Shipping: Finding BBC Africa

I now fully understand Jeff Druek's 12 step program.  Step one is he tells you that there will be no more photos.  Steps 2 through 11, according to Jeff, is tracking the freighter's position.  Actually, steps 2-11 are trying to figure out the freighter's position. "Trying to figure out" versus "tracking" is a significant difference.  Read on.

These steps can occupy a considerable amount of time.  Here's a short history:

• Guided Discovery was loaded on the BBC Africa on December 22.
• The ship sailed for Taipei the following day.
• The freighter's position was just off Taipei on December 25 (Latitude 25.47618, Longitude 121.5771).  She was traveling at 9 knots on a heading of 43 degrees.

You will recall that I included a link to a vessel tracking website (see below).  I returned to that web site several times since Christmas Day only to discover that the BBC Africa's position was unchanged.  So, I figured maybe she was out of range and waited for Outer Reef to send me an update.  Oops, no word from Outer Reef, which is still true as of this writing.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:121.5771/centery:25.47618/zoom:8/oldmmsi:304881000/olddate:lastknown

Meanwhile, on Thursday, January 2, Diana and I had dinner with our good friends Dick and Marjorie at the Bird Key Yacht Club.  While sitting at the bar, Dick and I attempted to locate the BBC Africa's position using my Ipad.  The link again showed that the ship was still just off Taipei.  Since we knew that was not right we started searching other vessel tracking websites and, "bingo," we found her position.  I wrote down the latitude and longitude on a napkin and then located another website that would pinpoint the location using the coordinates.  Again success.  She had moved a lot further east.

Because it had been so easy to get the latest position I did not bother to make the website a favorite or keep the napkin (big mistake).  We went on to have a wonderful dinner with our friends.

So the next day (Friday) I tried to locate BBC Africa's position.  I tried all three vessel tracking websites (see below) and could not get an update.  In fact, some of the information actually went backwards.  I repeated my effort on Saturday without success and again on Sunday morning and, again, without success. 

www.marinetraffic.com
www.vesselfinder.com
www.fleetmon.com/en/vessels/Bbc_Africa_52608‎

Note: I need to qualify "without success."  These websites do provide some information like "using engine under way," but do not give you a ship's exact position.  They will, however, sell you the information and they are not shy about their fee ($440 at Marine Traffic).  According to Fleetmon, her next port of call is Ensinda with an ETA of 8 days.  Only problem is there in no such place as "Ensinada."  There is an Ensenada in Baja California Mexico, which happens to be the only deep water port in Baja California.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensenada,_Baja_California#Maritime_industry

Then this afternoon we happened to be driving north on Tamiami Trail and since we were close to Dick and Marjorie we gave then a call and got invited to their home.  While there I shared my 12 steps frustration with Dick and, thinking perhaps that Dick was a lucky charm, tried again.  Again no success. 

Turns out Dick was the lucky charm.  He suggested I look at the browsing history on the Ipad and "bingo" we successfully located the web address that produced the position last Thursday.  I  immediately made it a favorite (see below)

http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/index/itineraries/all/mmsi:3048810000/shipname:BBC%AFRICA

Note: Using the above link I could not get the data on my laptop or on my other Ipad.  It looks like I got VERY lucky last Thursday.

The BBC Africa "midday position" at 10:47 UTC on January 25 was latitude 30.60368 north and longitude -172.9149 east moving at 13.2 knots on a heading of 88 degrees. Using Google Earth, we put the coordinates in the search bar and located her position as just northwest of the Hawaiian Islands.

Her "midnight position" (at 23:30 UTC - 10:00 PM EST), is latitude 30.59844 north and longitude -169.6817 east.  She has slowed to 13.0 knots and is still heading 88 degrees.  Her course puts her on track for Ensenada, Baja California Mexico.   So, it turns out my original guess of Vancouver British Columbia was incorrect.

So it turn out that Jeff Druek's 12 step program really works.  Well sort of.

Written by Les.