Comments (Newest First):

 

Post 4006

  Sea News, Dover

Sunrise at Dover 8 : this is the striking stunning sunrise yesterday morning Friday...looking across the Port and through the gantry at berth no eight, as you can see, or indeed just about see through the early darkness. The sun burst through to change all that of course.

The guy below ambled through at waters edge the day before. Not the worlds greatest wildlife shot by any means as yours truly doesn't have the lenses, but worth showing as you don't generally see this kind of bird often splashing about at Dover...what particular type it is gawd knows?
  

Del
Fascinating pictures below Ed. Good to see as ever. PB.

Saturday, 11 March 2017 - 06:10

 

Post 4005

  Del Styan, Norwich

For once I agree with Charlie.

Friday, 10 March 2017 - 23:26

 

Post 4004

  Ed Connell, Dover Strait

Tug Diavlos Pride towing a barge with two container cranes. In the Southwest lane this morning bound for Las Palmas.



Friday, 10 March 2017 - 09:39

 

Post 4003

  Sea News, Dover

We must never forget the Herald victims - or its lessons
_____________________________________________

Message from Charlie Elphicke MP ......

This week marks the 30th anniversary of the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster. On 6 March 1987, the Herald of Free Enterprise sailed out of the Belgian port of Zeebrugge for what was fatefully to be the last time. The bow doors of the ferry were not closed. Water came pouring in. The ship capsized. 193 people tragically lost their lives.

This is the 30th year we have gathered together in Dover to remember the worst peacetime maritime disaster of recent times. We gather together partly so that those who live on and have lost their loved ones know that we stand with them. They will never walk alone – our community will always walk with them.

We gather because as Bishop James Jones movingly said in his address at St Mary’s Church on Monday, we do not seek closure. We seek remembrance of those our community knew and we seek acceptance – to be able to live with the terrible events. We cannot change what happened but it is still so hard to accept.

We gather together because we know we must also remember. The lessons of this tragedy must never be forgotten. Since that fateful day, alarm systems warn if anything is amiss, crew regulations have been tightened, any water coming in is swiftly monitored, a more careful lookout is required and much more. Our ferries must not just be seen to be the safest in the world. They must be the safest in the world. There must not be any backsliding from the regulations that came in to see that this is so.

So many in our community were affected by this dreadful event. I was so moved to hear the heartrending stories of the survivors. How a little girl managed to get picked up in a boat when the people she was close to in the sea did not. How some, by chance of place, managed to make it to safety while others did not. And how still others should have been aboard but were not by a late change of plan.

It is the seemingly random hand of chance that caused some to live and others to be lost that so many find so hard to deal with. How can you ever hope to fathom meaning in that which has none? For so many that is what makes this terrible event all the harder to cope with.

For me, this is why Bishop James was right in saying we should not seek closure, but acceptance. We cannot change what happened. Yet with acceptance we can respect the loved ones who were lost and perhaps lessen the pain.

We will never forget the victims. We will never forget what happened. We will always be there to care for the families and loved ones who live on. This is why I am so proud of the timeless values of our community here in Dover and Deal.


Ends

We all echo those sentiments above - many thanks to Charlie there. PB.

* *

   

A couple of pictures above of the departing Force India superyacht on wednesday morning. Taken just as she was catching the delightful early morning light. Of course this superyacht has visited us before here at the Port of Dover...there will be more pictures via our search engine, but there she goes again a few days ago. Look at that person on the bow, it looks like an enthusiastic female taking the bracing ozone, gone as the yacht turns southwest...hopefully she didn't fall in...no..no..no..





Friday, 10 March 2017 - 07:08

 

Post 4002

  Sea News, Dover

  
Dover Western Docks Revival (DWDR) creating lasting legacy for local jobs
____________________________________________________________

Port of Dover’s flagship Dover Western Docks Revival (DWDR) development pledge to create lasting skills and quality employment opportunities for local people has begun.

The Port of Dover and its Principal Contractor, VolkerStevin Boskalis Westminster (VSBW), will be sponsoring and in attendance at the upcoming Dover Jobs Fair, organised by MP Charlie Elphicke, at Dover Town Hall on Friday 17th March between 10am – 3pm.

Local job seekers will be able to discuss the range of vacancies that are available now and throughout the next two years of construction, ensuring the local community benefit from the job opportunities DWDR will create.

Tim Waggott, Chief Executive of the Port of Dover, said: "The Port is committed to playing its part in delivering the vision for the Dover Western Docks Revival, as the town continues to see an unprecedented level of investment.

"The team behind the delivery of DWDR are keen to work with the local supply chain to ensure a lasting legacy for the community."

Local suppliers and sub-contractors will also have the opportunity to find out how they can be involved through the local supply chain at the DWDR Meet the Buyer event at the Cruise Terminal 1 on the 4th April between 3pm – 8pm.

Stuart Eckersley, VSBW Project Director, said: "As the principal contractor for Dover Western Docks Revival, VSBW are committed to attracting and developing a talented local workforce, leaving a long-term legacy and contributing to the future prosperity of Dover."

Local businesses and contractors will be able to talk to the engineers and procurement staff in order to get an idea as to the range of services required to help deliver the regeneration of Dover.

With DWDR integral to securing existing and creating employment for future generations to come, Dover and Deal MP Charlie Elphicke said: "It was great to see the work at the Western Docks. This is an important project in securing a better future for Dover and Deal.

"Our area is now getting more of the investment it deserves - with shops, restaurants and new homes on the way.

"Burlington House is down and building in Dover town centre is progressing apace.

"We’re starting to show what can be achieved when we roll up our sleeves and work together. Let’s keep it up and help make Destination Dover and Deal a reality."

ENDS

Picture above left to right shows Stuart Eckersley, Tim Waggott, and MP Charlie Elphicke all quoted in the body copy above.

   

Also just in.... jointly from the Port of Dover, Dover District Council, and Highways England.


A20 pedestrian crossing improvement works
________________________________________

In addition to the recent completion of the A20 Junction Improvement Scheme in February, we are delivering improvement work to the pedestrian crossing at the Union Street junction, adjacent to the entrance with Snargate Street. This improvement will incorporate the recently installed MOVA "smart" traffic lights to deliver the best flow of traffic and ensure safety to the public.

Starting on the 14th March and running until 30th March, this will include a single lane closure in both directions between Union Street and York Street junctions from 6am until 6pm. The lane closures will be lifted every evening to reinstate the road to a dual carriageway. Eastbound traffic will be merged before the Limekiln roundabout, whilst westbound traffic will merge just after Woolcomber Street junction.


The traffic light system at Union Street and York Street junctions will continue to be fully operational throughout the pedestrian crossing improvement work, and following completion will be monitored and refined further over the following weeks to deliver optimum traffic flows.


All partners thank the public for their patience and understanding whilst these key improvement works are delivered for Dover.

ENDS


Below we have a further picture of the Havila Phoenix, she returned to Port yesterday and here she is at the Cruise Terminal in the gloomy conditions.
She left us again during the dark night.

Many thanks to the guys at the Port for all the information as ever.





Nice gloomy shot of Elvira below Ed - the gloom continues this morning although the shipping forecast earlier seemed to indicate that an improvement might be on the cards.

Thursday, 9 March 2017 - 06:03

 

Post 4001

  Ed Connell, Dover Strait

Elvira at the DCT in the gloom this morning.


Wednesday, 8 March 2017 - 08:12

 

Post 4000

  Sea News, Dover

Rough Seas.
 
We are definitely having some tough ol' weather at the moment...the pictures here show the ferries working hard two days ago in some very rough seas indeed, The top shots were taken half an hour later than the one below which was taken in greyer earlier conditions as you can see...believe it or not the day actually cheered up a wee bit after this. That's the P&O ferry the Spirit of France above, while below we have the European Seaways of P&O fame and the DFDS ship Cote des Flandres approaching behind. Spring is coming so...better days ahead!
 

Wednesday, 8 March 2017 - 06:10

 

Post 3999

  Sea News, Dover

  
190 DOVER SCHOOLCHILDREN ARE VISITED BY THE TOWN'S LARGEST EMPLOYER, P&O FERRIES, DURING THEIR MORNING ASSEMBLY
________________________________________________________________________________________________________


CHILDREN aged between four and 12 at St Richard's Catholic Primary School in Dover experienced an assembly with a difference this week when a representative from P&O Ferries dropped in to tell them about their town's largest employer.

More than 15 of the 190 children knew someone who worked at the ferry and logistics company, whose headquarters is located less than two miles from the school. Every child received a P&O Ferries' colouring pack and a lucky few even tried on a chief engineer's hat.

Jill Chapman, Headteacher at St Richard's Catholic Primary School, said: "The children found the presentation very interesting, as it was packed full of information. The older children were especially engaged. It made me think of doing a crossing myself."

The children asked more than 20 questions including 'where do P&O Ferries sail to?' and 'can P&O Ferries fit buses on their ships?'. They laughed out loud when they were told that the 55,000 sausages a year which the company sells on the English Channel would be 40 times the size of Big Ben if they were lined up one after the other.

Jacqueline Burns, Corporate Communications Officer at P&O Ferries, said: "We are celebrating our 180th anniversary this year and are very happy to be able to tell these local children more about the biggest employer in their community. We have been invited back to give a career presentation to the older children in the summer and hope that some of them will come to work for us when they grow up."

P&O Ferries' stakeholder project offers visits to schools, colleges and businesses within the local community. This is a totally free initiative. The visit is tailored to school requirements and their current projects. It can be a talk, with learning materials and other artefacts, judging a competition or providing an insight into the world of ferries and logistics.

ENDS

   
Many thanks to the team at P&O for the above item. Nice story for sure.

* *

Many thanks to Mark for the poignant words on the Herald of Free Enterprise.
We left it in top slot for the day to mark the anniversary.
Mark said it all so well on all our behalves.

Thanks to Patrick for the up-to-the-minute picture.

Well done Ed below - good shot that of the Lombok Strait and thanks for that info on the giant ships.

Thanks to Mike too for all the info as ever....
here is another yellow boat. This time its Maverick battling back to Port in rough seas a couple of days ago. The picture isn't sharp but it nevertheless conveys the blustery rough tough conditions out there recently...
Choppy waters....
 





Tuesday, 7 March 2017 - 06:04

 

Post 3998

  Patrick, Marine Parade

Monday, 6 March 2017 - 19:41

 

Post 3997

  Mark Rushton, Northants

Just a quick one to mark 30 years since HOFE was lost at Zeebrugge. My, how time flies. My mum worked on all the boats at the time, interviewing passengers for the Government survey, so I had no way of knowing for a few frantic hours whether IPCS had a team on board or not - they hadn't, as it turned out, but both she and her Officer husband, the late Maurice Bull, knew people who weren't so lucky. My thoughts, and I'm sure those of all who share memories on this site, are with all those who lost friends and relatives.

30 Years.



Sunday, 5 March 2017 - 22:10

 

Post 3996

  Ed Connell, Dover Strait

Lombok Strait at the DCT today.


The OOCL Poland below is one of a great number of container ships on the Europe to Far East run, discharging and loading at a range of ports at either end. Le Havre, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Southampton thence via the Suez Canal to Singapore, Kwangyang, Busan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Kaohsiung, Yantian.

Sunday, 5 March 2017 - 19:10

 

Post 3995

  Mike J., Dover

That yellow launch is run by George Hammond's & often does pilotage jobs & stores & crew transfers for ships passing the port.

George Hammonds have long been associated with the port & have many interests & until recently used to handle the stevedoring for the reefer traffic, now handled by DHB.
They still do much Agency & other marine commercial work.

Sunday, 5 March 2017 - 13:38

 

Post 3994

  Sea News, Dover

The full wide view above there of OOCL Poland passing by which we partly featured yesterday ( but not in full view ) and there we are to put that right. Below is a close up crop of the same scene...was hoping to show the black winged gulls circulating the lighthouse but its not too successful, although you can just make some out...
 The wind whips around the observation tower rafters this morning as I write... bracing PB.

Sunday, 5 March 2017 - 06:57

 

Post 3993

  Sea News, Dover

Conditions have been very rough at times. The top shot shows a vessel called Endurance and as yours truly looked across the rough sea, one could see a small boat battling its way back to Port and there she is below. She may have been doing pilotage duties or indeed taking a pilot off Endurance....but she had a rough oul time of it heading back to Port. Conditions were fairly fierce.
   
At a later time you can see our local friendly-face dredge David Church out in the channel below, doing her thing in the choppy waters...while another enormous vessel moves past. The name of the giant whopper this time is OOCL Poland. She was doing that familiar run....Hamburg to Southampton. She is another giant of enormous tonnage. I didn't get the name of the minnow in shot.
PB

Saturday, 4 March 2017 - 06:19

 

Post 3992

  Sea News, Dover

   
Above we have some pictures of Hapag-Lloyds Houston Express moving down the channel on Wednesday afternoon. She was en-route from Hamburg in Germany to Southampton here in the UK, gliding across a silvery sea. As yours truly was photographing the long range ship, a delightful yacht popped into view in the foreground to make the picture complete.

And now some more thoughts from MP Charlie Elphicke
  
Working hard to move things forward in Dover & Deal
____________________________________________

Dear Mr Boland,

More jobs and money for our area has long been a key priority. We’ve made real progress – unemployment has halved since 2010, with apprenticeships and young people being particularly successful. It’s been great to see so many new businesses starting up or expanding.

In Dover Burlington House has come down. It took so long many doubted it would ever happen. Now new steel frames are rising up, giving shape to the cinema, shops and hotel that are being built. The £50m plus St James development will make such a change to Dover and provide real momentum to the renewal of the town.

In Deal, we fought hard to get the fast train. We succeeded and it’s been a success. The prosperity it has brought the town has made a real difference - and Deal’s high street is now one of the best in the land. Small surprise it won High Street of the Year and I hope it will soon do so again.

Down at the Port of Dover, they’re handling record levels of traffic. This underlines the importance of our campaign to get the A2 dualled and the M20 lorry park built. The Western Docks revival is now moving ahead. A new marina and new jobs on the seafront should make a real difference.

We’ve done a lot, yet there is much more to do. So it was quite a surprise recently to see the new business rates revaluation. Every local authority area in Kent is seeing a fall in business rates of about 5%. Even swanky Sevenoaks sees falling business rates. So it was a shock to see the Dover district’s rates pegged for a rise of 11%. How could this be when we have so much deprivation in East Kent?

Pressing the Communities Secretary on the issue, it’s become clear this rise is due to a revaluation of the Channel Tunnel whose business rates are allocated to the Dover district. The Tunnel will see its rates go up a lot. This means that the rest of the Dover District will see a fall of 8% - a real boost to businesses in our community. It’s also welcome that the Government plans to support smaller businesses which are affected by the ending of business rates relief.

The next key steps for our community will be to bring forward the homes we need. There are not enough homes to go round and our young people really struggle to get on the housing ladder. That’s why I am working hard to support the building of the new homes our community needs – so long as they have the infrastructure to go with it.

There is a real sense that things are moving forward in our community. No doubt there will be bumps in the road, yet real progress is being made. I will do everything I can to make sure Dover & Deal continue to move forward in the years to come.


Charlie Elphicke MP


Thanks to Charlie above there for the latest info.
The blustery channel yesterday....
 





Friday, 3 March 2017 - 06:27

 

Post 3991

  Sea News, Dover

As promised ... a couple of extra pictures here of the Olympic Triton as she moves off heading to Dunkerque...

  
There have been as many as three heavy grade cable laying vessels off Samphire but now there is none at all...no action at the moment, all quiet on the western front.

Well done to Ed and Mike for the posts below.
Cracking shots of Esmeralda at the Cargo Terminal from Ed..glad you got those Ed, yours truly could only watch in pitch darkness last night as I saw her leave heading for Flushing in Holland.
Nice pictures and info as ever Mike. Glad someone was able to make use of those logs, we certainly have the chilly weather for a good homefire at the moment. Today was...ermmm .. bracing, but at least bright.


Thursday, 2 March 2017 - 15:45

 

Post 3990

  Ed Connell, Dover Strait

Esmeralda at the DCT yesterday.



Thursday, 2 March 2017 - 09:27

 

Post 3989

  Mike J., Dover

Something different !

Clearance work was taking place on the cliff path between Eastern Docks & Langdon Cliffs on Wednesday morning in preparation for the installation of three ‘features’ along the length of the path.

The National Trust was being a little coy about what exactly the ‘art installations’ are going to be & they are awaited with interest - lets hope that they don’t clash with the attractive coastal ‘environment’

Several trees had been felled & the some of the inhabitants of the nearby Coastguard Cottages were eagerly scavenging the logs as firewood.






Wednesday, 1 March 2017 - 20:25

 

Post 3988

  Sea News, Dover

The top shot shows the cable-layer Olympic Triton moving away from the immediate Dover area early afternoon yesterday... she was heading for Dunkerque we understand. There was pretty good visibility at the time as you can see, which made a welcome change, and she passed by ultra conveniently within easy camera range. Might have some more pictures later...

The pictures below are from a day earlier and show the Police patrol boat right in close to yours trulys 'observation tower' ..they were having an in-close lookaround, perhaps they were checking out the role and long term viability of this particular EU citizen post brexit...

   
 

Now..from Dover District Council ...

Ready For Change - New Pound Coins Welcomed In DDC Parking Machines
____________________________________________________________
 
With news that the pound won’t be round for much longer, with the new 12-sided pound coin set to launch on 28 March, Dover District Council is confirming that its parking machines are ready to accept the new coins. 

DDC installed 68 new Pay & Display parking ticket machines across the district last year, and these are all set to take the new pound coins. DDC parking machines will continue to take the old pound coins until 15 October, when they cease to be legal tender. 

In addition, to help us continue to provide innovative and environmentally friendly facilities, 60 of the new parking machines are solar-powered, all of them take euros, and 11 of the machines in the busier car parks are able to accept chip & pin and contactless card payments. The Council also continues to operate the Ringo system, which means you can pay for parking using your mobile phone. 

Ends

Thanks to DDC for the above.
Exciting times...
Thanks Brendan, glad you are enjoying the pictures. I once lived in Surrey too so maybe you will eventually follow the path to the coast...where we are a bit windswept at the moment with more winds due later today. Batten down your hatches!

PaulB.





Wednesday, 1 March 2017 - 06:14

 

Post 3987

  brendan charles mcdermott, Kingston-upon-Thames Surrey (brendan66@yahoo.co.uk)

I look at your fabulous photos and wish I was there Brendan

Tuesday, 28 February 2017 - 16:32