Topics

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Shipping News and information / Contract for two new Calmac Ferries signed with Fergusons

« on: October 16, 2015, 03:30:18 PM »

The contract for two new Ro-Pax ferries for Scottish ferry operator Caledonian Macbrayne has been signed by the Scottish Government and the yard.

From Inverclyde Now: http://www.inverclydenow.com/photostream/15618-new-era-for-clyde-shipbuilding-as-ferry-contract-signed

With the BAS/Cammell Laird announcement a few days ago it hasn't been a bad week for British shipbuilding.

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Shipping News and information / New Visitors to the Humber

« on: January 25, 2012, 12:28:32 AM »

North Sea Ro-Ro have just started a new ro-ro service from Killinghome to Gothenburg using the chartered UK flagged vessels 'Longstone' and 'Beachy Head'. Both are owned by Foreland Shipping Ltd, with the website here: http://www.foreland-shipping.co.uk/index.html
I mention this, as these ships and their sisters are quite possibly the very last UK flagged, UK owned and UK crewed ships operating out of the UK on international voyages (even if it is only to Sweden).
Departures from Killinghome are apparently every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

3

Shipping News and information / Photo ID to be required for Domestic Ferry Journeys

« on: March 29, 2009, 07:51:39 PM »

Passengers on ferries to the Isle of Wight and Scottish islands such as Mull and Skye will soon have to carry identity papers to comply with new police anti-terror powers.
And travellers flying between British cities or to Northern Ireland face having their personal data logged when booking tickets and checking in.
Until now ferry passengers on most routes in Britain have not been required to produce ID and internal flight passengers only face random police checks.
But under new Government security rules that will come into force next year, personal data, including name, date of birth and home address, will be typed into a computer record for the police by the booking clerk or travel agent.
Passengers will also face further ID checks when boarding their flight or ferry.
Under the new powers, police will be able to track the movements of around 60million domestic passengers a year.
The controversial measures were due to be introduced two years ago, but were dropped after protests from Ulster politicians, who said the plan would construct

4

Shipping News and information / US Ship Opens Fire in Suez Canal

« on: March 25, 2008, 06:00:49 PM »

An investigation has been launched after a US container ship opened fire on a small Egyptian boat as it approached the Suez Canal.

Egyptian sources including the country's official news agency say one man was killed and two injured when the Global Patriot opened fire.

But in a statement the US embassy in Cairo said initial reports indicated there were no casualties.

The US says it simply fired warning shots at the boat.

The US says an investigation into the incident has been launched and it is co-operating fully with the Egyptian authorities.

The US says the Global Patriot - on short-term charter to the US military - was approached by several boats as it prepared to enter the Suez Canal after dark on Monday.

The US statement: "The boats were hailed and warned by a native Arabic speaker using a bullhorn [loudhailer] to warn them to turn away. A warning flare was then fired.

"One small boat continued to approach the ship and received two sets of warning shots 20-30 yards [metres] in front of the bow."

Prayers

The statement said that all shots "were accounted for as they entered the water", and initial reports from the ship indicated there had been no casualties.

But Egyptian officials and witnesses say a man aboard the boat, Mohammed Fouad, was killed as his boat approached the ship in order to offer goods for sale. Two other men were injured, they say.

This is also the version of events reported by the official Egyptian news agency, citing preliminary reports.

Egyptian sources say Fouad's body was taken to a hospital morgue and then a mosque to await burial on Tuesday.

"We are praying over his body right now," Abbas al-Amrikani, the head of the union of seamen in Suez, told AP news agency, over audible sounds of prayer.

"I saw the body. The bullet entered his heart and went out the other side."

Cigarettes

According to the US Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC), the Global Patriot is a US-flagged roll-on, roll-off container ship chartered from Global Container Lines.

In the past, it has been used by the MSC to transport a US military Patriot Missile defence battery, ammunition, and MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles around the world.

On this occasion, the Global Patriot is said to have been transporting used US military equipment from Dubai.

The BBC's Heba Saleh in Cairo says fisherman and small boats carrying hawkers ply the waters of the canal trying to sell cigarettes and other local products to ship passing through.

Al-Qaeda militants have in the past used small motorboats to attack US military and other foreign vessels in waters off the coast of Yemen, our correspondent adds.

Some 7.5% of world sea trade passes through the Suez Canal, which is 190km long (118 miles) and 120m wide (395ft) at its narrowest point.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7311992.stm