Comments (Newest First):

 

Post 3944

  vic matcham , dover

There is no more I can add that I have not said before but thank you again for a great page and the photos t,they are not only seen in our town but all round the world. And lots of Dover public that have moved over seas look in each week ,so again well done.

Thursday, 9 February 2017 - 10:36

 

Post 3943

  Sea News, Dover

Great pictures below the page from all the team of all the activity...
From Ed in the Dover Strait
From Sarah in Ramsgate/Margate
and from Mike inshore
don't miss those posts further below

A few extra pictures now from yours truly's location of the arriving Havila Phoenix yesterday morning around about 07.30...

  
   
 
She left us last night about 7.30PM.
Gosh I thought it was gloomy for pictures yesterday morning until I saw it this morning... crikey! PB.

Thursday, 9 February 2017 - 07:31

 

Post 3942

  Ed Connell, Dover Strait

Atlantic Reefer at the DCT on Tuesday with Pride of Canterbury laying up on the Eastern Arm.





Thursday, 9 February 2017 - 01:06

 

Post 3941

  Ed Connell, Dover Strait

More views of Havila Phoenix.




Thursday, 9 February 2017 - 00:58

 

Post 3940

  Mike J., Dover

Excellent series of pix from Sarah of the Margate lifeboat trials - the launching tractor & the turntable trolley are amazing bits of equipment.

The HAVILA PHOENIX came in about 0800 Wednesday for stores & crew change on Cruise-2.
She sailed about 1930 & returned to the area of Sandettie lioghtvessel where she is involved with the laying of power cables between Ramsgate [Pegwell Bay] & Belgium.






Wednesday, 8 February 2017 - 23:46

 

Post 3939

  Sarah, Ramsgate

Further photos from Margate







Photos from Ramsgate





Wednesday, 8 February 2017 - 20:26

 

Post 3938

  Sarah, Ramsgate

Thanks Barry & Paul.
Day 2 of Relief Lifeboat 13-04 in Thanet.

At Margate











Wednesday, 8 February 2017 - 20:23

 

Post 3937

  Barry WS, Dover

Great photos of the Ramsgate lifeboats, Sarah

Wednesday, 8 February 2017 - 14:26

 

Post 3936

  Sea News, Dover

 
Some pictures now of the Atlantic Reefer joining us in Port yesterday morning around about 9am. An early arrival for our ol friend...she has since departed for Hamburg, leaving in the dead of the dark night. A fast turnaround once again. The pictures alas are almost monochrome...well its the murk and gloom, its done for us...

 

A great collection below from Ramsgate from the camera of our 'roving correspondent'...Sarah H.
Great work Sarah - don't miss those.


Wednesday, 8 February 2017 - 07:46

 

Post 3935

  Sarah, Ramsgate

More from today











Tuesday, 7 February 2017 - 18:45

 

Post 3934

  Sarah, Ramsgate

Relief Shannon Class Lifeboat arriving at Ramsgate today.











Tuesday, 7 February 2017 - 18:41

 

Post 3933

  Sea News, Dover

The Palembang heavy lift ship began to move away yesterday morning about 10.15pm carrying the huge transformer and heading off to Rotterdam in the blinding sunlight. Pictures were a tad difficult..shooting into the sun, but we have a couple to show anyway and here we are. A very impressive ship.
 

The Calais jungle was featured on the BBC NEWS yesterday....migrants are supposedly returning, so this latest Charlie Elphicke newsletter is right on the money. Hopefully that jungle wont be able to re-establish itself over there in Calais. The tourists struggled with it, the truckers struggled with it, and the town itself took a massive hit.

  

The Calais Jungle must not be allowed to return...says Charlie Elphicke MP.
___________________________________________________________

Dear Mr Boland,

On Friday I went to Calais. I wanted to see for myself whether the French had kept their pledge to stop the Jungle migrant camp from returning.

For years they had allowed the camp to grow. By the summer of 2016 it was home to 10,000 people, including hundreds of children. And lurking in the shadows were criminal gangs preying on the vulnerable.

As the Jungle grew, so did the number of attacks on tourists and truckers on the approach road to the Port of Calais. Ruthless people traffickers, armed with anything from chainsaws to machetes, would launch burning trees across the road. They were putting people’s lives at risk in reckless attempts to stop traffic so desperate migrants could clamber on board Dover-bound lorries.

No matter how many walls and fences were built, the problem never went away. It became clear the only way to tackle this problem would be to dismantle the camp for good.

So during the summer I fought harder than ever to get this done, working closely with the Calais authorities throughout. It was a long and hard battle yet we never gave in. And in October last year the French Government caved in and work to clear the Jungle finally began.

Britain took in hundreds of cold and starving children, meaning they had a roof over their head and a warm bed at Christmas. Vulnerable people living in the camp were moved to centres across France, where they have sanitation and running water in place of the squalor of the Jungle.

We also took action to tackle the number of people reaching our shores on small craft. Too often we saw migrants land on the beaches of Dover and Deal. Who knows how many were arriving undetected.

So security has been stepped up along our shore and the Jungle has been cleared. Yet the migrant crisis has not gone away. That’s why I’ve been putting pressure on the French to make sure they stop any new camps from forming – before the first tent is pitched.

I was pleased to see on Friday that what was once a squalid camp of ramshackle tents and makeshift shops is now completely empty. It was hard to believe that just a few months ago, thousands of people were living here in awful conditions.
So far the French have succeeded in keeping Calais clear. Yet we must all remain vigilant. The Jungle must never be allowed to return.

And in Dover we must invest in building a modern border – fit for Brexit Britain. That means using state-of-the-art technology, data sharing and surveillance to tighten security while keeping trade free flowing.

My top priority is making Brexit work for Dover and Deal. We must start by strengthening our borders and working to make sure the Calais Jungle is gone for good.


Charlie Elphicke MP for Dover and Deal.


* *

Glad you are getting a wee bit better Vic. Keep going.

Tuesday, 7 February 2017 - 07:20

 

Post 3932

  vic matcham , dovor

Thanks for asking after me feeling some what better so lets hope with the sun coming out now it will also help. I look in each day at this great page and the photos of our great port,
If we do move away oneday it will be good still to look into this page.

Monday, 6 February 2017 - 20:16

 

Post 3931

  Sea News, Dover

  
NEW BOOK TELLS THE STORY OF P&O FERRIES AS COMPANY MARKS 180TH ANNIVERSARY OF ITS BIRTH
___________________________________________________________________________________________


THE enthralling story of one of the world's most famous shipping companies is told in a new book released last week which marks the 180th anniversary of the founding of P&O in 1837.

P&O Ferries, which commissioned P&O 180, remains a household name to this day and carries more than ten million passengers on its ships every year.

Janette Bell, Managing Director of P&O Ferries, said: "The story of how the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company began life delivering mail on behalf of the Government to Spain and Portugal and within a few decades had become one of the most celebrated and best known shipping lines in the world deserves to be retold as P&O celebrates its 180th anniversary this year."

"The company's founders included two titans of Victorian business, a shipbroker called Brodie McGhie Willcox and his partner Arthur Anderson, whose journey from curing fish on the beaches of his native Shetland Islands to Managing Director of P&O is one of the great rags to riches stories of the nineteenth century."

"Willcox and Anderson expanded P&O's services to the Mediterranean, Egypt and India. By the 1860s, the company was also running services to China, Singapore and Australia. It is no exaggeration to say that the mail service was considered one of the wonders of its age, providing a lifeline to home for the many Britons working overseas, often in the most far-flung corners of the world."

"P&O became a British institution in times of both peace and war, providing vital tonnage for World War 1, World War 2 and more recently the Falklands War. Today, the services which P&O Ferries run to France, Holland, Belgium and Ireland cover many of the same routes which the company's ships have traversed over the last 180 years."

P&O 180 - the history of P&O Ferries is published by Lily Publications and can be ordered from www.ferrypubs.co.uk.

P&O Ferries is a leading pan-European ferry and logistics company, sailing on eight major routes between Britain, France, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Holland and Belgium. It operates 20 vessels which carry more than 10 million passengers, 1.6 million cars and 2.2 million freight units every year.

Together with its logistics division, P&O Ferrymasters, the company also operates integrated road and rail links to countries across the continent including Italy, Poland and Romania. A P&O Ferrymasters-owned rail terminal in the northern Romanian city of Oradea, which will facilitate the onward movement of goods to Britain from the Silk Road, became operational last year.

ENDS

Many thanks to the team at P&O for the item above. Looks a fascinating book for sure.

Following along from Mike's pictures in the previous post below...another couple of shots here of the Palembang arriving yesterday sunday about 2.30pm. She has come to collect the huge transformer seen in post 3458.
   


Don't miss those pix below from Mike.
A great collection below there from our 'inshore correspondent'!



Monday, 6 February 2017 - 06:31

 

Post 3930

  Mike J., Dover

Arrival of PALEMBANG Sunday afternoon.








Monday, 6 February 2017 - 00:59

 

Post 3929

  Sea News, Dover

Thanks Jeremy - glad you are enjoying it all. Many more exciting items to come as we go along, so keep on looking in.
Paul

Sunday, 5 February 2017 - 11:09

 

Post 3928

  Jeremy Ward, Whitfield, Dover

Wow great photo's of all the goings on, love this site. Thanks.

Sunday, 5 February 2017 - 09:26

 

Post 3927

  Sea News, Dover

Another pic of the Afon Lligwy taken about 12.45pm yesterday as she meandered around the harbour presumably undertaking survey work. While she was doing all that, going about her essential business, back into camera view popped the Duzgit Harmony. Yours truly appears to be obsessing with the Duzgits lately. But here she was again departing the Port of Dover aided and abetted by the pilot boat. This time leaving by the western exit. She is in and out and back and forth more often than ...well I don't know. I gather she was off to Dunkerque this time. And there she goes below...
  
   
 

Note the wild geese (?) passing through...
Interesting collection below there Mike. You had a busy day. Especially good catch of the transformer. PB.

Sunday, 5 February 2017 - 06:35

 

Post 3926

  Mike J., Dover

Here's the Antiguan-flagged PALEMBANG thru the drizzle earlier this morning,
She's been anchored in the Downs for a few days waiting for the transformer from Sellindge.


The transformer is now in the docks after the overnight closure of the A20.
The HOLYHEAD BAY is getting underway from the tug haven - would have been nice to have a train going by as well !


The AFON LLIGWY was working out in the bay on Saturday, towing quite a large piece of surveying equipment which surfaced from time to time.


A large number of cormorants were keeping an eye on proceceedings from the breakwater.




Saturday, 4 February 2017 - 15:42

 

Post 3925

  Sea News, Dover

Thanks for that Andrew - a great piece of info below there.

Sorry to hear you are still unwell Vic. Hope you get better soon. Keep going.
Glad you are still liking all the ships too-ing and fro-ing.

Paul

Saturday, 4 February 2017 - 12:34