Southern England News

British and French officials traded blame on Wednesday after 27 migrants died when their dinghy deflated as they made a perilous crossing of the English Channel.The accident was the worst disaster on record involving migrants in the narrow seaway separating the two countries.The Channel is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes and currents are strong. Human traffickers typically overload the dinghies, leaving them barely afloat and at the mercy of waves as they try to reach…

Britain and France signed a new agreement to try to stop illegal migration across the Channel on Saturday, upping patrols and technology in the hope of closing off a dangerous route used by migrants to try to reach the UK on small boats.UK interior minister Priti Patel said that under the deal, the number of officers patrolling French beaches would double, and new equipment including drones and radar would be employed.This year, hundreds of people, including some children, have…

The operator of an oil tanker stormed in the English Channel by British special forces thanked the authorities on Monday for their timely response, saying help was requested after seven stowaways who boarded in Nigeria turned hostile.Troops from the Special Boat Service, Britain's elite naval special forces unit, boarded the Greek-operated Nave Andromeda near the Isle of Wight off southern England after the master of the ship said he was concerned about the safety of his crew.Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and Home Secretary Priti Patel authorized the armed forces to board the tanker "to safeguard life and secure a ship that was subject to suspected hijacking", the defense ministry said.Sources with knowledge of the situation aboard the vessel said it was not a hijacking or hostage-taking.

British special forces stormed a Greek-operated oil tanker in the English channel on Sunday to wrestle control of the vessel from seven stowaways who had threatened the crew in a suspected hijacking.Troops from the Special Boat Service, a navy special forces unit whose headquarters in just a few miles away from where the vessel began showing signs of distress, boarded the Nave Andromeda near the Isle of Wight off southern England.Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and Home Secretary Priti Patel authorized the armed forces to board the ship “to safeguard life and secure a ship that was subject to suspected hijacking”, the defense ministry said.“Armed forces have gained control of the ship and seven individuals have been detained,” the ministry said.

British entrepreneur Richard Branson heralded his first cruise ship "Scarlet Lady" on Friday as targeting a younger generation of holidaymakers with a range of attractions that he believes will outweigh any fears around coronavirus.Despite the unfortunate timing, with passengers on one ship quarantined in Japan after hundreds caught the virus and another turned away by five countries over fears someone on board may be ill, Branson sees cruises as a growth area.In an event at Dover…

Britain's Royal Navy said on Monday one of its warships had helped to seize a batch of crystal meth worth more than 3.3 million pounds ($4.3 million) from smugglers in the Gulf of Oman.HMS Defender, a destroyer based at Portsmouth, southern England, sent a party to search a suspicious dhow as it conducted reconnaissance in the northern Arabian Sea.Royal marines discovered on the dhow 11 mailbag-sized sacks carrying drugs weighing 131 kg (288 lb) in total, the Royal Navy said in…

UK-based A&P Group its shipyard in Falmouth is refitting the Wightlink RO-RO ferry Wight Light. Wightlink is a passenger and vehicle  ferry company operating routes between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in southern England.Wight Light visited A&P Falmouth for its two-yearly refit period. Vessels from the Wightlink fleet have been visiting A&P Falmouth since the early 2000s for dry-dockings and maintenance work.During Wight Light’s recent refit, a new engine was fitted and commissioned, leak and dye penetrant testing was carried out on its forward and aft Voith blades, along with deflection testing of its aft Voith propulsion unit.Additional works include replacing hydraulic pipework on the ship’s garage deck…

Only 16 percent of U.K. ports and harbor authorities have made “significant or practical” plans for Brexit, according to a survey.Leaders at almost every UK port and harbour authority – in total around 100 - were asked about their state of readiness by the Maritime & Shipping Practice at Odgers Berndtson, a leading executive search firm."Only 16% said they had made any “significant or practical” plans for Brexit. The remainder were equally split between ports doing “only some high-level planning” and nothing at all," revealed the survey.The findings are significant as the Government hopes regional ports will reduce additional demands on busy ports in southern England.“The ports industry is keen to seize on any opportunities arising from Brexit…

The ferry company operating routes between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in southern England Wightlink will bid farewell to its oldest ferry St Cecilia on Friday 25 January 2019."She will be retiring to the Mediterranean, joining her sisters St Helen and St Catherine at the Italian ferry company Delcomar which operates services between Sardinia and its offshore islands," said a press note from the ferry company.St Cecilia was launched at Cochrane Shipbuilders in Selby, East Yorkshire in 1987.It’s estimated she has crossed the Solent 200,000 times since then – that’s around a million miles.St Cecilia’s final departure this spring follows…

France-based Port Community System operator SOGET, in close collaboration with French customs, port authorities, ferry companies and road hauliers, will offer an integrated e-freight corridor based on a digitalized anticipation of information flows related to cross-Channel goods."Cross-channel RO-RO traffic of trucks and its logistics’ fluidity in ports are crucial matters for the competitiveness of the Great-Britain - Europe corridor. With 5 million trucks on the coastal border territory, the current port infrastructure cannot deal with a new logistics border," said a press release from the Le Havre headquartered public-private partnership between the Port Community of Le Havre…

A ferry collided with at least two yachts and then ran aground in heavy fog off the Isle of Wight in southern England on Sunday, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said.The Coastguard said a member of the public had called emergency services after hearing cries of help from Cowes Harbour, but after an extensive search by rescue teams it said no one was in the water or missing.Red Funnel, the operator of the Red Falcon Ferry, which had 56 people on board, said it had been refloated. "All passengers and vehicles have been safely discharged," it said on Twitter.(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; editing by John Stonestreet)

Britain’s largest independent ship repairer and marine engineering services provider Burgess Marine said it has recently completed its winter refit season in Cherbourg, completing three ferry refit projects over the three-month time span. Despite Brexit, Burgess Marine said business has boomed as the company has completed two refits for Wightlink and one for Condor Ferries at its 5,000T syncrolift facility in the French port. He added, “We have the technical management, knowledge…

A cargo ship was being evacuated after it started to take on water off the coast of Dover after the biggest storm of the season hit southern England, the Coastguard said on Sunday.   Earlier, the port of Dover said ferry movements had been temporarily suspended because of the "very high winds", which the Met Office said could reach 70-80 miles per hour in exposed coastal locations.   The coastguard could not immediately give any further details. (Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Keith Weir)

Tens of thousands of French well-wishers waved goodbye to the largest luxurious cruise ship named “Harmony of the Seas”as it set sail on its maiden voyage to the U.K. after 32 months in a French shipyard in Saint-Nazaire. The $1 billion Harmony of the Seas cut a gargantuan silhouette Sunday as it left the western port town of Saint-Nazaire. The 120,000-tonne giant is the widest — 66 meters — and the longest — 362 meters — cruise ship ever built. At 362 metres (1,187 feet) long, the 16-deck ship is bigger than the Eiffel Tower and holds the record for being the widest cruise ship ever built — boasting a 6,360-passenger capacity. It’s been compared to a floating city with more than 2,500 staterooms, 20 dining venues, 23 swimming pools and a park with more than 10,000 plants and 50 trees.

According to the manufacturer, the propulsion system has performed convincingly all along the line and surpassed the expectations of her owner, the Welsh company Turbine Transfers Ltd, a subsidiary of Holyhead Towing Company. The VLJs are the main propulsion system of the DNV Classed 21m offshore service catamaran, which was designed for Turbine Transfers by BMT Nigel Gee and built by AMC. The Crew Transport Vessel will take service technicians to offshore wind farms at sites all around Europe, initially at the Westernmost Rough site off the Humber for Dong Energy.

Britain said on Monday it would ban fracking in national parks, reversing a policy announced last year, in a concession to the opposition Labour Party which had called for tighter controls to be written into law. "We have agreed an outright ban on fracking in national parks, sites of special interest and areas of natural beauty," said junior energy minister Amber Rudd during a debate on new laws regulating the extraction process. Last year the government said fracking -- extracting gas and oil by pumping chemicals, sand and water at high pressure into underground rocks -- would be possible within national parks in exceptional circumstances. The government also accepted a Labour proposal to tighten several other rules governing when and where fracking would be permitted.

U.S. authorities resumed a hunt on Tuesday for four British yachtsmen missing in the Atlantic Ocean after a public appeal backed by UK politicians and British billionaire Richard Branson not to give up on finding them just yet. The sailors on board the yacht Cheeki Rafiki went missing on Friday as they were returning to Britain from a sailing event in Antigua in the Caribbean and reported that the vessel was taking on water, forcing them to change course to head to the Azores. The U.S. Coast Guard, supported by U.S. and Canadian air forces, mounted a search about 1,000 miles off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, but called it off on Sunday due to treacherous conditions, saying there was little chance of finding them. But relatives of the missing men set up a petition to urge U.S.

A petition calling on the U.S. Coast Guard to resume a search for four British sailors missing in the Atlantic Ocean for four days has passed 120,000 signatures with a UK government minister backing the appeal. Relatives of the missing men - captain Andrew Bridge, 21, Steve Warren, 52, Paul Goslin, 56 and James Male, 23 - have appealed to U.S. authorities to resume a search, saying it was too early to give up hope as the men, all experienced sailors, could have escaped from the boat on a life raft. The men went missing last Friday after setting off from Antigua in the Caribbean to bring the yacht Cheeki Rafiki back to England but reported their vessel was taking on water and changed course to head to the Azores. The U.S.

A revelation pays off for photographer Martin Cox, who at just seven years old, realized that he was drawn to landscapes or places that beg a question — such as what happened? Originally from the U.K., Cox turned his passion into a reality with his focus on the wonders of industrial marinescapes, (as pictured here) in addition to his fascination with the American landscape. Los Angeles, Calif.-based photographer Martin Cox had a revelation when he was just seven years old that he wanted to pursue the art of photography. Cox, who was born and raised in the maritime mecca of Southampton, U.K., can vividly recall the day Cunard's original Queen Mary set off on its final voyage from the port city. "When I was seven years old, something happened that was to complicate my life," Cox said.

The U.K. Ministry of Defense said it hoped a new contract with naval shipbuilder Vosper Thornycroft would save 450 workers from the company's planned 650 job cuts announced in December. Vosper Thornycroft is building three offshore patrol vessels at its Southampton, southern England, shipyard for the Royal Navy. The vessels will replace existing ships involved with protecting fishing regulations. "Construction of the vessels is expected to safeguard around 450 jobs at Vosper Thornycroft's Southampton shipyard," the Ministry of Defense said. A spokesman for Vosper said the contract would be worth around $86.03 million in total. Contract negotiations are expected to be finalized next month.

The U.K. Ministry of Defense hopes a new contract with naval shipbuilder Vosper Thornycroft would save 450 workers from the company's planned 650 job cuts announced in December. Vosper Thornycroft is building three offshore patrol vessels at its Southampton, southern England, shipyard for the Royal Navy. The vessels will replace existing ships involved with protecting fishing regulations. "Construction of the vessels is expected to safeguard around 450 jobs at Vosper Thornycroft's Southampton shipyard," the Ministry of Defense said in a statement. A spokesman for Vosper said the contract would be worth around 60 million pounds ($86.03 million) in total. Contract negotiations are expected to be finalized next month.

An Estonian passenger ferry with 49 people on board collided with a Dutch tug off the southern coast of England on Monday, injuring one member of the tug's five-man crew, British coastguards said. No one was hurt on board the RoRo ferry, Neptunia, which was on its way from Folkestone, southern England to Boulogne in northern France. Coastguards said both vessels had been damaged in the collision and had taken on some water. One crew member on the tug suffered a head injury but coastguards said it was not severe enough to require immediate hospital treatment. The boats collided just before 6.00 a.m., six miles (10 km) southeast of the English port of Dover. "The damage caused a small hole in the port quarter of the ferry," the maritime and coastguard agency said in a statement.

As a resounding endorsement of its long-term commitment to shipbuilding in the U.K., Vosper Thornycroft (VT) has created a state-of-the-art ship production facility within Portsmouth Naval Base. Having recently attained preliminary operational status through steel cutting on 295-ft. (90-m) transport barge, the 33-acre naval shipbuilding yard is set to play a key role in the construction of the Royal Navy's next generation of destroyers while extending VT's overall build capabilities and market reach. It has been some decades since Britain last saw the opening of a new yard of any significant size, and VT's initiative ensures a future for the industry in southern England.