IRISH FERRIESISLE OF INISHMORE suffered a fire on board at approximately 02:30 on Wednesday July 30, 2008. The was caused by a fault in a thermal boiler used to preheat fuel for use in the ship's engines. The incident was detected by members of the crew and the unit shut down to minimize any risk. At the time of the incident, the vessel was preparing to sail on the 02:45 sailing from Pembroke Dock to Rosslare. Some 227 passengers and 89 crew were on board at the time. In accordance with agreed procedures all passengers were immediately alerted and were ready for disembarkation should that have been required. All emergency services were alerted, as is the practice in these situations. All passengers were accounted for and kept fully informed of the situation. All were safe and unharmed and at no point were any passengers in danger. As a result of the fire the 02:45 Pembroke to Rosslare and the 08:45 Rosslare to Pembroke Dock were cancelled. ISLE OF MAN DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTDOUGLAS HARBOUR - MAY 2008 TRAFFIC FIGURESTotal harbour traffic (including Steam Packet passengers and vehicles, cruise vessels, etc): | May | Year to Date | | Passengers | Vehicles | Passengers | Vehicles | 2008 | 74,144 | 24,468 | 193,681 | 60,637 | 2007 | 71,339 | 25,917 | 198,506 | 63,170 | %Change | +3.9% | -5.6% | -2.4% | -4.0% |
Route Performance: Route | %Change | 2007 | 2008 | Belfast | Minus 5% | 2,473 | 2.342 | Dublin | Minus 30% | 916 | 637 | Heysham | Plus 1% | 30,730 | 31,167 | Liverpool | Plus 8% | 32,225 | 34,679 | Larne | Minus 15% | 1,544 | 1,307 | Troon | All Minus | 63 | Nil |
Director of Harbours, Captain Michael Brew comments: “May passenger figures are very good allowing for the fact that Centenary TT traffic will have been included in 2007. For example, the 2008 year to date figure for passengers is 12.7% up on 2006 and for vehicles is 21% up on 2006.” DOUGLAS HARBOUR - JUNE 2008 TRAFFIC FIGURESTotal harbour traffic (including Steam Packet passengers and vehicles, cruise vessels, etc): | June | Year to Date | | Passengers | Vehicles | Passengers | Vehicles | 2008 | 81,465 | 26,587 | 275,146 | 87,224 | 2007 (08/07 % change) | 100,734 (-19.1%) | 41,402 (-35.8%) | 299,240 (-8.1%) | 104,572 (-16.6%) | 2006 (08/06 % change) | 87,572 (-7.0%) | 32,571 (-18.5%) | 259,397 (+6.1%) | 82,503(+5.7%) |
Route Performance: Route | %change (07/08) | 2007 | 2008 | %change (06/08) | 2006 | Belfast | Plus 2% | 3,407 | 3,473 | Plus 19.8% | 2,899 | Dublin | Minus 13% | 2,434 | 2,119 | Plus 4.1% | 2,036 | Heysham | Minus 26% | 48,292 | 35,948 | Minus 9% | 39,500 | Liverpool | Minus 17% | 39,594 | 32,737 | Minus 9.1% | 36,033 | Larne | Minus 70% | 4,094 | 1,189 | Minus 57% | 2,745 | Whitehaven | All Plus | nil | 231 | All Plus | Nil | Troon | All minus | 323 | nil | All minus | Nil |
Director of Harbours, Captain Michael Brew comments: “The high level of passenger and vehicle traffic for the centenary TT in 2007 has distorted the reporting of these statistics. I have therefore included the 2006 figures for comparison. They show that the underlying growth remains very satisfying. For instance, there was been a 6% growth in passenger and vehicles over the two years.” ISLE OF MAN STEAM PACKET COMPANYVIKING - suffered and unfortunate mishap as she was departing from Liverpool on the 11:15 sailing to Douglas on August 01 when she was caught by a squall and pushed back onto the linkspan pontoon this resulted in damage to the shell plating on the port side of the vessel. However, with the hull gashed it was necessary to disembark passengers and send them up to Heysham for the 14:15 BEN-MY-CHREE sailing. This also had the knock on effect of delaying the BEN-MY-CHREE. VIKING retreated to Alexandra Dock, Liverpool for repairs. A revised timetable was implemented on Saturday and Sunday whereby the sailings to Dublin on Saturday and Dublin on Sunday were cancelled and SNAEFELL deployed on the Liverpool service. However, with insufficient space available on the small Incat some overflow passengers had to be diverted via Heysham.  SNAEFELL was delayed on her sailing from Dublin on Friday as she attended to 'Maydays' enroute to Douglas. One was in Dublin Bay and the other off Chicken Rock, however, both incidents were attended to by marine rescue services and her assistance was not required.
[SNAEFELL passing New Brighton - April 02, 2008 © Adrian Sweeney] SNAEFELL did not appear to be operating anywhere near full power on Saturday. Her delayed evening departure from Liverpool did not get away until around 20:00 and arrival in Douglas was around midnight. AIS revealed that she averaged around 20knots for most of the crossing. JAMES FISHER & SONSATLANTIC OSPREY - the ro/ro nuclear fuel carrier is subject to a ban by the French authorities which discovered "non-conformities" concerning thermal regulation over a shipment of plutonium in May 2008. An appeal has been lodged LAXEY TOWING COMPANYThe tug WENDY ANN came to the assistance of a small fishing vessel which broke down and drifted onto the concrete 'stabits' on the Douglas Breakwater on Thursday July 31, 2008. The fishing vessel was hold and started to take water. However, the WENDY ANN was able to get a line aboard the vessel and tow it into Douglas Harbour. Damage to the fishing vessel resulted in it being craned from the water. EX-LIVERPOOL TUGSCANADA - the former tug which passed to Smit on acquisition of the Adsteam operation on Merseyside now operates as the WELLINGTON at the Port of Gibraltar. PEEL PORTSLiverpool Fresh Produce TerminalA major initiative that will dramatically reduce road miles travelled by transport supplying the British public with fresh produce, is now underway at the Port of Liverpool. A major initiative that will dramatically reduce road miles travelled by transport supplying the British public with fresh produce, is now underway at the Port of Liverpool. A £6 million fresh produce terminal is rising on the quayside at Royal Seaforth Dock and is due for completion in October, enabling the transfer of thousands of tonnes of fruit and vegetables from road to ship. Go-Associates, the firm behind the development, is initially targeting the Spanish fresh produce season, offering a cost effective all-water alternative to the 300 trucks trundling into Britain from the Continent every day with fruit from Spain. Operations Director Andy Rickard pointed to the two million tonnes of fresh produce supplied to the UK by Spain every year – half of it destined for the North of the country. "Most of this major trade is moved by road on trucks carrying just 26 pallets each from the main growing areas of Spain," he said. "The situation cries out for high volume direct delivery by sea. Liverpool Produce Terminal will offer a state-of-the-art fresh produce terminal capable of discharging a 5,000 pallet ship in 24 hours and ideally located to reach any part of this vast market of 30 million people within a truck driver’s tachograph driving day. "Liverpool Produce Terminal will maintain the cool chain but eliminate up to two truck journeys from the logistics chain – the journey to and from the pack house as we are planning to open a pack house adjacent to the Terminal." The 90,000 sq ft cool store located alongside the Royal Seaforth Container Terminal and the site of the Port of Liverpool’s planned £100+ million Post Panamax River Container Terminal, will be operated around the clock, employing as many as 100 permanent and supplemental staff. Go-Associates report an enthusiastic response to the Liverpool facility from fresh produce suppliers and buyers. Said Mr Rickard: "Food shippers are increasingly responsive to growing public concern about greenhouse emissions and the contribution to this problem made by road haulage – as sighted by the recent commitment of some 40 members of the food and drink industry federation to cut the environmental and social impact of domestic food transport by 20% by 2012." "Ten million tonnes of fresh produce are shipped into the UK each year and half of it comes up to the northern half of the country. It makes economic and environmental sense to bring that volume to the deepsea port that is closest to the population of 30 million people and is served by the best motorway network for rapid distribution direct to supermarkets." Frank Robotham, Marketing Director for Peel Ports Group, which owns and operates the Port of Liverpool, said: "The development of Liverpool Produce Terminal is another example of how the Port of Liverpool with its central location, continues to make major contributions to the reduction of truck road miles. LPT is set to make a most significant contribution to the food transport industry’s response to economic and environmental pressure to cut food miles and the carbon footprint. "The terminal will also enable Peel Ports Group to supply fresh produce to the whole of the UK through the new facility at the Port of Liverpool in the North and its established operations at the Port of Sheerness in the South East of England." SWANSEA - CORKThree local authorities have agreed to work together to restore the Cork to Swansea ferry link. The news emerged after a meeting on July 29 between the mayors of Cork city, Cork county and Kerry along with the respective city and county managers and the South West Regional Authority's director and chairman. Mayor of Cork county Noel Harrington, Cork city's mayor Brian Bermingham and mayor of Kerry Tom Fleming held talks on the issue in Cork County Hall with Cork's county manager, Martin Riordan, Cork's city manager Joe Gavin, Kerry county manager Tom Curran and the authority's director, John McAleer and its chairman, Cllr Jim Corr. Mr Harrington, who has pledged to make restoring the ferry link one of his main priorities for his term as county mayor, described the talks as "frank and open". He said they plan to make contact with other stakeholders in the coming weeks to get their views on how best to approach the issue. "We are doing everything we can to explore every possibility to reinstate the ferry," he said. The next meeting of the group is due to take place next month. Yesterday's meeting marks the start of the first concerted cross-party political effort at regional level to address the issue which has begun to hit the region's tourism business. The authority is the statutory public body with responsibility for strategic planning in the region. Mr McAleer has described as crazy, the fact that a region so dependent on tourism does not have a ferry link to a potential market of 60 million people. The Swansea-Cork Ferry company announced in late 2006 it was ceasing operations on the route. An attempt was made last October by its former managing director, Thomas Hunter-McGowan, to form a new company. However, the attempt failed after the Port of Cork refused to invest €3 million in the project. Port authorities said they couldn't invest in one company when there was a rival consortium also seeking to reactivate the service. The region is now facing its second season without the vital ferry service, which brought close to 100,000 people to the region every year. A study showed the demise of the ferry link cost the region an estimated €38 million in 2007. Almost 1,300 people have signed the online petition at www.bringbacktheswanseacorkferry.com . [IRISH EXAMINER] | 
