Hello and welcome to the 2007 News Review. With this review I aim to summarise a years worth of forum information and news into a brief overview. There have been over 5000 posts on the forum since it's inception in October 2006 so I have only provided the key highlights of the 2007 season.
The year has seen a brief glimmer of light with a significant increase in passenger traffic, mainly as a result of the continuing delays experienced at the UK airports and the ferry operators aggressive fight back at the low cost airlines. We have also witnessed some significant increases in the amount of freight and cruise traffic through the port compared to 2006.
January 2006 also saw the Dover Harbour Board publish there much anticipated plans for the future of the port. The year has also seen some major moves by the Dover ferry operators to consolidate there market shares on there respective routes.
The year 2007 for me will also go down as the year of the rumour. There have been at least three high profile rumours, two of which actually became fact.
New Year, same old weather
The year started off with some very inclement weather. On the 18th January with winds in excess of 95mph the port was closed to all traffic from 08:00 until 17:00. As a result operation stack was implemented with the M20 motorway being turned into a giant lorry park. On this day one of our website contributors from Germany was with us, we couldn't show him many ferry movements but we did introduce him to that most famous of English dishes, a curry!
In January the Dover Harbour Board published there much anticipated plans for the future of the port. The main aspect of the plan is to convert the Western Docks/Hoverport into a second ferry terminal.
The plans would see the installation of four new Ro-Ro berths and a new marina. The tidal inner harbour and the existing marina area would be reclaimed to provide additional parking and terminal facilities with a new marina provided to the East of the Prince of Wales pier.
The Prince of Wales Pier itself would be lost to the development with a new shorter pier proposed to be situated to the East of the new marina. The board hope to seek regulatory approval and start work in 2008 with the terminal opening in 2012. The original cost for the project was estimated to be £200 million but this estimate has now risen to £400 million due to the huge increase in construction costs attributed to the Olympics in 2012.
The proposed plans for the Western Docks can be downloaded from the Dover Harbour Board website here (Adobe Acrobat Reader Required)
The latest information from the Harbour Board states that "Our proposals to re-develop Dover Western Docks with four ferry berths and a new marina are currently the subject of an environmental impact study which we hope to conclude this summer"
"We would like to embark on the formal planning consent process before the end of this year and start building in 2009 or 2010."
Refit Season
January also saw the refit season well underway with Seafrance' units going to Arno's in Dunkerque, P&O units going to A&P Falmouth, Norfolk Line units going to the Scheldeport dock yard in the Netherlands and Speed Ferries, Speed One going to FSL in Portsmouth.
There were no major livery changes during the 2007 refit season. The only visible change was for the Norfolk Line fleet to see a raising of there red boot topping to try and combat the rust and algae growth which has effected these vessels since there introduction in 2006.
Returning from refit the Seafrance Manet is now a dedicated freight vessel with the majority of her facilities closed off. The only noticeable external difference is the removal of her Marin Arc marine evacuation system (MES).
Refit Woes
The 2007 refit season wasn’t a happy one for P&O Ferries from a technical stand point with a number of major failures effecting three of the local fleet.
In January the Pride of Calais refitted at Falmouth but developed a few problems on her return to Dover which resulted in a return to dry dock in February.
With a lack of available dry docks locally the Calais had to go to the Harland and Wolf shipyard in Belfast. She returned to Dover on the 19th February and immediately re-entered service.
In February the European Seaway whilst en-route back to Dover from her own refit at A&P Falmouth suffered a major failure of one her main engines. As a result she spent the rest of the 2007 season operating on only three engines. She returned to A&P Falmouth for an extended refit and final repair in December 2007.
In February the Pride of Burgundy departed for her own refit. During her time in dry dock a crank failure was discovered with one of her main engines which resulted in an extended refit at Falmouth. She didn't return to Dover until April 2007.
Following berthing trials in early February it was announced that Speed Ferries had signed a contract with the Dover Harbour Board to operate from the Hoverport. The company wouldn't be using the main terminal building itself but some of the old maintenance buildings situated within the complex. Speed One commenced service to Boulogne from the Hoverport on the 30th March 2007.
Unfortunately due to the lack of a suitable fast craft the rumoured appearance of Speed Two did not materialise. Hopefully 2008 may bring this much needed vessel to Dover?
For the first time in the Port of Dover Polices history members of the force are now patrolling the sea within the Harbour thanks to the introduction of the 6.5 meter RIB `Delta 99'.
The force has stated that “We have taken this step as a result of an extensive security review within the port and it is primarily intended to increase the security afforded to our high profile cruise customers,” said Superintendent Steve Masters “However we expect the leisure users of the harbour to benefit just as much from the increased presence of our officers. We hope that the presence of highly visible officers in and around the harbour will provide reassurance to the public and will enable officers to respond to all levels of crime and disorder both afloat and ashore".
“The vessel itself will undertake a number of roles, from intelligence gathering and positive identification of small vessels as part of the security strategy, to the more community-focused elements of policing.”
The long running Euroferries/Spirit of Ontario saga which had been rumbling on since 2006 finally came to an end with the city of Rochester (NY State, USA) announcing that they had lost all faith in the Euroferries bid.
On April 2nd the city of Rochester announced that a deal had been signed to sell the Spirit to the German ferry operator FRS for a reported $30 million. Although German owned FRS operate services between Spain-Africa and Helsinki-Tallinn.
The Spirit of Ontario passed through the Dover Straits for a refit in Bremerhaven, Germany before eventually being renamed Tanger Jet II and redeployed on the Tangier to Tarifa route in August 2007 thus closing a sorry chapter in the local ferry news which had dragged on for way to long.
On April 28th I posted probably the strangest message I think I would ever post on our little forum.
At about 08:00 East Kent was shaken by an earth tremor measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale. Apart from some structural damage to properties in our neighbouring town of Folkestone there were thankfully no reported fatalities and amazingly operations at both the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel continued as normal. The only thing I heard latter from a contact was that the guys on duty in Dover port control were a bit perturbed when there control tower started shaking and one of them lost there cup of tea!
The season was to be extended compared to previous years with Fred Olsen calling at the port right up until December. During the Summer it was announced that one of the ports regular callers the Celebrity Constellation would not be returning in 2008 but would be transferring to the port of Harwich.
Additionally it was announced that Carnival Cruises would be home porting there latest addition the Carnival Splendour at Dover in Summer 2008.
A New Freight Operator?
As always there were a number of rumours flying around, some of which were laughable but some of which didn't seem to go away. The first of the major rumours to emerge during 2007 was of a possible new freight service from Dover to the continent.
Two vessels were linked to this rumour, these being the ex Finn-lines vessel's Malmo Link and Lubeck Link. The two vessels were sold for an undisclosed amount to a company called Channel Freight Ferries. It turned that Channel Freight Ferries were to be a charterer than an independent ferry operator. Both vessels passed through the Dover Straits for refit in Liverpool and have since been renamed Ro-Pax 1 and Ro-Pax 2 but remain in Liverpool.
There has been no further news with regards to this rumour and it's believed it's a non starter due to the size of the vessels in question and the limited amount of space within the port of Dover for unaccompanied trailers.
Double Dover's in Dunkerque
On the evening of the 19th of June, whilst coming astern to berth seven in the port of Dover the Pride of Dover suffered a power failure and made heavy contact with the quay causing damage to her stern spade. As a result of this incident the Pride of Dover's stern doors were left unusable necessitating a visit to the ARNO shipyard in Dunkerque for repairs.
Also present in Dunkerque during this time was the Norfolk Line vessel Maersk Dover which was undergoing her guarantee inspection following 12 months of being in service.
The two Dover's side by side at Arno's, Dunkerque. Pictures courtesy of Ed Connell (Ships in the Port of Dover)
Flop Gear!
In July it was the stars of the BBC television programme `Top Gear' who were making the news in Dover.
The presenters of the show, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May were in the Port to attempt a channel crossing using three specially adapted cars. The cars in question were a Triumph Herald, a VW Camper Van and a Nissan 4x4.
As seen in John's photographs below the attempt didn't go to well with both the VW and Triumph sinking in the Harbour. Amazingly the Nissan 4x4 did make it across the channel but not without angering the Dover Coastguard who branded the stunt as `irresponsible'
The programme was aired on BBC 2 on the 14th October 2007.
Another one of these rumours that had been floating around for sometime was the return of one of the old Norfolk Line `racehorses' (i.e. the Midnight/Northern Merchant). This rumour turned to fact in June when P&O Ferries announced that they had purchased the El Greco (the former Midnight Merchant of Norfolk Line) from the Spanish operator Acciona Trasmediterranea.
Under new ownership the vessel was renamed the European Endeavour and was placed under the red ensign being registered in London. P&O announced that the vessel would be used throughout the fleet covering operations at Dover, Liverpool and Hull.
It was envisaged that after handover and refit at Union Naval, Barcelona the vessel would immediately come to Dover to cover for the European Seaway. However she headed directly to Liverpool to cover the refits of the P&O Irish Sea vessels Norbay and Norbank. She arrived in Liverpool on October 28th 2007 and entered service on the Liverpool to Dublin route.
After standing down from operations at Liverpool in December the Endeavour proceeded to A&P Falmouth. During her time in Falmouth port fit work is to be completed to make her bow more compatible with the Calais link-span's.
At the close of the year she was still in Falmouth and the latest information suggests that she will arrive mid January 2008 and will offer two sailings a day from Dover to Calais utilising berth one at Dover.
Seafrance to Boulogne?
In September news reports were circulating in the French press that Seafrance were considering opening a route from Dover to Boulogne using the Seafrance Manet and Seafrance Renoir. Nothing further was heard about this rumour since the initial reports.
On October 5th the brand new Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) vessel Norwegian Gem arrived at the port to be officially launched in the UK by the American celebrity Miss Ruby Wax. On the evening of the 5th October the town's folk turned out in there hundreds to see a spectacular firework display which was organised to celebrate the inauguration of this new vessel.
The Norwegian Gem sailed on her maiden cruise from the port on the 7th October heading for a brief visit to Amsterdam. It's worth noting that the Gems sister ship Norwegian Jewel will be home porting in Dover during the Summer 2008 season in place of the long serving Norwegian Dream.
Once again in a near repeat of 2006 the Winter gales were the main talking point in the run up to Christmas. The port experienced a couple of closures, namely on the 8th December when the port was closed for about 5 hours with all inbound ferry movements diverted to the downs to ride out the storms. As a consequence operation stack was again implemented turning East Kent into a lorry park.
The port was effected again by adverse weather on the 9th of December with the port closed in the morning, as a consequence Fred Olsen's Black Watch arrived in the port some 12 hours latter than planned.
Seafrance buy themselves a Large Christmas Present!
Another one of the rumours of 2007 that never seemed to go away was regarding a vessel that has never operated from Dover but was linked to the towns ferry operators during the course of the year. The vessel in question was the 2002 built Superfast X.
The Superfast X was built in Germany for the Greek operator Superfast Ferries and was eventually used on there Rosyth-Zeebrugge route. She was sold in 2007 to the French ferry operator SNCM as the Jean Nicoli for services in the Mediterranean.
Rumours had circulated for some months with regards to this vessel being used on the Dover Straits. These rumours were confirmed in the latter end of December when it was announced that the Jean Nicoli had been sold to Seafrance for operation on the Dover-Calais route. She is due to be handed over in the new year and will undergo an extensive refit before entering service in June/July 2008.
It is planned that the Jean Nicoli will replace both the Seafrance Renoir and Seafrance Manet. At over 200 meters long she will be the longest vessel operating from the port of Dover.
At about 20:00 on the 28th of December, whilst manoeuvring to her lay-by berth Speed One made contact with the Prince of Wales pier and holed herself below the waterline and started to take on water.
The Kent Fire and Rescue service, Dover Lifeboat and the Coastguard attended the scene with pumping equipment. The vessel was pumped dry and the hole was repaired the same day. Following inspections she re-entered service on the 31st December.
Top of the League
The Dover Harbour Board announced that the Port of Dover had witnessed a seven per cent increase in the number of cars crossing the channel in 2007. The board stated that this is "further proof that independent travel by car is back in fashion"
The number of tourist car journeys through Dover was 2.83 million, the highest since 1999, whilst the number of passengers using the port rose three per cent topping 14 million for the first time since 2004.
The coach market continued to show stability with 105,000 journeys, exactly the same number as in 2006 and accounting for an estimated four million passenger movements.
But it is growth in the freight sector which is focusing the port on future ferry capacity needs. The number of lorry journeys has grown year on year since 2003 and reached an all-time record 2.36 million in 2007, an increase of nearly two per cent compared to 2006.
"We continue to forecast traffic growth and these results demonstrate the need for ferry capacity expansion," said Bob Goldfield, Chief Executive, Port of Dover.
So what can we expect from 2008?
Well hopefully we will see P&O Ferries finally place an order for at least two new vessels, we will see the introduction of the to be renamed Jean Nicoli with Seafrance, the introduction of the European Endeavour with P&O Ferries to name but a few.
As for the rest, I am sure time will tell on that one!
All the best
Ray Goodfellow, Dover, United Kingdom
I would like to thank the following people for there assistance in producing this feature: Seanymph, Matt Murtand, Cedric Hacke, Lucas Latreche (Ferries and Cruise Ships), Ian Collard, Robert Fournier, Ed Connell (Ships in the Port of Dover), Aubrey Dale, Trevor Kidd (Larne Ferry Web), Alan Geddes and of course not forgetting my website partners Nigel (DoverT) Thornton and John Mavin.
