NOTES & NEWS

Your web master has returned after a visit to Cóbh which turned out to be somewhat interesting meteorologically around the middle of the week!

Please note that this week's update has been posted in two stages - with the first batch of galleries posted yesterday. Please check "What's New" for details.

As usual when I am away a backlog of material has built up for the web site, this will be cleared towards the end of the week.

Also I would like to apologies to anyone who is still awaiting any email replies as I have not completed working my way through these either.

John H. Luxton

ISLE OF MAN STEAM PACKET COMPANY

SUPERSEACAT TWO did not operate Liverpool - Dublin on Sunday October 24 or Wednesday / Thursday October 27 / 28 due to adverse weather conditions. She was reported running behind schedule on reduced power on October 31.

LADY OF MANN operated  21:00 Liverpool - Douglas in place of SUPERSEACAT TWO on October 27  and returned on the 07:00 sailing the next day.

A reminder for those in the UK who are fortunate in not having to work on Fridays during the next few weeks that the LADY OF MANN recommences her winter day drips from Liverpool on November 04, 2004. Departs Liverpool at 08:00 - arriving Douglas at 12:00. Returning 13:45 and arriving back at Liverpool at 17:45.

ISLE OF MAN STEAM PACKET COMPANY

SEACAT ISLE OF MAN will not make her last public sailing of the season [and probably her final sailing for the Steam Packet ] from to and from Liverpool on October 21 due to forecast adverse weather conditions. Her final sailing was the 10:30 from Liverpool to Douglas on October 20.

Passengers on the 07:00 sailing will be diverted to the BEN-MY-CHREE whilst the 10:30 Liverpool - Douglas will be operated by the LADY OF MANN, which would have had to sail light to Douglas to position for her weekend sailings to Dublin and Liverpool. It is understood that SCIOM had been due to cross to A&P Birkenhead on Thursday afternoon for the pm tide. However, it is not clear if that will be effected by the weather.

SUPERSEACAT TWO - the Thursday Liverpool - Dublin sailing is in doubt.

PONTUS - The floating terminal berthed at Prince's Landing Stage is believed to have been sold. 

CALEDONIAN MACBRAYNE

ISLE OF LEWIS is understood to be heading for Birkenhead on Monday October 25 for refit. She is scheduled for a morning arrival,  presumably at A&P Birkenhead.

LIGHTSHIP PLANET

The sale of former Liverpool Bar Lightship PLANET has been confirmed. [Lamb Banana - October 17] However, the identity of the buyer is as yet unknown. However, the buyer is said to be in talks with the preservation group. Therefore, there is a possibility that she might not yet leave Merseyside.

IRISH FERRIES

ULYSSES - departed earlier from Dublin on October 12 and 13 due to work being undertaken on one of the engines. The ship operated on reduced power. The early departure was made to ensure she made her scheduled slot at Holyhead.

IRELAND - FRANCE ROUTE RESTRUCTURED

DANIEL ADAMSON PRESERVATION SOCIETY

There will be an open meeting at the Lecture Theatre, Merseyside Maritime Museum, Albert Dock, Liverpool on Saturday October 23, 2024 at 14:00.

This meeting will enable both members and non members to come and find out how the project to preserve Britain's last steam tug tender is progressing and meet some of the active volunteers and committee members.

ISLE OF MAN STEAM PACKET COMPANY

SEACAT ISLE OF MAN the vessels final sailing will be the 10:30 sailing Liverpool - Douglas on Thursday October 21. Despite rumours of a replacement for the 2005 season, there has, as yet, been no confirmation by the company. Whether the 10:30 sailing from Liverpool is the ship's final voyage for the company remains to be seen. 

LADY OF MANN commenced her winter season with the 08:30 Douglas to Dublin sailing on Friday October 22. She will operate on the Liverpool - Douglas route on Saturday October 23 and Sunday October 24.

ABP GARSTON

MERSEY FERRIES

Dates and timings for Manchester Ship Canal Cruises in 2005 have been posted to the Mersey Ferries web site. 

The first Liverpool - Manchester sailing will depart Liverpool on May 07, 2024 at 11:45 and return to Liverpool on May 08, at 09:30.

WICKLOW & EAST COAST NOTES from Tommy Dover

WICKLOW PORT

Coaster caller's this week included SCOT MARINER, UNION MARS, FAST CATRIEN, ANDRINA F, MANGEN and SCOT PIONEER .

Wicklow Sailing Club yacht's were lifted out of the water for Winter storage on Saturday morning.

Wicklow RNLI inshore lifeboat launched on a crew exercise in the bay on Friday morning, the all weather boat launched on Sunday morning for a exercise in the bay.

Local yawl's are presently fishing for 'hern's' ( herring ) in the bay.

Traffic in the bay included RHEIN CARRIER, LÉ RÓISÍN and tanker inbound for Dublin .

PEEL HOLDINGS - MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL

Following the opening of the Irlam container terminal in June 2004, which serves the Greenock - Southampton feeder service operated by Clydeport Peel Holdings is looking towards developing a large intermodal terminal at Barton with a handling capacity of 300,000 containers per year. This Port of Salford scheme would occupy 250 acres and cost £120m. The facility would aim to handle up to 250 ships per year and 16 trains per day.

STENA LINE

STENA SEAFARER is going to be the Stena relieving ship, covering for all the ships dry docks early 2005. The 'Seafarer is due in a dry dock (as yet unnamed) in February 2005 for 3 weeks (due to the fitting of a sprinkler system and other work), then go round relieving Dublin - Holyhead, Fishguard - Rosslare and Belfast - Stranraer.

HSS STENA EXPLORER missed three round trip sailings on October 17 as the vessel was reported withdrawn to resolve technical problems.

CORRECTION - HSS REFITS

MAC ANDREWS

The Port of Liverpool's longest established container line has doubled its weekly sailings to Spain to offer shippers a seaborne alternative to trucking cargo overland.

MacAndrews, which operated conventional services from the Mersey before switching to a container operation in the late 1960s, has launched a fixed-day Tuesday sailing to Bilbao to complement its long established Thursday service on the same route.

The introduction of the 448 teu DOERTE from Tuesday October 12, brings MacAndrews sailings out of the Seaforth Container Terminal to three a week – two to Spain and one to Portugal. In addition, the Line's parent company CMA CGM, has a weekly service from Liverpool to Le Havre.

Said MacAndrews' Managing Director Geoff Smith: "Upgrading the Spanish service is a direct response to growing customer demand to transfer cargo from road to sea. With a Tuesday and Thursday sailing from Liverpool, MacAndrews offers a level of frequency and reliability which shippers increasingly recognise as commercially competitive and environmentally preferable to overland haulage."

The DOERTE maintains a sailing schedule of Liverpool, Montoir, Bilbao, Dublin, Liverpool.

Mersey Docks' Director of Marketing Frank Robotham, said: "MacAndrews' decision to now offer a twice weekly service to Northern Spain is great news. This innovative approach offers a real alternative to overland routes and reflects the strength of cargo support from the North West Region."

SEA CONTAINERS LTD

The company announced this week that it had divided its passenger transport division into two separate components Ferry and Rail. 

Christopher Garnett has been appointed senior vice president of rail operations. 

MEZERON LINE

AULDYN RIVER [ex CLAUDIA W] is reported laid up and for sale by Sotheby's Brokerage. She is being offered for £85,000 for a quick sale. She is being offered for immediate commercial use or for conversion to a "superb Houseboat with room to spare for Disco/Art studio/swimming pool/Jacuzzi/Sauna/ etc etc". [More Details]

SHIPS OF MANN

Issue 9 of "Ships of Mann" magazine is now on sale at both UK and Isle of Man outlets. Subscribers should have received their copies already. Full Details of the latest edition on "Ships of Mann" web site.

A&P BIRKENHEAD / REDDINGTON FINANCE

Further to the announcement concerning the sale of the Cammell Laird North Yard to Reddington Finance, it appears that the dry docks are not part of the deal and will remain in A&P Ownership. The sale does include the wet basin and surrounding land which will be leased back by A&P.

NORTH WESTERN SHIPREPAIRERS

Henty Oil's barge STANLEY H will dock at  Clarence Drydocks October 11/12.

IRISH NAVAL SERVICE

LÉ AOIFE has been escorting the stricken HMCS CHICOUTIMI whilst off the Irish Coast. LÉ AOIFE replaced the LÉ RÓISÍN which was damaged in heavy seas when making its way to the submarine earlier in the week.

CANADIAN NAVAL SERVICE

HMCS CHICOUTIMI is expected to arrive back in Scotland on Sunday October 10 under tow.

In Ireland members of the Irish Defence Forces took part in a ceremony at Dublin Airport to mark the departure of the body of submariner Lt.  Chris Saunders who passed away at Sligo General Hospital due to the effects of smoke inhalation.

ISLE OF MAN DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT- HARBOURS DIVISION

Passenger figures compiled by the Harbours Division for August 2004 at 100,291 show a 9% decrease on the figure for the same period in 2003 which was 110,244.

The year to date figure at 487,138 passengers shows a 2.9% decrease over the same period in 2003 which was 501,544.

During August, car and motorcycle traffic through Douglas Harbour decreased by 11.9% from 25,913 vehicles to 22,824 vehicles.

The year to date figure at 128,736 vehicles shows a 3.5% decrease over the same period in 2003 which was 133,421.

Scheduled Routes show the following changes in passenger numbers for August:-

Director of Harbours, Captain Michael Brew comments:

“August 2004 figures are impacted by the later dates for this year’s Manx Grand Prix and the disappointing August weather. August 2003 figures were the best August figures for 15 years and whilst this year’s are slightly disappointing this is the sixth year that August traffic has been over 100,000.”

STENA LINE

WICKLOW & EAST COAST NOTES from Tommy Dover

WICKLOW PORT

Coaster's calling at the port this week included AMANDA and PROVIDER. Traffic in the bay included SEVERN FISHER , ARKLOW CASTLE , BEN NEVIS and GUDRUN II . Wicklow lifeboat RNLB ANNIE BLAKER launched on a crew exercise in the bay on Friday evening.

TAMAR BRIDGE & TORPOINT FERRY JOINT COMMITTEE

It is reported that the operator of the Torpoint Ferry will introduce a new method of toll collection on the ferry during the coming year which will see fares collected from booths and a "fast tag" system introduced for both ferry and bridge. If approval is granted for the scheme it should be in operation by the end of 2005.

MARITIME & COASTGUARD AGENCY

15 FOREIGN SHIPS UNDER DETENTION IN THE UK DURING AUGUST 2004

The Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) announced on October 04 that 15 foreign ships were under detention in UK ports during August 2004 after failing Port State Control safety inspection.

Latest monthly figures show that there were 11 new detentions of foreign flagged ships in UK ports during August 2004, along with 4 other ships still under detention from previous months. This represents an increase of 6 new detentions in comparison to July. The overall rate of detentions compared with inspections carried out over the last 12 months is 6.4% which is a increase of 0.3% compared to July’s 12 month rate.

Vessels detained in August include the following:

A Panamanian flagged gas carrier was detained on Teeside on the 9th August 2004. The vessel had failed to inform MCA that it was due a Mandatory Expanded Inspection under the EU directive on Port State Control (details in MSN 1775). There were a total of 17 deficiencies recorded during the inspection. Notably, these included a lack of crew training in the launch of the lifeboat. The ship was released from detention on the 10th August 2004.

A St Vincent & Grenadines flagged, Det Norske Veritas classed, general cargo vessel was detained in Sunderland on 10th August 2004. During the inspection, 3 major non-conformities out of 23 deficiencies were recorded against the vessel. The fire main was holed through corrosion, liferafts were not safely secured and the gangway was unsafe. Furthermore the crew were unable to demonstrate familiarisation with the safety equipment. The deficiencies recorded showed evidence of a systematic failure of the ISM system.

A Norwegian flagged, general cargo vessel was detained in Hull on the 16th August 2004. Various ship certificates had been removed by the classification society as the annual surveys had not been carried out by the due dates. These included the International Load Line Certificate, Safety Radio Certificate, International Oil Pollution Prevention Certificate, Safety Equipment Certificate and Safety Construction Certificate. There were also major structural defects identified in the double bottom tanks and associated bulkheads. Conditions on board revealed a lack of ISM implementation on board. Bureau Veritas, the class responsible for the vessel’s ISM certificates, carried out an additional ISM/DOC audit on board before the vessel’s release from detention on the 28th August 2004. An additional ISM/DOC audit be undertaken by Bureau Veritas within the following weeks.

A Panamanian flagged, general cargo vessel was detained in Hartlepool on the 18th August 2004. A total of 14 deficiencies were recorded against this vessel, including corrosion of the aft accommodation bulkhead in the way of both port and starboard access doors and corrosion of the air conditioning trunking by the port lifeboat. The water supply on board was badly discoloured and there was also no hot water in the galley. There was also a serious defect to the starboard lifeboat. Initially the lifeboat was seized in the davit. It took the crew 1 hour to get the boat to move and the release hooks were seized which prevented the operation of the on-load release gear. The vessel was released on the 19th August 2004.   <MCGA LIST>

SEA CONTAINERS LTD

SUPERSEACAT ONE is likely to replace RAPIDE on the Belfast - Troon route in 2005. RAPIDE would return to the Channel.

A&P BIRKENHEAD

A few days ago it was mentioned on the "Lamb Banana" page that there was a rumour circulating that A&P had sold their Birkenhead site to Reddington Finance.

On October 9, 2024 Lloyds List revealed further information concerning this deal which has seen the controversial owners of the Cammell Laird South Yard acquire the North Yard site.

The article also revealed that Reddington had acquired the former McTay Marine Shipyard at Bromborough which closed down following the launch of the "AFON DYFRDWY" for Holyhead Towing.

"A&P Group has sold its Birkenhead yard to development company Reddington Finance in a move which has caused enormous anger in the region's shiprepair and shipbuilding community. The site, which has three dry docks and a wet basin, now looks likely - sooner or later - to join the southern half of the former Cammell Laird yard as part of a 140-acre waterfront redevelopment scheme. 

Neither party has officially confirmed the Birkenhead deal, but Mike Ryder, site director for Reddington, said: "An agreement has been reached between A&P and Reddington on the future of the site and more detailed information will be available in the near future." A&P's business development director, Clive Towl, said "an announcement" was likely within the next week but declined to go into details. Northwestern Shiprepairers and Shipbuilders (NSL), the Merseyside company set up three years ago by a group of former Cammell Laird directors, was outbid last year when it tried to buy the construction hall, which has two slipways. 

NSL managing director John Syvret is angry that Reddington has claimed there is no future for the industry on the Mersey. "We are losing assets we would dearly love to see in operation," he said. Based at Bidston, NSL leases docks on the Mersey and says it badly needs more facilities to cope with demand. 

Previously, NSL had leased the 300 metre Inchgreen dry dock on the Clyde in order to accommodate major contracts on the RFA Fort George and the Brambleleaf. "We are looking at all opportunities to expand our facilities at the moment; we want to establish a firm base at larger facilities for future work," said Mr Syvret."We have confidence in the future. We see there is going to be a shortage of capacity for the forthcoming shipbuilding programme, including the aircraft carriers." 

Reddington says huge investment would be needed in the construction hall site. "When we purchased the site from BAe, they had, at the time, just won the contract for the aircraft carriers. They said it would cost £120m to bring the yard back into the condition to build ships here," said Mr Ryder. "There is no company to build ships here and no more important skills and management skills; they don't exist here any more. The market doesn't exist in Europe. "While we appreciate what people are saying about shiprepair and shipbuilding, we could sit here for ever and delay looking at the potential of the site. "We are looking to the future; we are going to create 4,500 jobs onsite and 5,000 associated jobs."

CONISTON LAUNCH COMPANY

ROYAL NAVY / CANADIAN NAVY

HMCS CHICOUTIMI, the Canadian navy's fourth and final Victoria-class submarine [RN Upholder Class], was crossing from  Scotland to Canada after the official handing over of the vessel on Saturday when a small electrical fire forced it to surface Tuesday morning and left it without propulsion.

Nine members of the 57-person crew were treated for minor smoke inhalation, but no one was seriously injured, the navy said. By Wednesday evening HMS MONTROSE was reported to have reached the stricken submarine, with HMS MARLBOROUGH and RFA WAVE KNIGHT were reported to be enroute. 

On September 07 HMCS CHICOUTIMI had been undergoing trials off Skye, when the Merseyside based tug VANGUARD engaged to escort the vessel was wrecked on the Island of Rona

IRISH NAVAL SERVICE

LÉ RÓISIN [P51] was forced by high seas to abort its mission to give assistance to the Candadian Submarine HMCS CHICOUTIMI. The Department of Defence reports that the ship suffered bow damage in heavy seas. The crew undertook  repairs and the vessel was reported making its way back to base at Haulbowline, Cork.

ISLE OF MAN STEAM PACKET COMPANY

LADY OF MANN - returned to Merseyside after her charter to Açor Line on October 2. She was secure on Prince's Landing Stage at 10:55. She called there to off load a UK registered car, before sailing to her lay-up berth. She re-enters service with the 08:30 Douglas to Dublin sailing on October 22.

NORSE MERCHANT FERRIES

MERCHANT BRAVERY and MERCHANT BRILLIANT have now been sold and are flying the Jamaican flag, chartered back to NorseMerchant.

HARLAND & WOLFF

It is understood that the Belfast ship yard will refit three Irish Ferries vessel in January 2005. The company will also refit two HSS vessels for Stena Line in the new year. The company is also expected to receive two offshore rigs for work in November 2004.

PENINSULAR & ORIENTAL STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY 

The long awaited review of the company's ferry operations around the British Isles was published on September 28, 2004.

The effect on the Irish Sea is minimal compared to the decimation of services on the English Channel.

Subject to consultation the following changes will take place:

All P&O routes out of Portsmouth, with the exception of Portsmouth to Bilbao [ operated by Irish Continental Group's PRIDE OF BILBAO ] will close.

PRIDE OF CHERBOURG [ICG's ISLE OF INNISFREE] to be layed up or chartered out until mid 2007 when her charter ends.

CHERBOURG EXPRESS - the chartered Incat 047 will transfer to the Irish Sea replacing SUPERSTAR EXPRESS. The ship arrived at A&P Birkenhead on October 02, 2024 for winter lay-up.

CAEN EXPRESS to be returned to her owners Mols Linien when her charter ends in October 2004.

PRIDE OF PORTSMOUTH and PRIDE OF LE HAVRE to be chartered out to Brittany Ferries with crew and shore staff subject inter alia to contract and regulatory approval.

PRIDE OF PROVENCE to be sold. PRIDE OF AQUITAINE to be returned to owners at end of charter in 2005.

EUROPEAN SEAWAY which is currently laid up at A&P Birkenhead will return to service. 

SUPERSTAR EXPRESS at the end of her charter to return to her owners SuperStar Cruises. Ship is currently in laid up in A&P Birkenhead. 

EUROPEAN DIPLOMAT will switch to the North Sea to replace BORE MARI. Rosslare to Cherbourg to close.

The news of the closure of the Rosslare - Cherbourg service is a blow to Rosslare Europort. Port operators  Iarnrod Éireann, who have 90 workers in the Rosslare Europort, said last night that the departure of P&O would have a serious effect on revenue.

P&O operate three sailings in and three out of the Irish port every week, servicing both freight and passengers.

"The closure of this route will potentially have a disastrous economic impact throughout the region," Labour TD Brendan Howlin said last night.

A spokesperson for Iarnrod Eireann said it was not anticipated that there would be job losses with Iarnrod Éireann and that the company would be talking with other operators with a view to filling the gap left by P&O.

Last night, managing director of P&O Irish Ferries Terry Cairns said that the company did not employ any people in the port but the firm sub-contracted the work to Iarnrod Eireann.

He said that there would be no redundancies for people who work on the route as it was being moved to the North Sea.

STENA LINE

STENA LYNX III arrived on the Mersey on September 29 and proceeded to NSL at Bidston for winter lay-up refit. 

STRANGFORD FERRY

ROYAL FLEET AUXILIARY

SIR GALAHAD [L3005] arrived at NSL Bidston for refit on Monday September 27, 2004.

VAN GOGH

At 12:45 local time on Sunday September 26 the cruise ship VAN GOGH which has been operating cruises out of Falmouth and which is due to call at Liverpool later this autumn was reported in collision with a fully laden tanker SPETSES [80,000 grt] in thick fog 10 minutes after departing Gibraltar for Tangier.

Fortunately (and miraculously) there were no casualties, nor any environmental damage. The VAN GOGH sustained substantial damage to

her bow but was able to return to dock alongside the Gibraltar Cruise Terminal unaided.

The tanker was towed to the Algeciras Oil refinery (her original destination). It was estimated that repairs to the VAN GOGH will take around two weeks. She has proceeded to Cammell Laird Gibraltar Ltd's dockyard for repairs.

SEA CONTAINERS LTD

SEACAT SCOTLAND - the former Irish Sea stalwart is one of three Sea Containers vessels to be refitted at the Pallion Shipyard on Sunderland. SEACAT SCOTLAND has already arrived. The yard will also refit SEACAT FRANCE and SUPERSEACAT ONE.

The Pallion Yard has been mothballed for some years and is probably best known as being the current home of the former Isle of Man Steam Packet Company's MANXMAN.

JAMES FISHER & SONS PLC - PNTL

The James Fisher managed PNTL ships based in Barrow-In-Furness  PACIFIC TEAL and PACIFIC PINTAIL looked set to run the Greenpeace gauntlet again on the evening of October 02, 2004.  

The ships were reported likely to be intercepted by the Greenpeace Environmental ship MV ESPERANZA as they pass off the Lizard.

The two armed merchant ships are bound from the USA to Cherbourg carrying material removed from nuclear warheads.  Once in France , the plutonium will be transported to Cadarache in the south of the country to be processed and converted into mixed oxide nuclear fuel. 

Greenpeace claims that the weapons grade plutonium is dangerous and could be a terrorist target

HELFORD FERRY

BRITTANY FERRIES

TORPOINT FERRY & TAMAR BRIDGE JOINT COMMITTEE

PLYM - the has been out of service for much of the week after failing around 16:00 on Sunday September 26.

The vessel was withdrawn as a 12-tonne weight failed in the tensioning mechanism which holds the north side chain. 

Large queues built up during the rush hour with delays of up to 45 minutes with all traffic being carried by TAMAR and LYNHER. 

PLYM will be the first of the three chain ferries to be replaced in December 2004. Her successor the higher capacity PLYM II was launched at Fergusons of Port Glasgow in August 2005.

WORLD NEWS

NEWS FROM AUSTAL SHIPS

AUSTAL LAUNCHES WORLD'S LARGEST ALUMINIUM SHIP

Austal, the world's leading builder of high speed ships has launched the largest aluminium ship ever built, the 127 metre trimaran ferry "Benchijigua Express" taking to the water for the first time early on 25 September.

It is the most significant ship to arrive on the world high speed vessel scene, not just in terms of size but due to its ability to give a substantially smoother ride to passengers in rough sea conditions thanks to its trimaran design.

Construction of the ferry commenced at the Austal shipyard in Western Australia in September 2003. At the height of construction approximately 430 of the company's 1200 staff were working on the project.

When Austal signed the contract to build a second high speed vehicle-passenger ferry for European ferry operator Fred. Olsen, S.A. in June last year, it signalled the start of not just another ferry from the world's leading builder of high speed ships, but the creation of a new hullform that is set to revolutionise fast sea transportation.

Setting new industry standards for vessel performance "Benchijigua Express" is the outcome of collaboration between Fred. Olsen, S.A. and Austal involving more than three years of research and development to produce a new design which will not only enable operators to offer better service on existing routes but also begin operations on new routes where sea conditions are too challenging for existing fast ferries.

With power provided by four 8,200 kW diesel engines driving three water jets the Auto Express 127 trimaran will be able to maintain Fred. Olsen, S.A.'s projected service speed in excess of 40 knots and carry 1,350 passengers, over 340 cars and a substantial number of trucks.

Seeing the vessel afloat for the first time Austal's Chairman Mr. John Rothwell spoke of his deep sense of pride.

"The sight of this gigantic ship, the largest aluminium vessel to ever be built in the world, illustrates just how far Austal has come since it delivered its first vessel back in 1988," Mr. Rothwell said.

"At 127 metres this huge vessel is 4¼ times longer than the first Austal-built live-aboard dive catamaran of just 30 metres which was built in approximately six months with just 30 people. Now we employ 1200 people," he said.

"Benchijigua Express" is now undergoing final onboard fit out prior to undergoing sea trials during November. The vessel will then depart for the Canary Islands on a delivery voyage covering approximately 9,500 nautical miles.