Wednesday, 27 November 2024

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Sea Pictures from Dover.

Sailing Ships just off Dover: Europa above and De Gallant below...


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Post 5990
  Patrick, Marine Parade
Following on from Mike J's photos at #5880-2 of the recovery of the submerged 'Anneliese III' from the outer harbour in November, it has finally been taken away



Meanwhile the 'battle of midway' continues in the Channel





Thursday, 3 January 2019 - 23:02
 
Post 5989
  brian dixon, dover
1 navy ship lined up for patrolling the channei,just waiting for what department is coughing up the 20 grand a day for it being there.

Thursday, 3 January 2019 - 16:18
 
Post 5988
  Phil Chisholm, Dover
Mike J - Vessel Finder is the app I use.

Interestingly Searcher has now gone quiet too - last report was 1'st Jan but before that she was constantly pinging her position.

Hadn't checked the cutters in the Med for a while and just looked now. Seeker's last report was 25/11/18, in Gibraltar, Valiant pinged today in Greece while Protector's last report was 09/12/18 from the Greek Islands.

Thursday, 3 January 2019 - 15:13
 
Post 5987
  Sarah, Ramsgate
Border Force cutters Protector & Seeker are returning from the Mediterranean, where is Valiant not seen her or heard anything about her.


Thursday, 3 January 2019 - 15:05
 
Post 5986
  Sea News, Dover
BORDER FORCE: The picture above shows Border Force cutter Searcher early yesterday wednesday. She had come in to the inner harbour to pause and look round. We believe that Home Secretary Javid was onboard at the time.

Interesting about the Home Secretary...he looks strangely out of his depth when he wanders away from the Westminster bubble. Meandering about the corridors of power in Whitehall and giving bog standard interviews to the media is one thing...but when you have to get out into the real world...well.

While giving the BBC an interview here in Dover..he was almost ramblingly incoherent and when he fetched up that old chestnut about the migrants not really being 'genuine asylum seekers' the nation dozed off.

He said roughly this ' we don't believe them to be genuine asylum seekers, after all asylum seekers should seek asylum in the first country they get to.'
When he peddled out that old one we knew he had few ideas to offer.

That of course annoyed numerous groups and bodies...after all simply.. they are people out there, people in flimsy boats and something needs to be done about it.
Whether they are genuine asylum seekers has got nothing to do with it!
As my mother would have said..."whats that got to do with the price of bread!"

Ah Duncan Kennedy again. I like Duncan he does good reports, but once again his numbers baffle. The report on BBC NEWS last night showed both Border Force cutters operating here...it showed Searcher and Vigilant...yet when Duncan mentioned we will have two extra cutters on patrol when they return from the Med...summing up he then said we will therefore have three cutters patrolling.
2+2= Four

I don't know...it must be me. I must be missing something..Smiley
Best that I leave that one alone now as its grating on the grey cells..


Some general other pictures
First one below shows Tug Doughty out there on general duties while Cotes des Dunes arrives behind. Pictures earlier this week.


Rowers catching the winter light below...that's Pacific Reefer in the background of first shot.

More rowers on a chilly and bracing New Years Day...



Excellent info and pictures below there from Mike. Interesting view on our trading future. Smiley Great stuff!
Sounds good Brian..maximum clarity for all to see. Smiley
Phil that could be a possibility for sure... yet Duncan features the vessels in his report. Hard to know... Smiley

PaulB

Thursday, 3 January 2019 - 06:21
 
Post 5985
  Mike J., Dover

Further to the Boxing Day post [5963] from Ramsgate I also called in at Whitstable & found three larger vessels in amongst the fishing fleet.

The NEPTUNE is Whitstable’s only regularly-visiting cargo ship & brings in aggregate for Brett’s works on the eastern side of the harbour.


The EMS VIKING is regularly seen at Whitstable & is presumably on standby for work on the nearby Kentish Flats windfarm.
Another windcat owned by Excel Marine Services, the EMS VULCAN is currently laid-up in Dover’s Wellington Dock.


The ISLA B, formerly the MAGGIE ANNE, started off as a fishing vessel but has had much of her fishing gear removed & looks to be operating now as a Guardship. She still carries her Lowestoft fishing registration number.





Phil - an interesting comment from you regarding the BA vessels & AIS, I’ve always assumed that they have their AIS switched-off for security reasons & have only ‘seen’ HUNTER once or twice on AIS.
Which AIS system are you using ? I mostly use ‘Marine Traffic’ & ‘Shipfinder’



. . . . . . . Paul mentions in post 5978 that there has been much political back-pedalling about the Seaborne ferry contract & the subject was on the BBC News again on Sunday.

However a friend of mine who worked in the import freight clearance business for over 30 years both before & after we joined the Common Market has made an interesting point that doesn’t seem to have been mentioned elsewhere or perhaps even thought of.

We don’t need extra freight capacity across the Dover Straits, we won’t be importing more ‘stuff’ after Brexit & the current ferries & Eurotunnel are handling the traffic without difficulty, so there’s no need for extra ferries.

What IS needed is more parking space for arriving freight as there will be much more paperwork & longer delays in processing this paperwork.

There’s hardly any room for this to be done in Dover so where will the freight go for clearance ?
Manston is perhaps an option, with reasonable road connections already existing, the huge runway as a parking area is already there & buildings already exist.
Any additional infrastructure could be built comparatively quickly.

Just a thought from someone who knows the import freight business, lets hope that someone in the Government is also thinking along those lines . . . . . . .




Thursday, 3 January 2019 - 00:05
 
Post 5984
  brian dixon, dover
would it not be easier to have all the cutters and other vessels in harbour at the same time with the bbc,itv and sky ty cameras rolling at the same time along with nationl press covering the story, oh yes mr javed here to. just to clarify things a little. lol

Wednesday, 2 January 2019 - 14:49
 
Post 5983
  Phil Chisholm, Dover
Re the BBC and the 2 Cutters thing - maybe part of the problem is that Vigilant never seems to ping on AIS whereas the others do (at least for me). So if they are looking for the locations of the Cutters they will not see Vigilant

Wednesday, 2 January 2019 - 10:26
 
Post 5982
  Mike J., Dover

John - I stand corrected - many thanks.

Egg on my face !

Wednesday, 2 January 2019 - 09:03
 
Post 5981
  Sea News, Dover
TWO BORDER FORCE CUTTERS
in the one post - one for the BBC!

Further to my earlier post 5978 which showed Border Force Vigilant entering the Port of Dover, the pictures above are extra pictures taken at the same time approx...roughly 09.30 on New Years Eve.

Yesterdays Daily Telegraph...well their frontpage referred to our 'single' Border Force cutter. They must have been listening attentively to the BBC who continually run with the story that there is only one cutter working the Channel. Now, none of us get it right all the time that's for sure, but this is such basic info ... yours truly is an admirer of the BBC.

Home Secretary Javid is recalling further cutters from duties abroad to patrol Channel...he probably doesn't know how many there are either. The newspapers yesterday gave him a hard time over his 'u-turn' , having said only a day or two earlier that they were not needed.

Top pictures show Vigilant. The long range picture below shows Border Force Searcher out there slowly patrolling up and down the Dover Straits yesterday...New Years Day.


Great shots below Sarah of Border Force over in Ramsgate. Great detailed pictures there. Good to have those..Smiley

Thanks for the info John Smiley

PaulB

Wednesday, 2 January 2019 - 06:46
 
Post 5980
  Sarah, Ramsgate
Following on from Paul's post we have Searcher & Hunter here in Ramsgate as of yesterday.











Happy New Year to all on Dover Forum.

Tuesday, 1 January 2019 - 12:03
 
Post 5979
  John Hendy, St Mary's Bay
Ref post 5977: Lydd-on-Sea is a coastal continuation of Greatstone-on-Sea in the direction of Dungeness.

Tuesday, 1 January 2019 - 10:45
 
Post 5978
  Sea News, Dover

That's Border Force Vigilant arriving back with us again here at the Port of Dover. The picture shows her entering the Port's eastern entrance at 09.30 yesterday morning New Years Eve. Will have another couple of pictures to show in due course. See also Mike's pic in the post below.

Yes we have had pictures on doverforum.com/sea-news .. of the two Border Force cutters Vigilant and Searcher here in the past week...plus the smaller Border Force boats. Clearly our colleagues at the BBC need to check on here for more all-round useful info...Smiley

The government are now it seems frantically back-peddling on the Ramsgate contract. As we understand it £14Million awarded to a company that has no ships or no immediate prospect of having ships, yet contracted to ferry trucks in the case of a no-deal-Brexit from March 29.

Smiley Red HMG/Whitehall faces all round....although they would never admit it.

Mike nice shots in the post below plus infoSmiley
ah no the ships don't wail out for New Year any more. Pity...it used to build up to a great crescendo of welcome noise.
Del Smiley

Smiley HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALLSmiley

PaulB

Tuesday, 1 January 2019 - 06:38
 
Post 5977
  Mike J., Dover
Happy New Year to all ‘Sea News’ readers !

As usual not a peep from the five ferries or the MAERSK CONNECTOR or the EMERALD at midnight, see post 5022 of a year ago.

VIGILANT & Folkestone f/v BOY BEAU, flying a 'Protect British Fishing' flag, were in the Tidal Basin Monday morning amongst the regulars - angling & dive boats were busy.




More inaccurate reporting in the media, the BBC on Sunday had asylum-seekers landing at ‘Kingsdown near Dover’ [& here’s me thinking that Kingsdown was practically a suburb of Deal].
Monday Sky News reported that the Iranians who came ashore at Greatstone had landed at ‘Lydd-on-Sea’ which must be news to the citizens of Lydd which is at least 4km inland.
The politicians are still getting confused about the number of Border Agency patrol launches & cutters working locally - we know of five & they’re all on ‘Sea News’


Del - I heard your remarks about ‘let there be light’ as -

& the Lord said 'Let there be light'

& there was Light

& you could see for [expletive deleted] miles.



Tuesday, 1 January 2019 - 01:02
 
Post 5976
  Del Styan, Norwich
Let there be light! And a Happy New Year to you and all Dover Forum contributors.

Monday, 31 December 2018 - 20:37
 
Post 5975
  Sea News, Dover
Port of Dover pledges support and celebrates Women in Maritime


The Port of Dover is proud to announce that it has become one of over 80 signatories of the Maritime UK Women in Maritime Pledge.


The Pledge states: "We are committed to building an employment culture that actively supports and celebrates gender diversity, at all levels, throughout our organisation and our industry." The port’s chairman Richard Everitt CBE signed the pledge on behalf of the port alongside other signatories Department for Transport maritime minister Nusrat Ghani MP and Women in Maritime chair, Sue Terpilowski OBE. Following the signing, Ms. Ghani was given a tour of operations to experience Europe’s busiest ferry port in action.

As a signatory of the pledge, the port of Dover has made clear its intent to create positive change within the organisation, and collectively, across the UK maritime sector. The port is already actively involved in the work of the Women in Maritime Taskforce, represented by Director of Corporate Development and Operational Businesses, Barbara Buczek, herself a successful woman in the maritime sector and one of the winners of the 2018 Seatrade 20 under 40 awards which recognise the rising stars of the cruise industry. The Taskforce brings together leaders from across the maritime sector to identify practical steps to increase the number of women in maritime.

The Woman in Maritime Pledge is the forerunner to the Women in Maritime Charter, which is due to complete its pilot phase and be rolled out in 2019. As one of the Pledge signatories, the port of Dover will go on to become members of the Women in Maritime Charter in 2019 and take practical steps, setting measureable and ambitious goals towards meeting the aim of the Pledge.

Port of Dover Chairman, Richard Everitt said: "The Port of Dover is committed to encouraging and building gender diversity, at all levels, throughout the maritime industry. We are proud to support the Women in Maritime Pledge and Taskforce and in doing so, shaping positive change within the sector."

For more information on the Maritime UK Women in Maritime Pledge visit:

www.maritimeuk.org/programmes/women-maritime/

Pictured above L to R: Director of Finance at the Port Shaun Pottage on the left, then Barbara Buczek Director of Corporate Development here at the Port, then Nusrat Ghani MP Chair of Women in Maritime, then Port of Dover Chairman Richard Everitt.

ENDS



Some pictures below now taken just a couple of days ago...of one of those guys walking on air. Well I honestly don't know what to call these pictures or indeed this activity...airborne man over water!!?? Smiley

We had some pictures before of a 'crossing the channel event' using this particular skill. Fascinating. Here we are with these late in the day pictures taken as the sun went low in the sky...





A chap could get thirsty looking at those pix never mind doing it....Yikes SmileySmiley


A great collection below there from Mike of the transformer-carrying Happy Dover. Don't Miss those!!Smiley
Yes indeed Mike one particularly odd Ferry contract awarded. Limited awareness London-centric decisions are being made all the time....that being the latest, in other words they appear to know very little of what goes on locally.

Well Del right on cue. The lights returned last night. Eureka!. Was about to mention them this morning so your query is right on cue. Several electrical contractor vans came and worked the previous night through the night...lights now delightfully working on Port side of street and on Council side of street as of last night. Not before time, they have been out for a month or so...its been pitch.

Let there be Light and there was Light...said the man with the electric vanSmiley

PaulB



Monday, 31 December 2018 - 06:03
 
Post 5974
  Mike J., Dover
HAPPY DOVER unloading one of her two transformers for Sellindge on Cruise-1 after arriving from Antwerp early on Sunday morning.
She sailed 2100, returning to Antwerp.
The huge blue crane is ‘deck cargo’ for the USA.







‘BIG LIFT’ are a Dutch ‘heavy lift’ company with a big varied fleet with many of the ships called HAPPY --------
More details if you Google ‘Big Lift Shipping’

Excellent sea-level pix of the HAPPY DOVER on the ‘Dover Straits Shipping’ Facebook page, taken from the Harbour Patrol launch.
Friends in high places !

It has just been announced the the Government has given almost £14 million to ‘Seaborne Shipping’ who have been proposing a Ramsgate/Ostend service for quite a while, but have so far produced little more than a website, let alone a ship.
Questions are already being asked . . . .

Long-established DFDS & Brittany Ferries are already contracted to supply extra freight tonnage if needed.




Sunday, 30 December 2018 - 23:39
 
Post 5973
  Del Styan, Norwich
Are your lights still off? Do they belong to Kent County Council, or the Highways Agency, or Dover District Council? Or even - at a bit of a stretch - the Harbour Board It's a minefield out there for getting seemingly simple things done.
Well, it makes a change from Brexit !

Sunday, 30 December 2018 - 23:20
 
Post 5972
  Mike J., Doiver

Sunday morning & the BBC News is still coming out with the 'one patrol vessel' error.

At least the visiting minister yesterday had heard about the smaller patrol vessels & mentioned them amongst a blizzard of platitudes.

How these politicians love 'photo opportunities' & the chance to wear hi-vis jackets for the cameras, hard hats are popular too. but not worn on this the occasion.

I bumped into Charlie Elphicke this morning by the Marina office & he mentioned the 'one patrol vessel' issue but was also aware of the smaller BA vessels.

I think that the other two BA cutters, VALIANT & SEEKER, are 'showing the flag' down in the Adriatic & will no doubt return soon & be introduced as 'new' vessels.

The overworked Border Agency, RNLI & police will be very pleased to hear that the Home Secretary is cutting his holidays short to 'take charge of the situation'


Back to 'normal' maritime matters the HAPPY DOVER docked on Cruise-1 about 0630 to unload her two transformers.
Pix to follow.



Sunday, 30 December 2018 - 11:00
 
Post 5971
  Sea News, Dover
The Dover Lifeboat has been called out many times recently due to the migrant channel issue. Here she is leaving the Port on Friday morning at 09.37. Not much rest for these guys at the moment. It was a grey misty and fairly miserable day out there on Friday, the Lifeboat must be a welcome sight for anyone struggling or in difficulty in the channel... Here she goes...


There was also a big emergency on Friday to do with a base-jumper on the cliffs. We understand his parachute failed to open. In the midst of all this frenzy, normal life goes on. We just caught this shot of Atlantic Reefer below heading off late in the day Friday aided by both tugs. Its been very busy at the cargo terminal, obviously we don't capture every ship but we do what we can.


Del its all gone totally bizarre. I'm sure the Port of Dover here wont like that latest Government announcement. Years have been spent building up the business here and it works like a Swiss Watch in normal times.

Sadly those 'normal times' have been taken away and we've got ourselves into this current mess. I imagine the Port will issue a statement about this. We will watch out for that statement and bring it to us all on here.

PaulB.

Sunday, 30 December 2018 - 07:54
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