Messages

31

Trip reports / Re: Tilbury

« on: April 28, 2016, 03:57:37 PM »

Hello Ian,

Gravesend is a much better option for public transport and also amenities such as pubs/cafes etc. Can recommend The Three Daws by the river/ferry, if it's nice you can sit out and see whatever is coming up river in plenty of time. You can always pop across to Tilbury Stage on the ferry if you are lucky with timings as anything inbound will be on the Essex side. Suggest you just have a wander around to find best spots for you, there are a number of higher vantage points to the West (upriver) of the pier or you can go downriver to the prom where there is plenty of seating and the natives are friendly!

Enjoy your day!

32

Help and Advice / Re: Best ship spotting locations, South East England

« on: January 08, 2016, 11:45:54 AM »

Isaac,

As far as tankers are concerned, Gravesend is a good convenient point to observe those going to Purfleet and Grays. Turnover is pretty frequent. This is also a good spot to see container ships going to Tilbury.

For tankers on the South Coast, take the Southampton-Cowes car ferry as this passes Fawley where there are usually 3 or 4 berthed plus bunkering tankers in Southampton. You may even get lucky and see one at Hamble (on the opposite side to Fawley) And of course you have container ships at Southampton too, although you will need to be on land to observe these unless you get lucky and see one on the way in or out.

Hope this helps

Andrew

33

Site related news, functions and modules / Re: Making money from free photo's

« on: August 09, 2015, 02:37:35 PM »

If you post the users ID on here then we can all complain, I will as it's happened to me, it's pretty common for people to do this, as others have said it's the downside of posting your photo's for the world to see and it doesn't matter what safeguards you take they will find a way around them, all we can do is make life difficult for them and I'm all for that!!

34

Help and Advice / Re: How do you find out the cargo of a ship?

« on: August 09, 2015, 02:33:09 PM »

Well what do you mean by "Inland Ports", where traffic is handled only by barge or ports such as Goole, Sutton Bridge etc that are not on the coast but some distance up a river??

A lot (but not all) ports have websites, some are more useful than others. All UK ports produce annual accounts and some produced an annual report with a summary of traffic. Failing that you could write nicely to any that you are interested in, I'm afraid many (most) will not respond or not tell you as the information is classed as "commercially sensitive" - I think you just have to be patient and build up your own pool of knowledge!! 

If you don't already, keep looking at AIS websites, Marine Traffic dot org is one of the most popular, that will tell you what ships and what type of ships are in port and their most recent ports of call for example if a ship has left Glensanda in Scotland then it will be carrying quarry products - you will build up your own picture of what and where in time.

Enjoy!

Andrew

35

Help and Advice / Re: How do you find out the cargo of a ship?

« on: August 08, 2015, 01:27:06 PM »

Hi Lizzy5,

If it's Coastal Shipping cargoes in the UK (and some of Europe) then I suggest you take out a subscription to Coastal Shipping Magazine as that gives around the UK reports of arrivals and departures so you will soon get to recognise the pattern of cargoes and what ports deal with what although for a general cargo port such as Inverness (my local) sometimes you need educated guess work based on where the arrival is from.

Link to Coastal Shipping is as follows:

https://www.coastalshipping.co.uk/5-coastal-shipping-magazine

I have recent back copies of the magazine if you want to see a sample before you buy let me know.

Good luck!

Andrew

36

Help and Advice / Re: Aberdeen Docks

« on: August 04, 2015, 01:33:51 PM »

Here is one from the car park I mentioned in my earlier reply.

Good to see ships berthed in a city centre!

Andrew

37

Help and Advice / Re: Aberdeen Docks

« on: August 04, 2015, 09:28:33 AM »

Hi Gordon,

Just to add to the already excellent advice, if it's a nice day then it's worth walking around the edge of the port from the beach/prom area, plenty of cafe's to provide you with a good start to the day and I find it easier on foot just to stop and pop a camera in the many and various places you can get a view from. It is a bit of a walk, will take you about an hour or so but can be worth it. I usually did it on a Sunday morning and provide you use common sense you will find a few open gates where you can stand and get good views, obviously PLEASE DON'T be tempted to wander onto the dock estate!! There is also an open area near the fish market area. And if you looking for a different shot, try from the multi storey car park near the Maritime museum where you can get a photo of anything moored right up in the city centre berths.

The other bit of advice is that there are NO facilities up at Tory, so make sure you have supplies.   

Hope you enjoy your visit, it's a busy port and there are usually plenty of movements, some of them just internal port shifts, but you won't get bored.

Andrew

38

Shipping News and information / Re: Photography Ban in Kings Lynn port.

« on: March 23, 2015, 04:49:19 PM »

Here is an interesting thought - with the cost of "drones" (for those that don't know, basically small remote control flying things fixed with a camera) now coming down, do Port Authorities own the airspace ABOVE their dock estates? Providing they are operated and take off/land from a PUBLIC place off the dock estate there doesn't seem to be anything preventing their use. There is an article in the current "Railway Magazine" about their use and whilst there are general guidelines and the more obvious places not to go near, military establishments, airports etc, ports and railway yards seem exempt - well at least for now anyway.

As far as ABP Kings Lynn is concerned, there is a reason why they may be more sensitive than some ports, I won't discuss on a public forum but happy to discuss "off topic" via private mail.

39

Shipping News and information / Plan to refloat grounded cargo ship Lysblink Seaways

« on: February 19, 2015, 12:31:43 PM »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-31533273

Salvage experts have started work to rescue a large cargo ship that ran aground near Ardnamurchan Point in the west Highlands.

The 394ft-long (120m) Lysblink Seaways got into difficulty at Kilchoan at about 01:50 on Wednesday.

No-one on the ship, which is believed to be carrying paper waste, was injured.

Salvers began assessing the vessel for damage at first light ahead of a possible effort to refloat it.

The tug boat Kingdom of Fife has arrived at the scene after travelling north from the Clyde.

The plan is to use the tug to help pull the Lysblink Seaways back out into the sea at high tide on Thursday evening.

Tobermory lifeboat has been on standby at the scene.

40

Trip reports / Re: Possible Felixstowe Trip?

« on: February 04, 2015, 09:17:10 PM »

Sounds good, look forward to finding out what date you going for in May, Saturday May 9th please!!!!as it's an awful long way down from the North of Scotland and will be coming down that weekend for a vintage vehicle rally in Hampshire so great to combine both events.

41

Shipping News and information / Major search after boat overturns off north of Scotland

« on: January 03, 2015, 05:36:32 PM »

  Very sad news. The sea remains a very dangerous place.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-30667084

A major search operation has been launched after a vessel overturned off the north of Scotland.

Eight people are reported to have been on board the Cypriot-registered Cemfjord, a cargo ship carrying cement.

The upturned hull was found by a passing ferry in the Pentland Firth.

Four lifeboats, two rescue helicopters and other vessels are searching for the crew. Shetland Coastguard is co-ordinating rescue efforts.

The NorthLink ferry Hrossey also took part in the early stages of the operation.

42

Shipping News and information / Re: Shipspotting market ?

« on: January 02, 2015, 12:52:42 PM »

Hello Jean,

Sounds like an interesting project and I wish you luck. I cannot comment on numbers of ship Spotters/Photographers in the world, but as far as the UK is concerned, ship spotting is very much a minority activity and at a guess it's probably only a few thousand out a population of 60million? If you check Facebook for shipping groups you can see how many members each group has, you could also contact the World Ship Society to ask how many members they have. I still belong to the Thames Ship Society (although I am no longer anywhere near the Thames!) and I think they have around 300 members so numbers are not great. There are many reasons why numbers so small but two main reasons are (1) fewer places to see ships as most ports are now in isolated locations away from most people, and (2) security...even if you live near a port the ships are now hidden away behind fences and security guards!!

I think perhaps any economic benefits from ship spotters are minimal (unless you have a hotel or B&B overlooking a busy river!!) so I would be inclined not to mention us but instead mention general tourism and health benefits of being able to walk across bridges, and of course general tourists will take photographs of ships if they see one passing.

I'm sorry if this sounds negative reply, I would be happy to give you further thoughts if you think it may help.

Andrew

ps. Sorry, just a paranoid thought, but if you are publishing details of bridges where ships can be seen passing then you may attract attention of the security services, it's the world we now live in I am afraid, in the UK we have laws that prevent you from having information "of use to terrorists".....whatever that means!

43

Shipping News and information / Re: New Tugs for Svitzer

« on: December 15, 2014, 10:51:48 AM »

Photo of SVITZER ESTON at Denton can be found on Paul Mason's Thames Website.


http://www.freewebs.com/paulmasonthamesshipping/shipsseenwe13thdec.htm

44

Trip reports / Re: Possible Felixstowe Trip?

« on: December 10, 2014, 11:34:29 AM »

I'd be up for a Springtime trip. Did the barge trip in around 2005 with the Thames Ship Society, very good with plenty of open deck space, always an advantage when you have more than one person wanting to take photographs!

Look forward to more details as and when.

Andrew

45

Help and Advice / Malta - Valletta accomodation recomendations ?

« on: September 09, 2014, 03:45:21 PM »

Hi all,

Thinking of escaping the UK weather next winter (2015) and have been looking at hotels around Valletta with good photographic views of harbour movements, does anyone have any recommendations? Have stayed in Malta before but travelled into Valletta so fancied something different this time, Grand Harbour Hotel seems good, any thoughts?

Thanks in anticipation

Andrew