|
 |
|
|
|
Brightlingsea returns
The Harwich ferry Brightlingsea returned to service from Harwich Halfpenny Pier on 10 August following a lengthy restoration. She now runs regular daily harbour tours of almost two hours in length at 1230, 1430 and 1630 subject to weather and demand, providing excellent opportunities to see and photograph shipping at Felixstowe and Harwich International Port.
MoD vessel on the rocks
The six-man crew of the 105-tonne survey and training vessel Smit Cymyran were winched to safety by helicopter after the vessel hit rocks off the coast of Anglesey during the morning of 20 August. The crew were all safe after abandoning the vessel when she hit the East Platters rocks just south of the Skerries Island.
Lap of honour for Queen Elizabeth 2
Queen Elizabeth 2 completed a historic round Britain cruise to celebrate the 40th anniversary of her launch by HM The Queen on 20 September 1967. The east-about circuit, starting at Southampton on 15 September, also marked two other significant Cunard Line milestones - 100 years since Mauretania's departure from the Tyne for her first sea trials in 1907, and the 40th anniversary of Queen Mary's final departure from New York on 22 September 1967.
HD Ferries insist they will stay course
'We are here to stay' was the defiant message from chief executive Chris Howe-Davies as HD Ferries resumed operations between the Channel Islands and French mainland ports after a second suspension of its Jersey ramp licence. Jersey Harbours stepped in when the 60m catamaran HD1, running between St Malo, Jersey and Guernsey on three out of four engines due to a defective water jet, reportedly encountered problems manoeuvring in St Helier's Elizabeth Harbour.
December start for Oscar Wilde
Irish Ferries now say its new Rosslare-Cherbourg route acquisition Oscar Wilde, bought at the beginning of the year for €45 million, will enter service in 'early December' after the 1987-built former Kronprins Harald was handed over in Oslo on 1 September following a final Color Line trip to Kiel.
Nordolink pair refitted
New company Channel Ferries Limited, buyers of the former Finnlines Nordolink twins Lübeck Link and Malmö Link, has been set up purely as ro-ro tonnage charterers and has no intention of putting the 1980-built pair into commercial service to their own account.
Coronia can't sail
Thousands of people have signed a petition asking Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly for intervention to block a directive threatening the veteran motor ship Coronia's long-established Yorkshire coastal cruises between Scarborough and Whitby. Passenger vessels of the 1935-built Coronia's size are limited to round trips of 30 nautical miles but the distance to Whitby, over which an estimated 95,000 passengers have been carried during the past 15 years, is 17 nautical miles, two miles further than the total now permitted in a single leg. The EU were initially blamed for the regulations, but it then emerged they had been put in place by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Coronia had a £100,000 refit earlier this year, including extensive hull re-plating.
Celebration Carnival dominoes
Carnival Corporation is to transfer Celebration (1987/47,262gt) next year to Iberocruceros, a newly-created cruise line in which it is a 75 per cent stakeholder in a joint venture with Spain's Orizonia Corporation, which owns Iberojet Cruises. Iberojet currently operates two cruise ships, Grand Mistral (1999) and Grand Voyager (2000), which will also join the new brand.
First visitor to new terminal
Seas Voyager arrived in the Mersey on 9 September. She came in at about 0715 with pilot John Curry on the bridge and berthed unaided. Voyager, owned by Regent Seven Seas Cruises, was on a cruise from Copenhagen taking in various UK ports, with 700 passengers on board.
Salamis Glory in Haifa collision
On 30 August Salamis Glory (1962/ 10,392gt) collided with the small Israeli-owned cargo ship Shelly (1973/1,837gt), anchored off Haifa, after departing from the port late that evening. The freighter sank quickly but 13 of the 15 Indonesian and Slovakian crew were rescued by the Israeli Navy, while the bodies of the two others were recovered later. None of the 700 passengers or crew aboard the cruise ship was injured. Salamis Glory suffered minor damage to her bow and returned to Haifa. The cause of the accident is being investigated.
Quick and stealthy
Indonesia has received the first of four new corvettes based on one of Royal Schelde's 'off-the-shelf' Sigma naval patrol series designs. KRI Diponegoro was delivered a few weeks ahead of schedule with her construction taking just two years to complete. The rapid build time was achieved due to the modular design of the hull components, a system called Ship Integrated Geometrical Modularity Approach, from which the series derives its name.
Fanfare farewell
The purpose-built Falkland Islands patrol vessel, HMS Clyde, has sailed from Portsmouth to take up her South Atlantic duties. The 81m OPV left to a twin water cannon salute, normally reserved for triumphant homecomings, by the tugs Bustler and Powerful as they escorted her out of harbour in company with her sister ship, HMS Tyne. During the month-long journey to her new East Cove base she will call at the Canary Islands and Rio.
Watershed for defence
As previously reported, the Royal Navy is to get its largest ever warships. In making the announcement at the end of July, the Defence Secretary confirmed that the 65,000-tonne aircraft carriers are to be named HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. The long-awaited approval to proceed comes courtesy of a 1.5 per cent annual increase in defence spending over the next three years.
FESCO still expanding
The Far Eastern Shipping Company (FESCO) has come a long way in recent years and is now Russia's third largest shipping company. What was once an ailing shipping line has become an inter-modal operator carrying huge numbers of containers. In the last year alone, the company have acquired Transgarant, Russia's largest private rolling stock operator; National Container Company, the leading container terminals company; and TIS, a logistics company operating on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
ACL looks to future
Despite success in today's market, liner companies have to predict future trends and respond accordingly. Grimaldi's Atlantic Container Line has been successful for many years on the North Atlantic, but is already starting design work on a new generation of multi-purpose ships to take over when the present ships, now over 20 years old, have to be replaced.
Arklow's latest coasters
On 28 June, latest vessel Arklow Raven (2007/2,999gt) arrived at Ellesmere Port on the Manchester Ship Canal at the end of her maiden commercial voyage from Antwerp with 4,311 tonnes of ammonium sulphate. There is one more vessel in the 'R' series still to be delivered, to be named Arklow Raider, for delivery in October. After discharge at Ellesmere Port, Arklow Raven left for Llandulas to load stone.
All this and more in the latest issue of Ships Monthly, now on sale
Ships Monthly, 11 October 2007
|
| View all notices |
|
|
|
