Car transport ships set sail to save money
LONG BEACH, Calif. -- So far, the Auriga Leader has been a lucky ship.
While lots of car carrier ships are languishing at anchor around the world, the pride of the NYK Line has stayed busy hauling shiny new Toyotas from Japan to the West Coast of the U.S.
The auto industry's troubles around the world have spilled over into the oceans. The transportation industry that thrived with growing exports of vehicles around the world has suffered right along with automakers.
NYK, which says it has more car carriers than any other line, knows that well. At least a fifth of its 120 towering carriers are idle, fully manned and ready to go if the car market bounces back.
After the bottom dropped out of car sales, Toyota's monthly shipments of cars from Japan to the West Coast fell as low as just one in February. At the time, unsold cars were backed up on the docks in Long Beach, and the company was looking for more storage space, says Brian Mason, who handles Toyota's shipping logistics.
As the recession has eased a little, Toyota now is sending seven shiploads of cars a month — an improvement, but still a far cry from the 10 or 12 ships a month when the auto business was at full tilt a couple of years ago.
The pickup in business is encouraging to NYK. "If anything, we are pulling more ships back in service," says Taro Matsushige, a U.S.-based senior manager of operations for NYK.
But for now, Matsushige says the line is doing what it can to save money wherever it can. The Auriga Leader and other car carriers, for example, are running at reduced speeds to save fuel. A 12-day trip can take 15 days now.
NYK is finding other way to save money, as well. Ships time their entry into ports so that they arrive in daytime, not at night, when harbor pilots charge higher rates.
The Auriga Leader, which just went to sea in January, has another money-saving feature: 328 deck-top solar panels that produce enough juice from the sun to power the ship's machinery, such as steering gear and the ventilation fans on the cargo decks.
On this particular trip, the 656-foot Auriga Leader, which is capable of carrying more than 6,200 vehicles on 12 decks, brought in only 4,000.
Many of the ship's 22 crewmembers have served aboard other types of craft; sailing on car carriers is different from other types of freighters or container ships: "The cargo is more expensive than the ship," explains the Romanian captain, Eugen State.
Every day at sea, State dispatches crewmembers every four hours to walk among the cars on the 12 decks, constantly checking to make sure the valuable vehicles are properly lashed, keeping a watch out for fire and generally making sure everything is shipshape.
Life aboard a car carrier has its rewards, such as the stunning views of the sea at dawn and sunset. But at times, it can be tedious. Officers are aboard at least four months at a stretch, and the ships are rarely in port either in Japan or the U.S. longer than 12 hours.
First Officer Andrei Mocanu says he's wanted to go to sea ever since visiting ships as a boy. Despite the weak economy, a worldwide shortage of ships' officers has kept his skills in demand. But months at sea make it hard to have a family. He keeps in touch with his wife in Constanza, Romania, by e-mail and occasionally, telephone.
The crew passes their down time aboard ship playing cards, watching videos or napping.
Though English is the official language on board, the ship's chef serves both Romanian and Filipino dishes. On one day, for instance, the Filipino crew dined on fish filets for lunch, while the Romanians had steak.
One crewmember, Llonel Quierez, 21, of Manila, the Philippines, said he had trouble adjusting to sea life at first. He's been on the ship for seven months, yet the longest stretch of shore leave was five hours in Portland, Ore.
He works primarily in the galley, but is trying to spend more time learning deck work. When he's off, "I read news, check e-mail and study navigation," Quierez says.