Channelcrosser
Full Member
- Posts
- 154
- Likes
- 69
Long overhang....Ferry access
Hi everyone
I used to work on the ferries and now at Port Control Dover. The biggest problem we have here is the range of the tides - sometimes over 5 metres from low water to high water. The berth portals which support the approach lanes are moved up and down by the ramp operator and sometimes if they are not watching closely, the ramp is not set to its optimum level.
When you approach the "fingers" (thats the bit that lowers on to the back end of the ship) try to see if a better angle could be achieved by the ramp operator - if it looks too steep they will try and adjust to suit - generally speaking they are quite friendly! And if you want the loading officer on the ship to guide you over tell the shore staff before you go up the ramp - they are in radio contact with the ship.
I don't know this for sure but the new berths in Dover (8 & 9) are probably the optimum ones to go for and try and get a sailing at half tide if you can - I realise that is not always possible but it just depends how careful you really want to be. At the time of writing P & O are running out of 8 berth and Seafrance are running out of 9 berth.
Hope this is helpful.
Channelcrosser
Hi everyone
I used to work on the ferries and now at Port Control Dover. The biggest problem we have here is the range of the tides - sometimes over 5 metres from low water to high water. The berth portals which support the approach lanes are moved up and down by the ramp operator and sometimes if they are not watching closely, the ramp is not set to its optimum level.
When you approach the "fingers" (thats the bit that lowers on to the back end of the ship) try to see if a better angle could be achieved by the ramp operator - if it looks too steep they will try and adjust to suit - generally speaking they are quite friendly! And if you want the loading officer on the ship to guide you over tell the shore staff before you go up the ramp - they are in radio contact with the ship.
I don't know this for sure but the new berths in Dover (8 & 9) are probably the optimum ones to go for and try and get a sailing at half tide if you can - I realise that is not always possible but it just depends how careful you really want to be. At the time of writing P & O are running out of 8 berth and Seafrance are running out of 9 berth.
Hope this is helpful.
Channelcrosser