Container ship tour

Recently, I got to go on a tour of the CMA CGM Georgia, a large container ship belonging to one of the marine dry cargo shippers my company uses to ship products. It was a cool opportunity to see some of the port facilities and to go on a very large boat.
The tour was very interesting. We got to see the process of how cargo moves from ship through offloading, customs, etc. and onto the highway, or vice versa. We got a detailed behind-the-scenes tour of this 1000-foot cargo ship, including meeting with the captain and chief engineer. I got to go onto the bridge, sit in the captain's chair, and examine the navigational equipment.

I also got to visit the engine control room, which is air conditioned, but smelled strongly of oil, and the engine area, which was very hot and so noisy you had to yell and be within a few feet to speak with another person. You would need ear protection if you were there for more than a few minutes. I believe there are ten cylinders to the engine, and each had a turbocharger alone the size of a room. It was very interesting, but I can’t imagine how unpleasant it would have been to work in the boiler room of an old coal-fired ship.

They actually have a few passenger cabins on most freighters and some companies allow you to book "cruises" on these freighters to obscure destinations. It's cheaper than normal cruising, but the amenities are awfully sparse. You'd be spending a lot of time reading and watching movies or playing ping pong with the small, international crew. This ship had a crew of 18, mostly Romanians and Filipinos. There is a small pool, exercise room, and lounge, but it would be nothing like a normal cruise.

It was interesting to watch the cranes loading cargo and see how efficient many of the operations are. They can load/unload 1500 shipping containers within 24 hours, so most of the port calls are fairly brief for the crew. My grandfather was a customs inspector in San Francisco when that was a major shipping port, and I thought how he would have enjoyed seeing how things have changed since his days going aboard arriving ships.