picked up by coastguards. However, due to the very valuable cargo, there was some intrigue that the ship may not had sunk, but the cargo had been stolen. A few days later, scuba divers found the wreck of the Amurskaya in the Sea of Okhotsk. 

2. Do you remember the movie “Lord of War”? “The first and most important rule of gun-running is never get shot with your own merchandise.” Further to loading gold products, another cargo which pays very well is the cargo of weapons or similar hazardous products. Loading weapons and other such cargoes in bulk carriers and container ships is not very common and it always requires strict documentation and specific licenses. Of course not always the rules are followed and there are many cases where such cargoes are loaded illegally, without the necessary documents, in which case the Shipowner’s profit is much higher. 

3. Everyone likes gifts. But did you know the story of the bulker which was fully loaded with gifts? Not from Santa Claus, but from Spanish Government. The Cabo Santa Maria was a Spanish bulk carrier which was carrying a number of gifts from the government to be given to those who had supported the country both economically and politically during the economic crisis that Spain had passed - on board were cars, food, medicine, machines, clothes etc. On 01 Sept 1968 Cabo Santa Maria ran aground near Cape Verde, while heading to South America. Local authorities tried to pull the ship with the assistance of a tug, but without success. Well, what happened to cargo? It was a boon for the local people, who were able to capture all these goods while the crew unharmed, quickly left the island. Removing the cargo took about 1 year with the use of a major part of the population of Boa Vista, as well as public employees and machine operators from other islands. Since then, the wreckage of the Cabo de Santa Maria has become a local symbol and attraction of Boa Vista and Cape Verde. 

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