P Rajkumar, Chief Engineer

The ship was a product carrier carrying HSD. While cargo discharge was going on, there was a black out.On investigating found the Main Engine JCW line expansion bellow gave away due to material failure, creating loss of water in the system. Main Engine was on preheat from the Auxiliary Engine cooling water system. Hence the auxiliary engines (two numbers running at that time) lost water and hence the black out.Emergency generator came on load automatically, emergency air compressor was started and emergency air bottle filled up. The bellow was replaced from spares.

Temporary cable arrangement was given to hydrophore pump and the expansion tank was filled up and the system was filled with FW, purged the system. Generators were started and the cargo work restored.It was found that the bellows were painted and had become hard. As a preventive measure all the bellows in the Main Engine and auxiliary engine system were replaced with new ones, and a guard was fitted above that to prevent any body from painting it.