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Displaying items by tag: Record Freight 2016

#DoverRecord Record freight for Belfast Harbour user Stena Line on routes to Scotland and England for the year 2016 has also been achieved by other ferry operators based in the Port of Dover, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Dover, Europe’s busiest ferry port (served by operators, P&O and DFDS), experienced another healthy year in traffic volumes. The port is served by a total of 11 ferries on two short-sea routes linking to France at Calais and Dunkerque, which combined handled 2.6 million freight vehicles in 2016. Freight volumes in just the last four years have increased by 32%.

Commenting on the Port of Dover figures, Tim Waggott, Chief Executive of the Port said, "As we continue to handle more UK trade, the Port welcomes the prime minister's statement on the Government’s headline negotiating position for Brexit. Greater certainty of the broad parameters is a positive step forward"

He added: "Any changes brought forward to the country's trading relationship need to be mindful of the UK's absolute need to maintain the rapid transit of goods and passengers through Dover and our sister ports on the European mainland.

"The Port and the CBI remain clear that a barrier-free relationship with the EU - our largest, closest and most important trading partner - must be a critical outcome of the negotiations to ensure we make a success of Brexit."

On the vitally important trading shipping lanes of the Strait of Dover, was this morning the asphalt/bitumen tanker Iver Ability. As previously reported on Afloat, the long-stay Dublin Bay anchorage caller since last summer had on Saturday finally departed.

The tanker experienced a ‘reaction’ during transport of bitumen in Dublin Port in August and is currently heading further into the North Sea. The 2006 built vessel is bound for the Dutch port of Delfzijl.

Published in Ferry

Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.