Comments (Newest First):

 

Post 6070

  brian dixon, dover

oh well looks we have to cancel the bbq on the roundabout this year.might relocate to meggers car park instead. lol


Tuesday, 5 February 2019 - 13:51

 

Post 6069

  Sea News, Dover

The picture shows the Royal Navy patrolling out there off Dover yesterday on a very rough day indeed. The conditions were horrendous in fact...even the weather hardened Royal Navy personnel, who must be used to this sort of thing, must have found it tough. Its not as if they have a destination...no they just patrol up and down and yesterday the weather gave them a hammering. How does it effect the sailors onboard ?...well even Admiral Nelson himself suffered from seasickness. Just gazing at this picture would give the average landlubbing onlooker a touch of the 'mal de mer'.

The picture doesn't show the ship...HMS Enterprise ..terribly clearly but it certainly captures the very rough seas.

* *

And now from the guys who transport all our goods, all our consumerables, back and forth everyday...

Find a way to avoid a cliff edge Brexit, RHA urges MPs

The Road Haulage Association has called on MPs to avoid the disaster of a cliff edge Brexit.
________________________________________________________________________________


In a letter to MPs, RHA’s chief executive, Richard Burnett and national chairman, Andrew Howard, warned that business won’t be ready by 29 March and said that a transition period is essential to help industry adapt to new arrangements and regulations.

"An implementation period gives time for vital new processes and systems to be put in place across the supply chain such as efficient new border technology to avoid disastrous queues at Channel and North Sea ports and across the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic."

They blamed "complacent failure" across government departments for a lack of understanding of the vital role haulage plays in the economy and urged MPs not to believe reassurances that preparations are advanced and well developed.

Eleven thousand lorries cross the Channel each day; even a two-minute customs check would lead to a 20-mile traffic jam causing chaos on the roads and bottlenecks at ports.

"If preparations for customs and other border tasks were under control we would not be needing massive holding areas for lorries and would not need backup ferry services."

The RHA has never taken a political view on Brexit but the Association’s board of directors is clear that a transition period is essential to avoid unparalleled damage to the supply chain.

-ENDS-


That says it all above...the potential for serious disruption is clear.

From the BBC last night, its also a general news item in a number of publications.. so a briefing took place..

"
Lorries will be able to drive straight off ferries and Channel Tunnel trains without making customs declarations in the event of a no-deal Brexit, the government has announced.

New guidance for importers and hauliers says firms would file a simplified form online in advance and pay duty later.
Hauliers have warned that no-deal could result in long queues at Channel ports.

The industry said firms would still not be ready for a "chaotic" EU exit - even with these simplified procedures.
The UK is due to leave the EU at 23:00 GMT on Friday 29 March - with or without a deal.

"


PaulB


Tuesday, 5 February 2019 - 05:51

 

Post 6068

  Sea News, Dover

You can certainly guess what this looks like ..yes another migrant situation, a crises in the making. Yours truly spotted the people waving frantically from the dinghy ( just one waving in the shot above but all were waving moments before ) and what would anyone think. In the flash of a moment I approached the window for a closer look and spotted the dark-coloured RIB below. The guys in the dinghy were waving to this...trying to attract attention.

Gazing at it all through the zoom lens and wondering who to call in the developing emergency...I quickly realised then in a further moment, that it appeared to be just a training exercise. The frantic feeling dispersed and the follow-up pictures were taken....

These are zoomed in pictures, with the naked eye from afar it all looks very different.
Below the RIB approaches the dinghy and in shot 4 you can just see the tow-rope attached as they all head back to shore. Clearly a rescue simulation... or indeed did the dinghy genuinely break down...?


PaulB


Monday, 4 February 2019 - 05:10

 

Post 6067

  Sea News, Dover

The pictures above were taken just a couple of days ago. They are fairly long range shots and show the HM Coastguard helicopter slowly approaching the rear of one of the Border Force cutters...either Vigilant or Searcher...and hovering in harmony for quite a while as they continue to move forward. As mentioned this took place a good distance out in the Channel. It may have been an exercise as there was no subsequent news story of note.

Here's a shot below, from a former time, of the same helicopter up very close. Right alongside the 'observation tower'. Yes this was taken a while back but shows the helicopter in detail right alongside us here....they were searching the waters edge one late evening.


And now for another kind of flying machine. The Cormorant.
Yours truly spotted these two earlier this week, they were stuck together like glue. There must be a hint of 'spring in the air' although you wouldn't particularly notice it down here at that same waters edge.. so chilly, good to see them though. They might be young ones.. wildlife not my speciality alas.

The Cormorants are usually solitary mean feeding machines...like this guy below..


PB

Sunday, 3 February 2019 - 07:45

 

Post 6066

  Sea News, Dover

Frivolity for the Weekend

Yours truly couldnt resist using this photograph. Yes there we are...our Prime Minister Therese May speaking in one of those long interminable debates on Brexit the other day. To either side of her, while the not-so-scintillating words spew forth, the PM's high profile cabinet colleagues have long since dropped off. Yes the soothing nature of all things Brexit has seen them drift off to the land of nod, no doubt dreaming of that time of sunny uplands pre Brexit. Of course the PR spinning whips would say that the effervescent fellows were merely contemplatively concentrating with relaxed eyelids.

The cabinet ministers are Lidington and Hammond...
pictured by myself here while testing the camera.
Do we have faith in any of them saving us from landlocked gridlock in South Kent ?
Yours truly's last 2 trips to France...six hours in the car, 3 hours in France...and I only went to Calais. Now its true I was unlucky with the days I picked .. but... could that end up being the norm?


From Channel Four

The head of the Port of Dover says the government has given no "firm direction" on technology for additional security checks, in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Doug Bannister, the new Chief Exec of Europe’s busiest ferry port, told Channel 4 News: "We haven’t got any physical comfort. We haven’t seen increased manpower, we haven’t seen any new systems or processes.

"For us, the most important thing is what are the physical checks on the dock. If those are minimal, then we can maintain operations. If a hard border therefore means that we have to do physical checks on the docks within our estate, then that is going to create a lot of problems for us."

Doug Bannister says: "It does seem to me to be a very huge task to get it all in, tested and operational before the 29th of March. It comes down to how they want to treat the border."

Ends

Much progress has been made with the beach reworkings..this is the latest pic below. The boulders have been redone into neatness and attractiveness once more...


.... this is how they were previously..a further few days ago ( have used this pic below before )


Since that beach pic 1 taken 2 days ago, things have been smoothed out and the heavy metal have departed the scene. Some sand dunes remain, perhaps for further use in due course.


Thanks Del, yes dazzling nature at its best.
Yes we currently have quite a few stories re Brexit/Dover...not sure if I've seen the i newspaper one.

PaulB

Saturday, 2 February 2019 - 06:40

 

Post 6065

  Del Styan, Norwich

Lovely shots across the Channel - the Hotel de Ville very obvious. It still amazes me you can take pics of Calais from your viewpoint. Did you see the article on Dover in the i newspaper today?

Friday, 1 February 2019 - 23:03

 

Post 6064

  Sea News, Dover

Sun Rising over Calais.
Looking across towards Calais yesterday morning (Thursday) there were some stunning visuals as the sun rose spectacularly into an orange red sky. Visibility was good for a change and the camera did the necessary. These pictures are totally natural..bog standard shots with no fakery. Nature doesn't need help when it wants to put on a show. You can see the various shipping movements and indeed the spires of Calais itself...notably Notre Dame Church and the Hotel de Ville ( Town Hall ).. these structures are beauties in their own right.

The second picture below is more or less the same, save for the interjection of our Border Force. Yes unseen by yours truly the Border Force cutter ( Vigilant or Searcher ) crept into the image as the camera rattled away on a series of shots. A welcome addition to the picture.


Del its still dark as I write here but the streets just look wet rather than white. We were hit by sleet rather than snow so nothing to shout about here on the seafront. Although in recent days we ourselves here on the seafront and port's edge had nothing much by way of snow ... however cars are occasionally seen driving around covered in the stuff...so there must be some fairly close by.
Its cold though down here at the waters edge...the oul timbers are a shiverin' …

PaulB

Friday, 1 February 2019 - 05:55

 

Post 6063

  Del Styan, Norwich

A light dusting of snow up here in Norfolk, I hope you have some more than us tomorrow.
(I love snow!) Sorry if that disrupts things.

Thursday, 31 January 2019 - 22:55

 

Post 6062

  Sea News, Dover

Border Force Speedwell returning to the Port of Dover on Tuesday morning...






As you can see Speedwell was experiencing some rough conditions there. We had choppy waters.
Out there at the same time as Border Force Speedwell, in roughly the same area, was a Border Force cutter...either Vigilant or Searcher ( it wasn't showing on AIS )...and the Royal Navy in the current shape of HMS Enterprise. So a busy well defended well monitored stretch of immediate water. Some might say this is possibly expensive overkill...but who knows for sure....Home Secretary Javid has his finger on the pulse!!

PaulB

Thursday, 31 January 2019 - 06:26

 

Post 6061

  Sea News, Dover

As promised .. some further pictures now of Bulknes.
Bulknes.
Reversing out above there. Yours truly thought Bulknes was about to leave port...but then unexpectedly she began to move forward in the pix below...although even then it was a surprise to see her go over to the new terminal. See Patrick's post below 6056. It took yours truly by surprise for sure, as I took my eye of it temporarily, planning to get pictures as she exited the port some minutes later...which of course didn't happen on the day.


The following day below...yesterday Tuesday in fact, and she moves away....
heading to Norway during a blazing sunrise...time of pic 07.38.


As mentioned above see 6056 also see 6057.

PaulB

Wednesday, 30 January 2019 - 06:59

 

Post 6060

  Sea News, Dover

An extra picture there to enjoy of the magnificent Norwegian tall sailing ship...Statsraad Lehmkuhl...that's a tricky one to get right spelling-wise. We are currently featuring the same ship at the top of page but obviously that pic wont stay there forever...so good to have this extra one in the files. Pictured at the weekend when she came in close to shore.
The guys fishing there on Admiralty Pier are carrying on regardless .. hardly giving her a glance.

"Statsraad Lehmkuhl is a three-masted barque rigged sail training ship built in 1914, the vessel is owned and operated by the Statsraad Lehmkuhl Foundation. It is based in Bergen, Norway and contracted out for various purposes, including serving as a school ship for the Royal Norwegian Navy." ...from Wikipedia .

PaulB

Tuesday, 29 January 2019 - 17:06

 

Post 6059

  Sea News, Dover

Bulknes has now moved away.
Will have those extra pictures in the morning. PB.

Tuesday, 29 January 2019 - 08:29

 

Post 6058

  brian dixon, dover

the name of the warship echos the names of kirk and picard. lol beam me up scoty.

Tuesday, 29 January 2019 - 05:53

 

Post 6057

  Sea News, Dover

That's a picture above there of Bulknes very early yesterday morning. You can just see her discharging her cargo of sand there...time of picture 06.50. Took it while it was still fairly dark to try and capture the glowing lights and the exciting activity. Realised afterwards that we have a similar picture in the system from a previous trip. We have an evening pic below as well, taken after she had moved over to the new cargo terminal...see also Patrick's pictures below in post 6056.

Picture 2 here shows HMS Enterprise in the distance as we look across the Bulknes long conveying arm mid morning yesterday.


As mentioned, here we have Bulknes again below...evening-time at the new cargo terminal. Exciting times!


Cracking collection below Patrick. You got a bit of a scoop there with Bulknes at the new terminal. Great stuff Patrick...
Brian

PaulB
Have some extra pictures of Bulknes as she moved across to the new terminal...will catch up with those in due course.
She is still in Port at the time of writing.



Tuesday, 29 January 2019 - 04:55

 

Post 6056

  Patrick, Marine Parade

'BULKNES', the self discharging bulk carrier that has graced our Port with sister ships on a number of earlier occasions discharging dark aggregate into the DWDR area, arrived this morning at the new Berth 'C'. Having partly discharged she moved for the first time to complete operations onto Berth 'A' alongside the RCT ('Banana Shed'). First time I have seen a vessel on that berth. Progress continues apace.






Monday, 28 January 2019 - 17:01

 

Post 6055

  brian dixon, dover

at least they got a safer ride back, and in the warm to.


Monday, 28 January 2019 - 12:56

 

Post 6054

  Sea News, Dover

Border Force Vigilant
A couple of pictures above there of Border Force Vigilant just after arriving into Port late last week. It had just begun snowing at the time of pictures...so twas a cold oul day for sure. A RIB dropped suddenly out of the rear of the vessel and and began to move away...heading to the inner harbour. The heavy Channel patrolling goes on, by both Border Force and the Royal Navy.

Below and we have some more pictures of the current 'organised turmoil' on the legendary Dover Beach. The poet Mathew Arnold, who wrote that famous poem, would hardly recognise it now. But fear not Matthew..don't swivel...it will return to normal eventually, we are assured.

"Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling..."
Plenty of pebbles here for flinging...



Very interesting collection below there from Mike. Keeping us up to speed with the general workings and the inner goings on. Great stuff again Mike !

Patrick yes chilly times indeed. Brave girl. Nice enjoyable shots there - so well done with those. Dont know about yourself but yours truly is tending to be anchored to the warm sofa at the moment...

Del you will probably be having some more wintry windy weather up there in Norfolk today...you might be needing that ol sou'wester...

Ah yes indeed Brian, it could always be worse I suppose...

PaulB


Monday, 28 January 2019 - 06:11

 

Post 6053

  Mike J., Dover

A couple of views of the new lock, a pity that the temporary bridge obscures the new bridge’s deck.



TOPLOADER has shifted into the Wellington Dock [diving work finished ?] & the TOPLIFT was on the Tidal Basin pontoon on Sundsy.
Dunno whether she’s about to sail elsewhere or start working in Dover.





Self-discharger BULKNES [post 5843] should arrive in the wee small hours of Monday morning.


Monday, 28 January 2019 - 00:57

 

Post 6052

  Del Styan, Norwich

Hope the weather treats you kindly. I think the winds and rain has finally left us up here in Norfolk. Hope the big people carrier vehicles on the sea front don't topple over!

Sunday, 27 January 2019 - 23:17

 

Post 6051

  Patrick, Marine Parade

Shiver me timbers me hearties. Someone not the least bit worried about this cold windy winter weather in the harbour.
Easy peasy on the paddle board just like A B C. Love the hat!





Sunday, 27 January 2019 - 23:12