Chapter 104: Repair killings (1/2)

Chapter 104: Repair killings

Translated by me, edited by drpetro.

Modern day ships, especially large scale seagoing cargo ships, have tons of high end automated systems, as well as all kinds of support systems to move such a giant machine.

A seagoing cargo ship transports millions in assets with each trip. As for those specialized cargo ships responsible for transporting the likes of oil, natural gas, and pressurized gases, the price tag for them was even more extreme.

As for the data required to let those ships remain operational, it was all handled by computer systems on board. If an error or anomaly surfaced, then it would immediately sound the warnings.

For anomalies like getting the power shaft stuck or fractured, if it wasn’t for the sailors not paying attention, then there was no chance for the power shaft to become damaged.

Of course, the shaft splitting as a result of not being able to bear with the enormous torque, also meant that the shaft didn’t meet standards when being smelted.

Large scale forged products containing internal injuries were something that was unavoidable.

As the forged product’s dimensions becomes too big, when it went through heating and cooling, its temperature changes would be uneven and unbalanced. Moving the metal too quick or too slow when hammering its final shape, or using not properly ratioed metals, would also cause unforeseen damages to the final product.

10 out of 10 perfection only existed within people’s dreams, and in the Monster Factory.

The difference here was that some technique and equipment could control these unforeseen damages to within a certain limit. Of course there might really be some unexaminable cases, which are purely accidental.

Maybe it was because of the typhoon that just passed, as today was quite calm and clear, leaving people with a serene kind of feeling.

The speed boat breezed through the sea at high speeds for 40 some minutes. It was possible to occasionally see other giant seagoing vessels travelling across the horizon.

Finally, a blue Panamax class container ship, with HEUNG-A painted on its side, slowly appeared on the horizon. Seeing this, Ye Qing knew their destination was approaching.

HEUNG-A was one of Korea’s well known sea shipping corporations, as they owned many cargo and oil transport ships.

The speed boat was piloted next to this 45,000 ton monster, then two hooks dropped down from above, were secured onto the speed boat, and slowly lifted them up.

Several seamen in bright red clothing quickly gathered. The looks they gave the peon were completely incredible. The nearly 2 meter tall muscle head, no matter where he went, would always be a conversation topic.

Moreover, that muscle head was carrying a clearly heavy piece of mechanical equipment in each hand.

Exchanging several greetings, a man from the gathered group walked forward, and said in some very rusty Mandarin: “Hello, welcome onto the Yoshio.”

“Hi!” Ye Qing nodded. The seaman was covered in oil stains, and his clothing was different from everyone else. Ye Qing guessed that this was most likely the Chief mechanic onboard.

“Mr. Kim, don’t you think we should head to the engine room, and check up on the power shaft?” Liu Yuanzheng urgently asked.

Tens of thousands tons worth of his produce were on the ship, if they wasted more time and the produce started to rot, then he was seriously going to go broke.

Seriously, don’t expect those guys to give any compensation, the compensation for transporting errors was already low enough domestically, so don’t expect those Koreans to give much higher. Because the amount of conscience a capitalist has is the same around the world; none.

“Sir, I need to ask, how are you going to repair the split power shaft?” Kim Hunhil slowly asked: “Because, just before, even the mechanics from Huaxing weren’t able to fix the shaft.”

“Probably either welding or with metal powder.” Ye Qing didn’t pay him any mind, can or cannot wasn’t just stated, rather it was proven with real abilities.

“Can you guarantee the resulting structural strength? This power shaft was created by Hyundai Heavy Industries. Their metallurgy techniques are much superior than you think. If after you’ve repaired it, it splits again, then what?”

“Worse comes to worst, I’ll do it free?” Ye Qing found this somewhat hilarious. If this really was high tech, then how did it split in the first place?

“That can’t do, we need to sign a contract. If it still splits after repairs, then you need to pay for wasting our time.” Kim Hunhil sourly stated: “If it wasn’t for Mr.Liu’s strong request of fixing the shaft, we would’ve already contacted for a tugboat from Zhongyun harbour to tow the ship.”

“We’ve already wasted 4 hours, it’s all thanks to Mr. Liu that we agreed to fix the shaft. Otherwise we would already be in the harbour, starting to unload everything for transferring.”

Ye Qing didn’t reply, but Liu Yuanzheng was pissed to the point almost literally slaughtering him.

Cargo ship transferring wasn’t as simple as parking two cars together and having someone move the stuff from one to the other.

The cargo cranes at the dock all had their own workable range, which was very short, and very slow. The transferring from one cargo ship to another involved having the crane remove the containers from the ship, lower them individually onto trucks, ship them to another ship, and use the cargo crane to stack them again.

For several thousand containers, it was basically impossible without at least two days, and that was with at least 6 operable cranes working together at the dock.