Sea News...
- 28 November 2012 06:32203420I have just had a look on our Channel Traffic thingy at the top of page ( many thanks to Chris T for that one as have greatly enjoyed browsing through it at regular intervals ) and I can see the Berlioz nestled in Dunkerque harbour basin as it were...awaiting refit, good to hear that info Ed and good to see those pics above. I wonder what refitting they are doing as apart from the repair to the collision damage not much appears to be needed..the ships themselves look great both outside and on the inside. Will be interesting to see.
It definitely shows a committment to the route though..they clearly seem to be going for it with intent. Next year should be interesting on both the channel crossings. (note for brain: I have never been to Dunkerque..must go for sure.)
Yes the weather has got calmer..here is a pic of the tranquil sea yesterday, but isnt that sky still menacing...
Once again unusual looking cloud formations.email: dover7@msn.com - 29 November 2012 01:06203675Nord Pas de Calais has now commenced service Dover-Calais. Seen here departing from ED2 on wednesday morning.
Rodin entered shortly before the NPC departed, seen here going astern for her berth.
- 29 November 2012 07:29203685Wow! havent seen that before , good capture Ed. Splendid pix all round. All launched yesterday by the look of things, see bunting etc. The new paintjob makes this regular workhorse look look almost like a derby sprinter... a heck of a lot better. Will watch out for it today. Scoop pictures there Ed !
email: dover7@msn.com - 29 November 2012 17:38203825Have to agree and keeping us up todate there Ed,The Myferrylink ships certainly are looking the business now.
- 1 December 2012 10:09204058Dunkerque is now home to several French flag ferries. The Berlioz from My Ferry Link is undergoing a refit. The Cote d'Albatre from DFDS/LD Newhaven - Dieppe is laid up or awaiting a refit. The Barfleur from Brittany Ferries is laid up until she resumes her Poole - Cherbourg service having finished her charter to DFDS/LD as the Deal Seaways.
The Bretagne from Brittany Ferries arrived to join them for lay up on wednesday. Seen here passing Dunkerque West.
The DHB dredger David Church is currently operating in Ramsgate and apparently facilities ashore are being renovated. Rumour that TEF might be going to purchase the Pride of Calais which has recently been laid up in Tilbury.
The old Pride of Dover left Tilbury under tow by the tug Eide Fighter on thursday morning bound for Turkey and passed Dover on thursday night. The AIS on Eide Fighter states destination Tuzla in Turkey and there is speculation that she may be going to see further service but the likelihood is that she is going for scrap on the beach at Aliaga or elsewhere.
Super video by Ted Ingham, click the link below the picture as I can't seem to embed it:
#t=2s - 1 December 2012 13:04204069i will believe it when i see tef buy the pride of calais, plenty of talk comes from them not always accompanied by action.
let's hope the david church arrives back here soon. - 1 December 2012 16:39204090And speaking of the Cote d'Albatre..I fetched out one of your excellent pix from some time ago Ed..isnt this the one and the very same ship?? Cant quite make out the name but I think it is..here we are..its a cracking shot from the unusual angle.
I think this was a frontpage job in former times..
pic Ed Connell
also caught my first sunlit glimpse of the Nord Pas de Calais today and here she is resplendant and glowing in new livery.. a newly painted thorn between two roses !!??
Out of the way guys..we're coming through..!!......
the scene below might have surprised the guys fishing on the busy breakwater today as this P&O bore down upon them ...
but the captain found his brakes in time and all was well. The fishermen carried on in tranquil mode catching the mackerel and the captain manouevred slowly backwards into pier position
yes all was well, and the sleepy afternoon carried on as normal washed by a watery sun
email: dover7@msn.com - 1 December 2012 17:27204094nice pictures all round those anglers are a hardy bunch, no shelters there unlike the prince of wales pier.
- 1 December 2012 21:11204117Yes, that is the Cote d'Albatre. A colourful addition to the Dover scene for a few months three years ago. One of LD Lines failed experiments at opening up competing ferry services. They acquired operation of the Transmanche Ferries service from Newhaven to Dieppe on behalf of the Seine Maritime council with a heavy subsidy. However, the service had two modern ferries, Cote d'Albatre and Seven Sisters, but only enough traffic to sustain one.
Therefore they tried the Cote d'Albatre on Dover-Dieppe and Dover-Boulogne but the former route attracted little custom and she was replaced on the latter route by other tonnage. She was a total disaster in Dover as she did not fit any of the berths and was only able to berth bows in as the design of the stern doors prevented her from berthing stern in.
Seen here alongside berth ED3 where she had to have a Yokohama fender lowered into the water at the forward end to space her off the pier in order to line up with the linkspan.
Seen here a few minutes later as Maersk Dover leaves from ED2 and the water rushing under the pier pushes the Cote off ED3. The Cote therefore had to suspend loading and withdraw her ramp every time another ship was berthing or departing.
Regarding the P&O ship looming over the fishermen on the breakwater in your photo, she is "swinging under the Knuckle" which is a very common manoeuvre. Swinging is the act of rotating the ship, in this case to go astern to the berth. The Knuckle is the point at which the detached breakwater bends and is marked by the Knuckle Light seen in the photo. Ferries entering frequently hold there in order to enable another ferry which is waiting to leave to depart the berth and sail under their stern out of the Eastern Entrance before going back into their own berth. - 1 December 2012 23:12204129An odd sight you don't see every day
Been nice knowing you :) - 3 December 2012 01:34204287Interesting memory there by Ed of the Cote D'Alabatre. True, she was a bit of a disaster but I found her to be a delight to travel on - more like a small cruise ship than a ferry. I was with a couple of friends on her first scheduled crossing to Boulogne in Feb. 2009, as were some other forumites as I recall. Everything was a bit slow because it was also the first scheduled arrival of a mono-hulled ferry at Boulogne in 17 years (if I'm right the last one was the St. Anselm in 1992). Additionally the pilot had to hurtle down from Calais and we were beginning to wonder if he'd turn up! A very good day out with free plonk and nibbles to those in need on the return crossing.
Shortly afterwards I also had the dubious distinction of being one of the very few foot passengers on the CDA. This was because I went to Boulogne on the Norman Arrow which punctured a hull on the return trip, thus briefly taking her out of service. No great problems getting back to Dover except that LD lines had to quickly find a shuttle bus to take us to the terminal building. Find a bus they did, and before any vehicles disembarked it charged up the ramp to collect us - fortunately we were all pretty quick so there was minimal delay.
- 3 December 2012 02:07204288My friend Marconista from the Dover Ferry Forum sent me some pictures he took of the final departure of the Pride of Dover from Tilbury on Thursday (looking a bit sparse with the P&O logos removed).
The speculation that she may see further service is fueled by the destination in Turkey being given as Tuzla, where there is a large shipbuilding and repair industry. Normally vessels for scrap go to Aliaga. However, as the acquisition of a ship is a complex affair everything is kept well under wraps for sensible commercial reasons. So all we can do is wait and see.
- Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
3 December 2012 06:20204289just wondering if there was a skelinton crew on board the dover. - 3 December 2012 08:34204300Terrific inform,ation and pictures there chaps..absolutely spiffing! as we say in the colonies. I saw the Cote d'Albatre in Dieppe during its brief service there. Sadly and a bit stupidly I didnt photograph it, twould have been handy to have now. It started off in Dover with a lot of ballyhoo as i remember but sadly as pointed out above it was like a square peg in a round hole.
Fascinating about the oul Pride of Dover there..will be interesting to hear what becomes of her in the end. Great photos all round.
ps: Scotchie thats my champagne playtoy being delivered..bound for the Gateway at full speed.email: dover7@msn.com - 3 December 2012 08:38204301Yesterday by way of light diversion, immensely colourful balloons en masse flew overhead ..and wafted out into the channel. Dazzling they were...I see there is a thread running on the balloons..have added pix to that thread but here are a few extra ones with the nautical angle for right here..
email: dover7@msn.com - 3 December 2012 08:41204302Ah ! I clicked the button too quick above there
and a further couple for good measure...
email: dover7@msn.com - 3 December 2012 17:53204383There are some great pictures on this thread guys, you really are keeping those cameras busy busy,well remember seeing the Cote D'Albatre on a vist to Dieppe last summer.
- 5 December 2012 08:07204582
Thats the Star Trust in the picture above arriving in Dover Harbour yesterday at 3pm sharp..right on schedule. As you can see carrying a very full load, yes indeed, packed to the proverbial rafters with what looks like an African cargo..perhaps fruit. Some of the containers had 'Africa Line' written on them. Helped into position by both tugs Dauntless and Doughty. Doughty is behind pulling or pushing from the rear.
And now this morning..a few minutes ago as I write, the sun coming up over the Caps in France...
I think Reg was asking for a sunrise the other day on one of the threads..didnt have a picture of that particular sunrise at that particular time but here we are now...the one below is a wider view of the same thing. Top one with zoom lens, bottom one with no zooming, nature does the rest.
email: dover7@msn.com - 6 December 2012 07:33204762A grim reminder today of the tough life seafarers have. The news that a cargo vessel has sunk in the North Sea with the loss of a number of lives is very sad indeed. Just guys going about their daily job, but sadly involved in a collision with a container ship somewhere off Belgium I believe. The sea is rough out there today...with gales forecast in the English Channel and beyond.
* *
Here is the P&O Christmas Schedule. If I hear anything from DFDS or MFL will let all know but I suspect they will run a service something along the same lines.
P&O Ferries is offering an amended sailing schedule for the Christmas and New Year period as follows:
Dover - Calais
Reduced service on 24 December (last sailing from Dover at 14.45hrs and from Calais at 17.55hrs)
No service on Christmas Day
Reduced service on 26 December (seven sailings from Dover between 07.35hrs and 23.15hrs, six sailings from Calais between 10.45hrs and 21.45hrs)
Normal service on 31 December and New Year's Day
Hull - Rotterdam
No service on 24 December and Christmas Day
Normal service on 26 December
No service on 30 and 31 December
Normal service on New Year's Day
Hull - Zeebrugge
Normal service on 24 December
No service on Christmas Day and 26 December
No service on 31 December and New Year's Day
Sailing schedules can be checked at www.POferries.com or by calling 08716 646464.email: dover7@msn.com - 6 December 2012 08:58204763"Four crew members have died and seven are missing after a cargo ship collided with another vessel and sank off the Dutch coast.
The 485ft (148m) Baltic Ace collided with the 440ft (134m) container ship Corvus J near busy shipping lanes some 40 miles off the coast of the southern Netherlands.
Baltic Ace, which was heading from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge to Kotka in Finland, sank shortly after the collision..."
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/four-dead-north-sea-ship-collision-233327923.htmlIgnorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
