To date The Grand Bahama Shipyard has stemmed a total of

[JACEK1]

Hello.

To date The Grand Bahama Shipyard has stemmed a total of nine cruise ships for docking during this year and hopes to secure work on a further three vessels.

In my opinion, "To date The Grand Bahama Shipyard has stemmed a total of nine cruise ships for docking during this year" means that "So far The Grand Bahama Shipyard has succeeded, in spite of difficulties, in gaining/winning a total of nine cruise ships for docking during this year".

Stem (verb)
To make headway against (a tide or current, for example).

What is your opinion?

Thank you.

 

[JACEK1]

I typed "Grand Bahama Shipyard" and there was no mention of any new buildings anywhere. In my opinion, the verb "stem" means "manage to secure orders". I don't think RobertJ is right but I may as well be wrong. Could some of the native speakers of English provide explanation of the word "stem"?

 

[bhaisahab]

I can't think of any meaning of the verb 'stem' that would make that sentence comprehensible.

 

[JACEK1]

How about "make progress against (any opposition)"?

 

[JACEK1]

Could I quote in this thread another sentence that includes the verb "stem" and is connected with ships?

 

[GoesStation]

When you say that something stems from​ something else, you mean the first originates with the second. It would not be natural to use "to stem" about building ships.

 

[JACEK1]

There is no "from" after "stem" in "my" text.

 

[andrewg927]

I typed "Grand Bahama Shipyard" and there was no mention of any new buildings anywhere. In my opinion, the verb "stem" means "manage to secure orders". I don't think RobertJ is right but I may as well be wrong. Could some of the native speakers of English provide explanation of the word "stem"?

I don't see why a shipyard can't be ground for building ships. What do you think shipyards are for?

 

[andrewg927]

Hello.

To date The Grand Bahama Shipyard has stemmed a total of nine cruise ships for docking during this year and hopes to secure work on a further three vessels.

In my opinion, "To date The Grand Bahama Shipyard has stemmed a total of nine cruise ships for docking during this year" means that "So far The Grand Bahama Shipyard has succeeded, in spite of difficulties, in gaining/winning a total of nine cruise ships for docking during this year".

Stem (verb)
To make headway against (a tide or current, for example).

What is your opinion?

Thank you.

The phrase "hope to secure work" in the future only makes me agree more with what Robert has said. Native speakers use nouns as verbs all the time.

 

[JACEK1]

RobertJ. Please accept my apologies. I didn't mean to offend you by saying that you are not a native speaker but how should I know.

 

[JACEK1]

I don't know. As far as I know, this shipyard repairs ships. Besides, if a ship is constructed from stem to stern, that means, from scratch, why would such a ship enter dry-dock? She would leave dry-dock.

 

[andrewg927]

I don't know. As far as I know, this shipyard repairs ships. Besides, if a ship is constructed from stem to stern, that means, from scratch, why would such a ship enter dry-dock? She would leave dry-dock.

According to your quote, they just do the stem (not from scratch). I don't know anything about building ships but one thing for sure, they can't just build a ship from scratch. You need a lot of pre-made parts.

 

[Rover_KE]

RobertJ. Please accept my apologies. I didn't mean to offend you by saying that you are not a native speaker but how should I know?

Click on Robert's Member Info and you'll see:

Member Info

• Native Language: English
• Home Country: United States
• Current Location: United States

 

[Barb_D]

The part that makes me confused is "for docking during."

To date The Grand Bahama Shipyard has stemmed a total of nine cruise ships for docking during this year and hopes to secure work on a further three vessels.

If they are using "to stem" to mean "to lay the stem" (perhaps the way we "lay a cornerstone" to say we start construction on a building) and "for docking during" were not there, it would make perfect sense (although I have not heard "to stem" used that way). But I cannot make sense of the work having been done ("it has stemmed") with "for docking during this year."

By the way, Jacek, they certainly do build ships in a shipyard, as well as repair and refurbish them.

 

[JACEK1]

That's exactly what I mean. Would ships be constructed only to be dry docked. That is against logic.

 

[JACEK1]

To make sure that I know what the word means, I started another thread related to it.

 

[andrewg927]

Hi Jacek, do you mind providing us with the source of this sentence? I tried to google it but could not find the exact sentence. Thanks.

 

[probus]

I agree with RobertJ that this is probably some professional jargon from a small and little-known industry.

Another possible explanation is that it is part of a local Bahamian dialect.

 

[JACEK1]

The name of the magazine is International Shiprepair News MAY/JUNE 2002. The article in the magazine is entitled " Grand Bahama Shipyard fully operational - sees a flood of CRUISE SHIP CONTRACTS. Thee article is on page 20 to 22. The sentence in question is on page 21.