I Never realised the seas were sooo congested!
Discussion
Dougal, you do realise the ships aren't actually the same size as the arrows?[/FatherTed] 
The English Channel is extremely busy, but is also highly regulated, so the chaos you see is vaguely organised. Most merchant ships will abide by the 'Rules of the Road' to avoid collision/grounding, etc. - fishing boats and pleasure craft (yachties, I'm looking at you) mostly seem to do what they want, much to the chagrin of everyone else.
The English Channel is extremely busy, but is also highly regulated, so the chaos you see is vaguely organised. Most merchant ships will abide by the 'Rules of the Road' to avoid collision/grounding, etc. - fishing boats and pleasure craft (yachties, I'm looking at you) mostly seem to do what they want, much to the chagrin of everyone else.
Scarily enough, for pleasure craft (< 12 passengers, no size restriction AFAIK), no - vessels still have to be licenced and meet certain requirements though.
Most people will, sensibly, equip their vessels with flares, GPS, GMDSS, etc., and study at least the very basics of navigation. There will always be a few who do the equivalent of going hillwalking in a track suit with no compass, map, food or change of clothing, but the RNLI (like the mountain rescue services) will, for some reason, risk their lives to keep them in the gene pool.
Most people will, sensibly, equip their vessels with flares, GPS, GMDSS, etc., and study at least the very basics of navigation. There will always be a few who do the equivalent of going hillwalking in a track suit with no compass, map, food or change of clothing, but the RNLI (like the mountain rescue services) will, for some reason, risk their lives to keep them in the gene pool.
porcupineprince said:
Fantastic website, cheers OP.
Just wondering, with air cargo much, much quicker than sea cargo, and in a day and age when time is money, how come the sea is still such a popular method of cargo transport?
I would say the sheer bulk you can move, especially when it comes to non perishable goods. In some cases time isn't money - For example cars, Its far easier and cheaper to send 500 over on 1 ship that 2 at a time on a plane.Just wondering, with air cargo much, much quicker than sea cargo, and in a day and age when time is money, how come the sea is still such a popular method of cargo transport?
Edited by Slate99 on Wednesday 26th August 09:43
The other issue with air freight is that the carriers are really happy to have small packets and parcels, but as soon as the load becomes heavy or bulky then life becomes more difficult and expensive.
when that happens the numbers of carriers reduces and the waiting time sat with the forwarder expands to partly fill the time saved by flying it there,
It has been known that in cases where there is a lot of sea freight traffic and the journey is not too long say TransAtlantic that a normal shipment time by sea freight is not much longer where the load is particularly heavy / difficult.
when that happens the numbers of carriers reduces and the waiting time sat with the forwarder expands to partly fill the time saved by flying it there,
It has been known that in cases where there is a lot of sea freight traffic and the journey is not too long say TransAtlantic that a normal shipment time by sea freight is not much longer where the load is particularly heavy / difficult.
porcupineprince said:
Fantastic website, cheers OP.
Just wondering, with air cargo much, much quicker than sea cargo, and in a day and age when time is money, how come the sea is still such a popular method of cargo transport?
Basically weight and cost, ships can carry so much more than planes, and at a much lower cost. The only advantage the planes have is speed.Just wondering, with air cargo much, much quicker than sea cargo, and in a day and age when time is money, how come the sea is still such a popular method of cargo transport?
It does seem to be a quite widely held view that everything is transported by planes these days - the whole 'food miles' thing is a prime example. If you hear it mentioned on the news etc then quite often the impression given is that all food from foreign shores comes to the UK by air - causing huge levels of pollution from planes, whereas most stuff actually arrives by sea (carried on ships with huge diesel engines, much cleaner
)I came across this and similar as we are getting 3 containers of stuff sent over from US - so we could actualy track the boat.
Hillarious really - and pretty accessible to a somali pirate with a sat phone connection to web - a small bit of intel from ports/docks and you could figure out the ships to go after i guess.
Hillarious really - and pretty accessible to a somali pirate with a sat phone connection to web - a small bit of intel from ports/docks and you could figure out the ships to go after i guess.
SystemParanoia said:
lol,
To "goto sea" in a boat... apart from common sense and knowing the limit of your abilities... are there any special rules or licenses you have to obtain before heading into the horison ?
You don't have to take any tests or have any licences for pleasure craft, but you still have to obey the various laws regarding ships, especially with regard to traffic separation schemes. If you contravene those, you can expect to find a coastguard aircraft over you in short order and a 5 figure fine on its way. See the story on this page.To "goto sea" in a boat... apart from common sense and knowing the limit of your abilities... are there any special rules or licenses you have to obtain before heading into the horison ?
While you pretty much free from official interferance when on a small craft you still have a responsibility to those onboard your vessel and others - See the story on this page regarding the RIB crash in Southampton water.
Defendant: Keiron French, Skipper
Date of Offence: 13th August 2004
Offence: Section 58 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 (Conduct endangering ships, structures or individuals)
Details: The skipper of a RHIB was sentenced following a collision with a buoy in Southampton water when returning from Cowes Firework Night in 2004
At about 1930 hrs on Friday 13th August 2004 'Keiron French' and a group of friends, left Ocean Village, Southampton, in a Rigid Hulled Inflatable Boat (RHIB) to travel to Cowes, Isle of Wight, to watch the annual firework display that concludes Cowes Week. As soon as the display was over 'French' took control of the RHIB and headed straight back to Southampton. However just north of the British Petroleum Jetty the RHIB struck the unlit buoy known as the After Barn Mooring. This is situated outside of the main channel on the East side of Southampton Water, at the time of the collision the RHIB was travelling at about 33 knots. Of the six people onboard the RHIB, five were seriously injured. One of the casualties subsequently lost the sight in one eye.
In passing sentence His Honour Judge Burford, QC, said that the incident happended at night, at excessive speed outside the main channel and led to the injuries of five of the party. This incident was so serious that a custodial sentence was required. Judge Burford then sentenced 'French' to four months in jail.
The hearing followed an investigation in which the Southampton Marine Unit of the Hampshire Police were assisted by the MCA (Maritime and Coastguard Agency), the MCA will continue to work with the Police to ensure compliance for safe navigational legislation.
PC Mike Hannam from the Southampton Police Marine Unit said "This sentence reflects the serious nature of this incident and though fortunately no one was killed it could have easily resulted in fatalities. We are backing the action the Harbour Masters are taking in Southampton and Portsmouth, as a direct result of incidents such as this to impose a 15 knot speed limit during and immediately after this years Cowes firework event."
Penalty: Four months jail sentence
why was the Buoy not lit?! !!
Date of Offence: 13th August 2004
Offence: Section 58 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 (Conduct endangering ships, structures or individuals)
Details: The skipper of a RHIB was sentenced following a collision with a buoy in Southampton water when returning from Cowes Firework Night in 2004
At about 1930 hrs on Friday 13th August 2004 'Keiron French' and a group of friends, left Ocean Village, Southampton, in a Rigid Hulled Inflatable Boat (RHIB) to travel to Cowes, Isle of Wight, to watch the annual firework display that concludes Cowes Week. As soon as the display was over 'French' took control of the RHIB and headed straight back to Southampton. However just north of the British Petroleum Jetty the RHIB struck the unlit buoy known as the After Barn Mooring. This is situated outside of the main channel on the East side of Southampton Water, at the time of the collision the RHIB was travelling at about 33 knots. Of the six people onboard the RHIB, five were seriously injured. One of the casualties subsequently lost the sight in one eye.
In passing sentence His Honour Judge Burford, QC, said that the incident happended at night, at excessive speed outside the main channel and led to the injuries of five of the party. This incident was so serious that a custodial sentence was required. Judge Burford then sentenced 'French' to four months in jail.
The hearing followed an investigation in which the Southampton Marine Unit of the Hampshire Police were assisted by the MCA (Maritime and Coastguard Agency), the MCA will continue to work with the Police to ensure compliance for safe navigational legislation.
PC Mike Hannam from the Southampton Police Marine Unit said "This sentence reflects the serious nature of this incident and though fortunately no one was killed it could have easily resulted in fatalities. We are backing the action the Harbour Masters are taking in Southampton and Portsmouth, as a direct result of incidents such as this to impose a 15 knot speed limit during and immediately after this years Cowes firework event."
Penalty: Four months jail sentence
===========================
why was the Buoy not lit?! !!
SystemParanoia said:
why was the Buoy not lit?! !!
It was a ship mooring buoy, not a navigation buoy. They are large cylindrical buoys usually made of metal, which lay on their side. They are quite big and hitting one in any small boat would be a bad idea.The point is, that he was travelling too fast to avoid the obstacle, which is marked on the chart.
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