Oldendorff Centenary Book - Flipbook - Page 214
Her complement of about 30
was less than that of 10,000 tdw
trampers built in the 1950s and
about the same as the crew of bulk
carrier MAGDALENA OLDENDORFF,
six years her senior and half her
size. So revolutionary appeared this
novelty that the shipping editor of
the Hamburger Abendblatt daily
captioned:
CHRISTOFFER (2)
1963-1983
“Bridge Automation – Will the
Bogy Man Take Over?” Walter Döll
continued to describe to his readers
the new features of the ship: “Here are
the advantages of remote control:
/N
o need for the officer on watch
to repeat orders.
/T
he engineer on watch can
devote his undivided attention
to engine monitoring and to
maintenance work.
/ No more faulty manoeuvres.
/ Engine gets gentler treatment.
“What is more, the automatic
devices have a memory and
record every order that has been
issued. But automated shipboard
operations have problems of their
own. What may be good for a fully
automated steel rolling plant does
not necessarily apply to a ship.
At sea there are no standardised
and repetitious working cycles,
pre-planned and automatically
programmed to the last detail, as
found in manufacturing plants. You
can use a robot where its job can
be schematised and expressed in a
formula. A ship is exposed to winds,
weather and currents which escape
pre-planning. A ship-borne robot
would constantly have to correct
its own actions, and that defines
the limits of shipboard automation.
Yet, modern shipbuilding technology
holds tremendous promises of
relief for the future. Tomorrow’s
seafarers will more than ever before
be engineers requiring special
courses in addition to nautical
training, in such subjects as, for
JOBST (2)
1963-1980
mv JOBST OLDENDORFF (2) with
the later grey hull painting
210
