Ostend Spirit

Good to see pilot captain T doing a grand job in bringing the Ostend Spirit in. The OS dwarfs the other vessels, lets hope Trans europa and LD can fill her up. The P&O resumption of the Dover Zebruggee line can't be welcome in the trans europa camp.

Ostend Spirit

I hear the dredging has not gone as planned and the Ostend Spirit will only be able to come in at high water, which cannot be much good for a regular service. Does anyone have any information on this ??
Rumour is a berthing trial in imminent, possibly tomorrow on the evening high water.

London Array

Excellent news about London array, but i think the jobs are over egged, certainly for the locals, but it will be good if they get a local builder to build the office block and warehouse.There have been over a hundred at the thanet offshore site, but not many locals.

Councillor Watkins

What an excellent letter in the IOTG, my spies tell me that every capital bid put in by the harbour for the last 7 years has been rejected, the bean counters want to squeeze the jolly tars until they squeal and not spend any dosh. A fine supporter of the harbour had a very good tale about a donkey, which is very much what tdc have done to the harbour.

Dredging.....Again

It was sad to see the Crestway go on Friday, I had got used to her potterings between Ramsgate and Dover, I trust that she was successful in her endeavours and we will not see the new supership hard and fast aground.
It will be a prestigous job for the pilot bringing such a vessel back to the port. A shame that their does not seem to be any dredging going on in the harbour this year, they made such a good start last year, and I understood it was going to be continued this year. Lots of nashing of teeth at the temple and at vattenfall if all the yachts end up on the putty.

Marina & Gold Anchors

I picked up on one of the blogsites that the marina has only got 3 anchors now, anyone substaniate this ? A bit of a shock I always thought that they took pride in their anchors.Down to lack of investment by tdc i suppose.

Dredging......At last

Good to see the sospan dau busy + a rather small plough, i understand the crestway will be coming soon to really go to town on the turning circle, I just hope with her draft there won't be too much down time. It would be interesting to know when the harbour and marina are going to get dredged, hopefully all the budget won't go on the ferry port and the leisure and fishing boats will get some decent water as well. Vattenfall Ramsgate week will be dissappointed if the west marina is not dredged by august.

Euroferries

I have been scanning the horizon on this fine sunny day, but no sign of a fast craft, are we all suprised. I do understand that Euroferries have a signed agreement with TDC, but whether it is worth the paper its written on is a different matter.
We are more likely to see the ex prins filip before Easter than the Euroferries express.
I did see Cllr Kirby's comment re the car parking has he taken over the port from his emminence Cllr Latchford does anyone know?
Unfortunately speaking to thosewho know he is speaking a load of tosh, the carpark is going to have a few quid spent on it but not what it needs.

Maritime Museum

The information below was received by one correspondent with Thanet District council, it took them over 90 days to respond instead of the 20 days. One wonders what commercial interest there could be in a charity leasing a building from TDC? More to the point why does TDC take 90 days to respond to a request that they have a legal duty to respond in 20 days, and what are they trying to hide or not tell us!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for your communication received on ........where you requested information about the Lease for Ramsgate ClockTower (Maritime) Museum.

I can confirm that Thanet District Council holds this information. This information is exempt under section(s) 43 of the Freedom of Information Act and is therefore being withheld.

The information requested is likely to predjudice the commercial interests of the persons (or public authority) and therefore the information is exempt under section 43.

Having considered the public interest, the Department’s decision is therefore to withhold the information.

Sunday Rambles {thanks for the title Michael}

Starting at the port more like Sunday Shambles. A dozen or more HGV parked in the layby and on the verge on top of the KCC fibre optic ducting. No signage for the new LD service cars going in the freight gate and having to be turned around, no sign off any work going on in the lorry park in front of the terminal. Talking to a driver in the cafe the other day they are going to stop using the Trans Europa because they aren't allowed to park when they come off the vessel, he also said there used to be a brilliant cafe in the port that did the best truckers breakfast ever and i quote "because of some f**king bean counter in the port office it was closede down" . The showers and toilets had just been done we had a great cafe and now the port gives us nothing not even somewhere to park.Oleander seemed to be slow to turn at low water no doubt the new vessel would have got half way round and stopped due to lack of water.
The new Vatenfall building looks good but security not in hi viz and smoking when letting someone out of the gate looks a bit slack. Pearson Gore are still tring to rent the land that a birdy tells me London array have an option on and had surveyors down last week.
The harbour looked good though quite a bit of litter, and a veritable garden growing out of the harbour walls, hasn't anyone in TDC heard of pointing.
Nice to see many boat owners down tending their moorings in the strong winds, shows that they look after their boats and don't just use them as a weekend cottage.

Trans Europa + LD Lines

It will be good to see the Ex Prins Filip sailing in to Ramsgate again, I was looking at my picture of her final sailing with the Anglian Man and Reever in attendance. I wonder who is picking up the dredging bill which I expect will be over £300,000. Does it mean the port will be getting a new tug, I can't think the Nore Challenger would be enough to handle a vessel of that size on her own.

Brocklesby

Very sad to hear of the death of the skipper of the Brocklesby who drowned in the harbour. I hope the state of the roadways did not contribute, when the police were down the roads seemed to be thick with ice. I wonder who is responsible for the road clearance TDC or KCC

Dredging

Does anyone know what is happening with dredging at the port and harbour, i haven't seen any activity since September?