Company Magazine for the Odfjell Group - March 2005

Vessel of the issue
Bow Maasslot –
a Dutch working beauty
M/T Bow Maasslot was delivered from
the Dutch yard Van der Giessen de
Noord B.V. in December 1982, to
Nedlloyd under the name Maasslot. For
many years she was trading in the
Seachem pool as Maasslot L, before
she joined Odfjell following the Odfjell
Seachem merger the summer of 1989.
In May 2004 Odfjell acquired the vessel
and she was renamed, together with
her sister vessels Bow Maasstad and
Bow Maasstroom. On September 30th
2004 Bow Maasslot was the first of
these three proud ladies that came
under ship management by OSM. She
is presently flying the Singapore flag.
Bow Maasslot has a carrying capacity of
38,039 dwt, her length overall is 172.22
metres, and she can load some 46,900
cubic metres of product distributed on
20 cargo tanks. The vessel is usually
trading worldwide with all kinds of
chemicals. At the time of writing she is
carrying caustic soda from the US to
Australia after which the vessel is
scheduled for a dry-docking in the
Singapore area.
The current crew of Bow Maasslot is an
international mixture, representing
four countries; the Master and Chief
Officer come from Sweden, the Chief
Bow Maasslot
Engineer is Latvian, one fitter comes
from Romania, and the rest of the
officers and ratings come from the
Philippines. The working language is
English. Although we come from very
different cultures and backgrounds, we
get along very well. Being away from
families and loved ones, it is very
important to make the best out of our
lives on board. Some of us have also
been working together in the past, on
other vessels.
We focus a lot on cargo handling. Prior
to loading a detailed plan is made up,
and this is discussed with the crew to
make everybody fully aware of all
aspects of the operation, e.g if the
cargo needs special care and in particular
any hazard aspects. During work
the crew must at all times wear PPE
(personal protection equipment) such
as protective footwear, boiler suits,
gloves, and goggles.
Bow Maasslot has reached the respectable
age of 23 years, and obviously a
considerable effort is required to keep
the lady presentable. To prevent corrosion
we have to keep the paint in good
condition, and greasing is another
important duty on deck.
The crew doing maintenance and greasing
During our leisure time we are usually
gathered in the dayroom. Video
evenings are very popular. Saturday
evenings, after enjoying a good dinner
and a few soft-drinks, we turn on the
karaoke machine, and usually there are
some undiscovered “Frankie Boys”
grabbing the microphone. We also
have a swimming pool and a gymna-
8 ODFJELL Quarterly March 2005