Comments (Newest First):

 

Post 6692

  Del Styan, Norwich

Love it Mark! And a Happy Christmas to all in Dover Towers - and Northants - from up here in Norfolk.
I've noticed campaigners are very keen to put up posters, not so keen to take them down after the event. But perhaps Natalie needn't worry about your poster - it's nearly gone anyway!
Anyway - good luck to the Port of Dover, whatever tomorrow brings.


Wednesday, 11 December 2019 - 23:14

 

Post 6691

  Mark Rushton, Northants

Oh dear, that poster is a mess isn't it ? I understand that 25 million people are helping police with their inquiries ! Personally, I'm ambivalent on the election. I've told the missus I can't get the spare room painted until we Get Brexit Done, so I may well run out of excuses tomorrow ! Merry Christmas to the Doverforum community from the Midlands

Wednesday, 11 December 2019 - 09:41

 

Post 6690

  Mark Rushton, Northants

…. see above..

Wednesday, 11 December 2019 - 09:41

 

Post 6689

  Sea News, Dover

More and fresh activity at the new pier WD5...another grain vessel is in and loading as you can see in the picture above taken yesterday. A rough oul day yesterday. This grain ship is called...Jongleur...and you can see her taking grain onboard in the pic above... the western end of Port beginning to get very busy now..


Oh Dear! once again!... this time its definitely...'Death of a Poster'.
The ongoing poster saga goes ..well goes on...
Whether it was the ravages of the raging wild weather that did for it, or whether it was attacked by mysterious mysterions the Natalie poster/billboard is now torn to giblets.... see also 6686, 6682, 6678.

Wonder who is responsible now to take the eyesore down...

Tug Dauntless below ...(testing.. testing one's technicals with this pic)
the tug was on standby over the past few days to help ferries berth if needed in the rough weather.


Don't miss the post below heralding the first reefer arrival at Western Cargo Terminal...

PaulB

Wednesday, 11 December 2019 - 07:45

 

Post 6688

  Sea News, Dover

A new era for Port of Dover as the Cargo Terminal West officially opens for business
___________________________________________________________________________

Cutting the Ribbon - Port of Dover Cargo team with Bram van den Broecke from Seatrade and Captain Rey Abdul L. Masilam

On Sunday 8th December, the Port of Dover’s brand-new cargo terminal officially opened its doors for business, as cargo from the Seatrade vessel Lady Rosebay was processed through the new state of the art facility. Dover Cargo Terminal West is now completely operational after five years in the making.

Nik Scott-Gray, General Manager of Port of Dover Cargo Ltd said:

"Today heralds an exciting new chapter for Port of Dover Cargo â€" it’s amazing to see the new terminal fully functional and processing such a large variety and volume of cargo using equipment, warehousing and IT systems.

The Dover Cargo business is long established as one of the best in the industry and I’m thrilled that we can now take it even further with the endless opportunities that the new terminal brings us."

Port of Dover Cargo Ltd has seen an expansion in its customer base recently, as new and existing customers have begun to make use of various features of the new facilities over the last few months, including an additional multi-purpose berth.

The business has an established and thriving trade in perishables freight from Central and South America and the new facility means that the Port now has the capability to process a whole range of commodities. Breakbulk steel rebar was recently discharged through the facility for the first time ever in Dover.

Barbara Buczek, Chief Commercial Officer at the Port of Dover added:

"I’m incredibly proud of the whole team for delivering this huge milestone moment for the Port. Port of Dover Cargo plays a major role in the success of our whole business, and I’m so pleased to see our wonderful new facility taking it to new heights."

Dover Cargo Terminal West was constructed to keep up with the demands of an ever-expanding cargo business. Lady Rosebay is the first fresh produce reefer to use the brand-new facility.

Ends


Lady Rosebay approaching the Port on Sunday morning.

As mentioned yesterday..yours truly was surprised to see Lady Rosebay above keep right on going. Was waiting all agog for her to turn as per normal with camera poised for the usual shots...
Blinded by dazzling sunlight in this picture here but you can see the gist of things as they develop...the Lady edges towards the new terminal.

The new terminal in full nightime operation below...it made quite a sight..




Many thanks to the Media Team at the Port for all the latest information above.


PaulB



Afraid not Del...

Tuesday, 10 December 2019 - 07:01

 

Post 6687

  Del Styan, Norwich

But does the light pole shine on the amended Elphicke poster at night? Perhaps not?

Monday, 9 December 2019 - 23:11

 

Post 6686

  Sea News, Dover

One of the cranes...the one temporarily at WD4 has been loading containers into a solid block of massed containers. We caught this picture a couple of days ago and guessed preparations were in order. And so it came to pass...yesterday Lady Rosebay arrived in Port and yours truly was expecting her to come about, very useful for pictures, and head into the traditional cargo terminal ( pictured previously below)...but no, not this time. This time the container ship went forward to the all-new terminal WD5...leaving yours truly a tad gobsmacked... one is easily gobsmacked !
We will have pictures of Lady Rosebay arriving ...will have those tomorrow...still being worked on.


Oh dear! look at this, Natalie's poster has taken a beating. We were expecting a little further light Sharpie work..you know, like reading glasses and a moustachio...but no...somebody did a real 'pro-job' on it during Saturday night...


How it used to look below. Mind you it only lasted in good nick for about 2 days...
bear up, only a few more days of rabid electioneering to go as all parties tediously promise us the un-promiseable 'promised land'

Natalie Elphicke : See also post 6682 and 6678.

PaulB

Monday, 9 December 2019 - 06:05

 

Post 6685

  Sea News, Dover

The latest collection of pictures of Dover Lifeboat. They were taken on Dec 1st....which was...let me see...last Sunday. The Lifeboat was returning from west of Port and we catch her here as she begins to turn in...




Dover Lifeboat in Fast Action

She rolled substantially in picture 4 above there at the Port entrance but recovered swiftly as you can see....


Del yes indeed its not very pleasant to get stuck but no doubt we will see more of it in coming times..

Enjoyable tug shots below from Mike...don't miss those .. its always good to see the hard working tugs.

PaulB

Saturday, 7 December 2019 - 08:15

 

Post 6684

  Del Styan, Norwich

As the owner of just such a little car, I sympathise with that person caught up in the port queues. Been there - suffered that! Its not nice being sandwiched between loads of lorries. Cant see a thing!
But you live with it every day, I'm just an occasional visitor.
Ah well - roll on next Thursday. What ever that will solve.

Friday, 6 December 2019 - 22:58

 

Post 6683

  Mike J., Dover

A dull damp Friday midday saw the arrival in the rain of Leith-registered tug MARINECO ASHANTI after a passage from Fraserburgh in Bonnie Scautland, mooring alongside DAVID CHURCH.

She is thought to be sheltering from the current unpleasantness & will continue downchannel when the weather improves.



MARINECO are a Scots marine-contracting company based near Edinburgh & their fleet of tugs & workboats have worked in NW Europe, the Middle East & India.
Their interesting website is worth a google.




Friday, 6 December 2019 - 16:43

 

Post 6682

  Sea News, Dover

Congestion!

The huge strike in France led to some considerable backlog here in Dover...the traffic was in chaos for a while. The long arm of the law was brought in to the Port Gates to regulate the flow...some trickled in to Port from the Jubilee Way direction...then some from the Townwall Street direction... then back to the Jubilee Way queue etc etc....Congestion Digestion ! You can spot that red truck in both pictures there, it eventually trickled through as you can see..

You can feel some sorrow for the little blue car above there...it got stuck with all those trucks as they inched yawningly all the way down single lane Jubilee Way.


Oh Dear ! Back to Natalie.. Not very nice of course but put a billboard at 'Marker Pen Level' and the inevitable happens...we now await the arrival of glasses and a moustache.
Attack of the Sharpie.
Natalie Elphicke...see more pictures below in 6678...

PaulB

Friday, 6 December 2019 - 06:52

 

Post 6681

  Sea News, Dover

P&O FERRIES SCOOPS ‘BEST FERRY AND MINI CRUISE OPERATOR’
FOR ELEVENTH YEAR IN A ROW AT THE BRITISH TRAVEL AWARDS 2019
_________________________________________________________________


British ferry company P&O Ferries has been awarded ‘Best Ferry and Mini Cruise Operator’ and ‘Best Ferry Booking Website’ at the annual British Travel Awards. The winners were revealed at an evening gala, which took place at London Evolution in Battersea Park, on 27 November 2019.

With strong competition from other ferry operators providing services between Britain and the continent, P&O Ferries once again emerged victorious, having been the recipient of ‘Best Ferry and Mini Cruise Operator’ for an impressive 11 consecutive years.

Sarah Rosier, Director of Passenger Sales at P&O Ferries, who collected the awards on the night, said, "It was an honour to receive two awards recognising the quality of our services. We have consistently been voted the best in class by the public for over a decade, and this is testament to the hard work that our team puts in day in and day out, to ensure that we offer a superior service to our customers. We’d like to thank everyone who voted for us, and look forward to seeing them onboard again soon."

British Travel Awards’ Chief Executive, Lorraine Barnes Burton, added, "We would like to congratulate P&O Ferries on winning both ‘Best Ferry and Mini Cruise Operator’ and ‘Best Ferry Booking Website’. Competition was particularly strong this year, but ultimately it was the travelling public who decided the winners by voting for the travel companies they consider the best in the business."

For over a decade, the independently run British Travel Awards has celebrated the very best suppliers in the leisure travel and tourism industry. It represents the largest and most influential poll of public opinion in the UK, with votes verified by Deloitte. Hosted this year by TV presenter and author Gyles Brandreth, the awards ceremony saw over 200 travel and leisure brands accredited across 80 different categories.

P&O Ferries is a leading pan-European ferry and logistics company, sailing 27,000 times a year on nine major routes between Britain, France, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Holland and Belgium. It operates more than 20 vessels which carry 8.4 million passengers and 2.3 million freight units every year.

For more information about P&O Ferries, visit www.poferries.com.

For more information about The British Travel Awards, visit www.britishtravelawards.com.

The Spirit of Britain


-Ends-

Many thanks once again to the team at P&O Ferries for the latest information..

* *

Some pictures now of Barrington Island leaving the Port of Dover on Tuesday morning...pictures hampered a tad by blinding low sunlight on the water...but we understand this is the last GEEST ship out of Dover, the company have decided to return to Portsmouth from whence they came...
Had this info through from Mike via Google:

"
. . . . .She was the last Geest-chartered vessel to call at Dover.
After 18 months here Geest have decided to return to Portsmouth & have a new 5-year contract at their previous port.
There were rumours that the move was Brexit-inspired to avoid possible congestion at Dover & distribution problems, but this was denied . . . .

"
Thanks to Mike there for that info.





Barrington Island moving across the harbour to leave by the western exit on Tuesday morning...

* *

Thanks Brian - yes Natalie is hitting all the high spots...a burnt out lightpole and a burnt out nightclub...

Del yes its all bewildering. I heard some Brexiteer on TV only yesterday saying the British Public wont mind queuing when they go to the EU...its the price we pay for independence...something about Visa Waver or something...the queues are difficult enough already especially in summer...
As mentioned above re Geest...this congestion probability is rumoured to be behind their decision to leave Dover.


PaulB




Thursday, 5 December 2019 - 07:03

 

Post 6680

  Del Styan, Norwich

Love your tale of the defective light pole and the adjacent poster for the new Elphick in town. Oh how inappropriate can you get!
I just cant get my head round how "Get Brexit Done" appeals to the ferry users, who face so many obstacles in the future.
I must be a bear of little brain.

Wednesday, 4 December 2019 - 23:00

 

Post 6679

  brian dixon, dover

there is two [ 2 ] of them near the burnt out nightclub.

Wednesday, 4 December 2019 - 15:51

 

Post 6678

  Sea News, Dover

Border Force Seeker above there.
The Border Force were in interceptive operation again yesterday Tuesday when two boats carrying 13 migrants were stopped in the English Channel.
From the BBC...
"
Two boats carrying 13 migrants have been intercepted in the Channel, the Home Office has confirmed.

The boats, spotted at about 08:00 and 09:00 GMT, were stopped by Border Force vessels and all those on board were taken to Dover, Kent.

The first boat was carrying eight men who said they were Iranian and the second had five men, four of whom said they were Iranian and one Albanian. One was later found to be a child and will be cared for by social services.
All were medically assessed and interviewed by immigration officials.

"

Some pictures now of an arriving Atlantic Reefer a couple of days ago...let me check...yes Sunday. The Cargo Terminal was over-stretched once more as Barrington Island had to move to the Eastern Arm...will also have pix and info re Barrington Island soon.


Atlantic Reefer

* *


This is not a political endorsement one way or the other, yours truly is comfortably sitting on the fence...just like Jeremy Corbyn on Brexit, although his particular fence is rather a spiked one.




This poster/billboard of Natalie Elphicke (Charlie's missus ) has suddenly appeared on the main road here...never in many an election have I seen a poster on the main road 600 metres from the entrance to the busiest port in the UK. Is it safe to have it there or is it a hazard...I dont know.

The bitter irony here is this...do you see the Lighting Pole in front of it. It hasn't worked at all in 4/5 years. I have written to the Highways Agency about it several times...its an ongoing dialogue more interesting than a Charles Dickens novel, but the thing still isn't working.

For 4 days .. approximately 2 months ago it briefly worked. Nightime maintenance crews came and did the necessary with several lights along the main road, but alas this one shone bright for just 4 days and sank into its usual pitch darkness again, and that's where they chose to put the rather large poster board.

The Highways Agency told me they dont have a budget for a new light pole as this one is obviously buggered and needs replacing. The Conservative government have been in power for 9 years already and the cuts across the board have been so extreme that the poor ol Highways Agency cant affort a new pole. They told me they are now applying for funding for a new pole. We are supposedly one of the richest economies on earth.. but where are all those riches ??

This lighting pole is symbolic of much else.


Anyway...there we are...

PaulB

Nice collection from Mike below there. Well done with those Mike. Great to see Protector there...

Wednesday, 4 December 2019 - 07:05

 

Post 6677

  Mike J., Dover

Continuing to push the geographical limits of DSN’s coverage further out may I submit a couple of pix from Lowestoft but hastily point out that there IS a Dover connection.

On 27 November I saw the Border Force vessels SEARCHER & PROTECTOR on the repair berths at Lowestoft, at the yard that has been used on occasion by DHB for DAVID CHURCH & the Dover tugs.


The PROTECTOR was not easily phottable from Asda’s carpark but when I passed by again on 30/11 had shifted to the outer harbour.


The PROTECTOR was purchased from the Finnish Border Guard Force in 2013 when she was called the TAVI, one of a class of three built in Rauma, Finland & is the only vessel of this type working for the Border Force.

She entered service with the UK Border Force in 2014 but has rarely been seen in local waters [or on ‘Sea News’ at least] being spotted thru the mist by Paul in March this year, [post 6161].

Nudging the geographical limits 15 miles further up the coast I couldn’t resist the very smart f/v ACHIEVABLE at Great Yarmouth, neatly converted from the ‘Liverpool’ class wooden lifeboat ISA & PENRYN MILSTEAD, built in 1957 & spending her short career at Filey, on the Yorkshire coast before being sold out of service & converted in 1968.



Tuesday, 3 December 2019 - 00:54

 

Post 6676

  Sea News, Dover

DFDS named World’s Best Ferry Operator for ninth consecutive year
___________________________________________________________


Ferry operator DFDS scooped the title of ‘World’s Leading Ferry Operator’ for the ninth year in a row at the World Travel Awards recently.

The awards, which are known as the travel industry’s Oscars, were handed out at a gala ceremony at the Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman. They reward leaders in the tourism, airline, cruise and ferry, and hotel and hospitality sectors around the world. Winners are selected through an online poll involving members of the public and thousands of travel and tourism professionals.

Pete Akerman, Passenger Marketing Director at DFDS, said: "It’s an honour to be recognised as the World’s Leading Ferry Operator for a ninth year, showing the consistent quality of the services that we offer to passengers from around the world.

"We are proud of our record of providing an excellent customer experience across our route network, whether passengers are looking for a relaxing start to their holiday, a fun weekend away, or a comfortable and affordable way to get to their destination."

DFDS operates one of the largest networks of passenger and freight ferry routes in and around Europe. Its UK ferry services run from Dover to Calais and Dunkirk, from Newhaven to Dieppe and from Newcastle to Amsterdam. Its pan-European services include routes from Copenhagen to Oslo, from Kiel or Karlshamn to Klaipeda, and from Paldiski to Hanko and Kapellskär.

The company will introduce a new ship, the Côte D’Opale, on its Dover to Calais route in summer 2021. It will be the longest ship on the Channel and will carry 1,000 passengers and crew. The ship will offer new, modern restaurant concepts and the largest shopping experience on the Channel.

Artists Impression: Cote D'Opale

-Ends-

Congratulations to DFDS...
Many thanks once again to the DFDS Media Team for the info there.

While we are talking about all things DFDS...here we are with some pictures from the past. Just came across these in the files and sure..Who can resist a stroll down memory lane?
We feature here the DFDS ferry Dieppe Seaways with differing colour schemes.

... in 2012 just outside the Port of Dover

and in 2014 just outside the Port of Calais... featuring the ever popular Calais Beach.

Dieppe Seaways

* *

Dublin Port Pilot Boat....DPC Tolka. Named no doubt after Dublin's River Tolka...it rang a bell!
she paid a fleeting flying visit here to Dover on...let me see...yes Thursday.
Looking good....
DPC Tolka at the Port of Dover.

* *

Thanks Del, glad you enjoyed that one...
will aim for some more dramatic morning shots as we amble through winter.

PaulB



Monday, 2 December 2019 - 06:04

 

Post 6675

  Del Styan, Norwich

Great pic of clouds over Calais. Well done.

Sunday, 1 December 2019 - 22:44

 

Post 6674

  Sea News, Dover

The final shots of grain ship Hendrika Margaretha

These final pictures of Hendrika Margaretha are from late-in-the-day Friday...the swirling grain dust just catching the weak late day sun. You can see the hold of the ship open wide for all comers. The grain truck unloading is one of the trucks featured in our pictures yesterday...the Weald Granary truck finally got its turn. The ship left the Port later the same day...

A picture below from a few days ago shows Border Force Seeker powering towards the Port through the grey seas... always a re-assuring sight.

Border Force SEEKER.

The lovely Christmas Event at the Port...the White Cliffs Christmas... starts in earnest today Dec 1St...type in 6648 in our Search Engine Box above and the full details will pop up for you. Very exciting... Entry and Car Parking is FREE which makes it even more exciting!

PaulB
ps: will have some pictures of the brief stay Dublin Pilot Boat tomorrow.

Sunday, 1 December 2019 - 06:36

 

Post 6673

  Sea News, Dover

Some pictures above there of Hendrika Margaretha once again and the ongoing truck discharging at pier WD4. You can already see this is a very popular new asset for the Port ...look at those grain trucks lined up there...

Hendrika left the Port last night.

While photographing the above, the Sand Falcon came in close to Port...I think we have featured this one before off top of head, it should be in the Search Engine. The pic isn't super clear but...


PB

Saturday, 30 November 2019 - 07:47