After travelling through Australia with an RV, we travelled back, at least partially, with a container ship. We started in Fremantle, Australia, on January 20, 2020, and arrived in Tajung Pelepas, Malaysia, on January 30, 2020. As I was asked much more about this part than the rest, here a few pictures from the voyage. Click on the images to see comments.
Update: the Alina and Roman (aka slowaround ), who had been travelling with us on the ship, have made a blog entry too .
"Our" ship while loading in Fremantle, AU, the day before we board
The gangway up the CMA CGM Puccini
View of the cabin on deck E - unfortunately with containers in front
View of the cabin on deck F - lucky: above the top containers
Our cabin
... quite a few floors with stairs outside ...
... and inside
on the side, looking up to the bridge
Containers in the front ...
... and in the back
The gap between the containers in the front and the "living part" from deck E
Same gap between the containers in the front and the "living part", but from the upper deck (which means the lowest deck above the entry)
The bridge
Leaving Fremantle in beautiful weather ...
... but with some waves.
So many beautiful sunsets!
Taking it easy
and watching the sea
... getting hotter while going north
relaxing is easy (though it is quite loud there due the engine behind and below)
All passengers - yes, only 5 plus myself - gathering on the bridge for another sunset
Few days into our voyage, the first officer deems the sea water fit (= above 27 degrees) for the pool
no cruise ship, but ...
... life can be hard on a container ship ...
We got to see the engine room - you have to add in your thoughts the 45+ degrees in here. The engine is roughly 3 floors in height, has 10 cylinders (a replacement piston can be seen hanging in the back), 80000 PS - and uses at moderate speeds 55 tons of fuel per day (up to 160 with maximum speed)
Rain front approaching ...
... heavy rain for a change
This is the way to the bow of the ship (full length is a bit more than 277m), below the front containers
at the bow looking back
... for the BBQ. BTW, the person in front is the captain - and he is not dressed like this for the BBQ, it is his normal outfit (though he wears long jeans when a pilot is on board).
passengers ...
... and crew later that day
Speaking about food: another thing we got lucky with - the cook from Sri Lanka was doing an excellent job, including vegetarian food especially for us
Early morning coming to Jakarta
Arriving at the port of Jakarta
Jakarta and its smog ...
The port of Jakarta is much larger than Fremantle
The complexity is very impressive ... and we get the feeling that simply too many things get shipped around the world
Passing Singapore - you might recognize the hotel Marina Bay Sands behind the red ship.
Our final stop in Tajung Pelepas in Malaysia - close to Singapore - in the back you can see the MSC Nela, one of the largest container ships ... see how much higher it is loaded than ours.
MSC Nela - it can fit 22000 containers - our Puccini "only" close to 6000
Unloading at port - finally 2 towers of containers are gone ...
... but of course containers continue below deck.
We enjoyed the trip very much!