The Front Page. - Copy 255 ( Deal Seaways Launched. New Pier Development.)
28 April 2012
You will remember all the coverage on Doverforum recently about the new ferries and indeed you can see in the copy below, the arrival of the very latest one...the Deal Seaways. There has indeed been a great influx of new vessels..ever bigger, ever longer, on the Dover to Calais route. As a consequence the Port of Dover is extending pier A at Eastern Docks to enable longer vessels to moor in berths two and three. The work, to be completed prior to the Olympic Games, will provide improved mooring for DFDS vessels and an alternative berth for P&O Spirit class ships. Currently, berths seven and nine are able to accommodate the new super-ferries but without the extension to pier A, larger ships using berth three would protrude beyond the extent of the pier. The completion of the work delivers additional longer length berths, improves marine safety and mitigates the possibility of disruption to ferry schedules.
The 4 metre diameter monopile, weighing 246 tonnes, arrived last week on board the coaster, Napali. In an operation that took almost 12 hours it was lifted from the vessel by the GPS atlas and lowered to the seabed. Divers attached straps to the lifting trunnion and the unit was raised vertically and lowered into position in a pre drilled socket in the seabed. The Monopile was then locked into position by filling the annulus around the pile with aggregate...exciting stuff indeed.
Commented Port of Dover’s Head of Infrastructure Development, Nigel Bodell;
“The pier A project is part of a £11.4m investment in berth infrastructure at the Port this year. Previously, we have completed similar work on piers C and E and as the third pier to be extended, the investment in pier A alone cost £4.3m. It moves the Port closer to the corporate objective to plan and develop our infrastructure to meet the needs of the market and of our customers by providing more multi-user berths.”
Contractor, BAM Nuttall has been awarded the pier extension contract and is to replace the side and stern fenders on berth three to accommodate the higher berthing loads from larger vessels.
In addition, a contract has been awarded to Hollandia for the refurbishment of berth three which includes overhaul of the bridge decks, replacement of machinery and equipment and the installation of a self-supporting mechanism for the linkspan fingers.
To see Ed Connell's comprehensive pictures in our Forum of the structural progress so far.. please click here..
http://www.doverforum.com/letters/viewtopic.php?id=10206
Top Picture shows Board Members from DHB visiting the site at pier A.
Second picture shows some of the construction work being inspected by the team.
These exclusive pictures show the new ship during it's first day of operation on saturday. When we say new of course, we mean new to this route..a new addition to the new fleet and in the new colours. As mentioned below the vessel is chartered from Brittany Ferries but now with a dazzling makeover and called Deal Seaways.
In choppy conditions we see her accompanied by a pilot boat in the pic above, and as we can see she is fully loaded. The small motor boat stayed 25 yards away from her for until she reached a considerable way out into the channel. Not sure what the reason for this might be on this occasion but maybe ace nautical guys out there can let us know. Always interested to hear more ..PaulB on dover7@msn.com.
Picture left shows her in better weather conditions earlier this morning as she arrived in fine fettle at the harbour entrance. The Ship is considerably smaller than some of the new giants from P&O.
The question as to why the pilot boat is answered by John Mavin on one of our Forum threads. Many thanks John...
there is some excellent posts all round on the thread too. Please click here..
http://www.doverforum.com/letters/viewtopic.php?id=10176
Earlier......
Friday saw the launch of the second vessel to operate for DFDS/LD Lines on the cross channel run to Calais. Here she is, the Deal Seaways pictured left manoeuvring in the English Channel very late in the evening, near nightfall in fact as you can see. Formerly known as The Barfleur when sporting the Brittany Ferries livery, the vessel has now been leased from the aforementioned company by the DFDS/LD amalgam and is now renamed. She did spend the day as far as we could tell getting ready for the hustle and bustle of daily service by acclimatising to the docking and re-docking system here in the Port.
The new company is enjoying "a good take up" so are delighted to have the new ship which will bring their daily sailings from Dover to Calais up to ten. Several threads on this in our Forum. PB
Check out our highly active Forum, where you will find a great selection of topics local and national.
For all previous frontpage features ....
You will remember all the coverage on Doverforum recently about the new ferries and indeed you can see in the copy below, the arrival of the very latest one...the Deal Seaways. There has indeed been a great influx of new vessels..ever bigger, ever longer, on the Dover to Calais route. As a consequence the Port of Dover is extending pier A at Eastern Docks to enable longer vessels to moor in berths two and three. The work, to be completed prior to the Olympic Games, will provide improved mooring for DFDS vessels and an alternative berth for P&O Spirit class ships. Currently, berths seven and nine are able to accommodate the new super-ferries but without the extension to pier A, larger ships using berth three would protrude beyond the extent of the pier. The completion of the work delivers additional longer length berths, improves marine safety and mitigates the possibility of disruption to ferry schedules. Cost of all this new berth infrastructure = £11.4 Million.
The 4 metre diameter monopile, weighing 246 tonnes, arrived last week on board the coaster, Napali. In an operation that took almost 12 hours it was lifted from the vessel by the GPS atlas and lowered to the seabed. Divers attached straps to the lifting trunnion and the unit was raised vertically and lowered into position in a pre drilled socket in the seabed. The Monopile was then locked into position by filling the annulus around the pile with aggregate...exciting stuff indeed.
Commented Port of Dover’s Head of Infrastructure Development, Nigel Bodell; “The pier A project is part of a £11.4m investment in berth infrastructure at the Port this year. Previously, we have completed similar work on piers C and E and as the third pier to be extended, the investment in pier A alone cost £4.3m. It moves the Port closer to the corporate objective to plan and develop our infrastructure to meet the needs of the market and of our customers by providing more multi-user berths.”
Contractor, BAM Nuttall has been awarded the pier extension contract and is to replace the side and stern fenders on berth three to accommodate the higher berthing loads from larger vessels.
In addition, a contract has been awarded to Hollandia for the refurbishment of berth three which includes overhaul of the bridge decks, replacement of machinery and equipment and the installation of a self-supporting mechanism for the linkspan fingers.
To see Ed Connell's comprehensive pictures in our Forum of the structural progress so far.. please click here..
http://www.doverforum.com/letters/viewtopic.php?id=10206
Top Picture shows Board Members from DHB visiting the site at pier A.
Second picture shows some of the construction work being inspected by the team.
These exclusive pictures show the new ship during it's first day of operation on saturday. When we say new of course, we mean new to this route..a new addition to the new fleet and in the new colours. As mentioned below the vessel is chartered from Brittany Ferries but now with a dazzling makeover and called Deal Seaways.In choppy conditions we see her accompanied by a pilot boat in the pic above, and as we can see she is fully loaded. The small motor boat stayed 25 yards away from her for until she reached a considerable way out into the channel. Not sure what the reason for this might be on this occasion but maybe ace nautical guys out there can let us know. Always interested to hear more ..PaulB on dover7@msn.com.
Picture left shows her in better weather conditions earlier this morning as she arrived in fine fettle at the harbour entrance. The Ship is considerably smaller than some of the new giants from P&O.
The question as to why the pilot boat is answered by John Mavin on one of our Forum threads. Many thanks John...
there is some excellent posts all round on the thread too. Please click here..
http://www.doverforum.com/letters/viewtopic.php?id=10176
Earlier......
Launch : Deal Seaways.
Friday saw the launch of the second vessel to operate for DFDS/LD Lines on the cross channel run to Calais. Here she is, the Deal Seaways pictured left manoeuvring in the English Channel very late in the evening, near nightfall in fact as you can see. Formerly known as The Barfleur when sporting the Brittany Ferries livery, the vessel has now been leased from the aforementioned company by the DFDS/LD amalgam and is now renamed. She did spend the day as far as we could tell getting ready for the hustle and bustle of daily service by acclimatising to the docking and re-docking system here in the Port.
The new company is enjoying "a good take up" so are delighted to have the new ship which will bring their daily sailings from Dover to Calais up to ten. Several threads on this in our Forum. PB
Check out our highly active Forum, where you will find a great selection of topics local and national.