2005 Review                  (Updated 24th November 2005)

Lunch Time at the Winter Social. Photo by Chris Brooks.

COTE D'IVORIAN STAR at Dover on 29th January, taken by Roger Hammond.

Cable Layer PETER FABER at Calais on 28th January, taken by Roger Hammond.

Our Winter Social, the first TSS event of the new year was attended by 31 members at the Churchill Hotel, on the seafront at Dover.

After some brisk trade at the hotel bar, a  three course lunch was enjoyed by all present. 

The meal was followed by an informative slide show given by Mike Jackson on "Dover Shipping from 1989 onwards". Instead of the usual ferries the slide show concentrated on the wide variety of other shipping using the port, from reefers to preserved tugs to North Sea shuttle tankers! Thanks to Mike for a great slide show. 

Some of the members attending the event made a weekend of it, staying at the hotel and also taking a trip on one of the many ferries over to Calais.

9th April - AGM at Southampton

Over sixty TSS members attended the AGM on-board Blue Funnel's Ocean Scene at Southampton. 

An enjoyable three course lunch was first served followed by the AGM.

Following the AGM we had a 3 hour cruise of Southampton Docks, Southampton Water as far a Fawley Oil Terminal and the River Itchen.

Unfortunately the docks we quite quiet, however, we were fortunate to be able to view P&O's new liner, Arcadia, which had arrived on it's delivery voyage a few days previously and was due to be named on Tuesday 12th April.

We then proceeded up to the container terminal where the NYK Lodestar was the sole occupant.

Whilst proceeding out of Southampton docks, we witnessed the arrival of the Malaysian containership Bunga Raya Dua at dockhead, before making our way down Southampton Water to view the busy Fawley Oil Terminal.

At Fawley there were four tankers of varying sizes present including the Young Lady, Freja Atlantic, Rita and Bro Galaxy. .

On our way back to Southampton we viewed some of the various craft in the River Itchen before an enjoyable cruise ended in Ocean Village.

Photographs and report by Chris Brooks.

P&O's new ARCADIA at Mayflower Cruise Terminal.

A close encounter with the ARCADIA.

A stern view of the ARCADIA.

BUNGA RAYA DUA arriving at dockhead.

YOUNG LADY was one of the tankers at Fawley.

ADSTEAM VICTORY at the tug moorings.

PRIORITY at Tilbury Landing Stage

The new tug CASTLE POINT at Coryton.

HAVTANK departing from the Thames.

On a cool windy morning 60 TSS stalwarts met onboard the Princess Pocahontas. The bad news was that Sunk pilots were not working & so our expected container ships & tankers would not be coming in. 

Priority 83/2113 was at Tilbury landing stage. The recently renamed Adsteam Victory 495/00 was at the tug moorings. Further down river Yuko 920/86 was inbound followed by Finnwood 11839/73. Coryton produced the new BP tugs Stanford 381/05 and Castle Point 374/05 plus tanker Ganges 23246/04. 

We headed for Southend but regrettably due to the sea conditions Captain Potter had to pull the plug on crossing to the Medway. So we pottered back up river passing Havtank 1083/69 on her way out. 

Not a huge amount of shipping photographed, but still an enjoyable day out.

With thanks to Roger Hammond for the report and photographs.

On the warm sunny morning of Saturday 18th June, 27 members of the TSS made their way to the four star Delta Hotel on the banks of the river in Vlaardingen for the start of the 2005 Continental Tour. The main party of 19 members travelled by the Stena HSS to the Hook of Holland whilst some travelled by other means including Eurostar via Brussels.

Early the next morning on a beautifully sunny day, the members assembled on the PartySchip Diane for our usual 9 hour private cruise of the port complexes of Rotterdam and Europoort. Europoort was quite busy with many tankers (including the Chinese Da Ming Hu) and bulk carriers (including Main Ore and Elbe Ore) present. We also witnessed the arrival of the impressively large VLCC Ocana at Europoort. From Europoort we made our way back up to Rotterdam where we viewed many other interesting vessels in the port of Rotterdam. During the nine hour cruise we noted and photographed over 100 vessels.

On Monday 20th we checked out of the Delta Hotel and made our way by coach, via our normal viewing area at the Hook of Holland to the Arion Hotel at Vlissingen, where we stayed for the remainder of our tour. The Arion Hotel is situated on the seafront at Vlissingen and overlooks the main channels of the River Schelde. All the shipping for Antwerp, Gent and Flushing passes this point. One of the shipping channels passes along the seafront at Vlissingen, making it possible to photograph vessels at close quarters from your hotel room balcony.

On Tuesday we travelled by coach to Terneuzen, which is one of the best vantage points from which to photograph vessels in the River Schelde. Although the river was quite quiet shipping wise, we managed to get some great photographs of the shipping that did pass, including, Ibn Khaldoun II, Moritz Schulte, Kota Pekarang and Kopalnia Rydultowy.

Wednesday saw us travelling by coach to Antwerp, via a short stop at the locks to view an arriving container ship. Our private five hour cruise of Antwerp yielded approximately 50 ships, from bulk carriers (including Olympic Merit, Kras and Peach Mountain), to reefers (including Elsebeth, Glacier, Hansa Lubeck and Cormoros Stream), to tankers (including Eagle Tacoma, Sichem Padua and Amber) to general cargo ships (including Leopold Staff, Boris Babochkin, Emmagracht).

On Thursday we repeated our visit to Terneuzen where quite a few ships were photographed underway in excellent sunny conditions, including, MSC Korea, Nina, Maersk Rouen, MSC Venice, North Friendship and Atlantic Concert. 

On Friday we again proceeded to Terneuzen with the added attraction of a coach trip around Gent docks arranged by our Belgian friend Andre. Gent was quite quiet, but Terneuzen was busy, with preparations for a Haven Festival underway. The festival had attracted many preserved tugs including the magnificent Holland. The finale at Terneuzen was the passing of nine large ships within 30 minutes, which necessitated many reels of film being used up!

On Saturday 25th under the first cloudy skies we had seen on the whole trip, we made our way from Vlissingen to the Hook of Holland for our return trip on the Stena HSS to Harwich. On arrival at Harwich goodbyes were said with our minds full of the fantastic past week of sun, sea and shipping. 

A great trip, with almost 500 different ships (excluding tugs and other harbour craft) being logged. 

Photographs and report by Chris Brooks.

SANTIAGO EXPRESS passing our hotel at Vlaardingen whilst leaving Rotterdam.

JO BIRK outward bound in Rotterdam during our port cruise.

VLCC OCANA arriving at Europoort during our Diane cruise.

ASTRAKHAN passing Terneuzen on Tuesday 21st, bound for Antwerp.

EMMAGRACHT during our Antwerp Port Cruise

WELS passing our hotel in Vlissingen

MSC BRIANNA passing Terneuzen on Friday 24th bound for Antwerp.

The preserved tug HOLLAND was at Terneuzen for the Haven Festival.

Bulk Carrier C.S. STAR passing Vlissingen pilot station.

SEA PRINCESS at Eastern Docks, Southampton. 

CMA CGM BERLIOZ inward bound for the container terminal.

MINERVA LISA approaching Fawley with tugs THRAX and SILEX.

HMS NEWCASTLE laid up in Portsmouth Harbour.

Nigerian Frigate ARADU in Portsmouth.

DON CARLOS leaving Southampton.

P&O's OCEANA departing from Southampton.

On a grey Saturday morning, 60 TSS members met at Ocean Village to board the new Blue Funnel vessel Ashleigh R for the annual six hour Solent Cruise. Luckily the grey skies soon started to break up and by mid afternoon the weather was pleasant and sunny.

On departure from Ocean Village we made our way up the River Itchen to view the various small craft moored in the river, including the Itchen Marine tugs and some laid up MoD craft.

Making our way back down the Itchen we were able to view three vehicle carriers Don Carlos, Trianon and Hoegh Trooper in the Eastern Docks, as well as the cruise vessel Sea Princess (ex Adonia). Condock IV was meanwhile passing us bound for the Western Docks.

In the Western Docks was P&O's cruise ship Oceana. There were no vessels in the container terminal, so we turned after viewing the Oceana and made our way out of Southampton, passing two large container ships inbound for the empty terminal - the MOL Priority and the CMA CGM Berlioz.

Lunch was then served as we made our way up to Fawley Oil Terminal. Two small tankers were already on Fawley Jetty, but we then passed the inbound large tanker Minerva Lisa, being assisted by the tugs Thrax and Silex. Meanwhile the ro-ro Valmont Express passed inwards closely followed by another ro-ro Le Castellet.

On arrival at Portsmouth we were able to view the Royal Navy warships including Illustrious, Exeter, Leeds Castle and Marlborough, but, the highlight for many was the Nigerian frigate Aradu and the Romanian frigate Regina Maria.

We also viewed the ferries at the ferry port and the arrival of the fast ferry Normandie Express, followed by the departure of Brittany Ferries vessel Mont St. Michel.

Completing the tour of Portsmouth Harbour, we viewed the laid up warships in the harbour, including Fearless, Intrepid, Glasgow, Newcastle and Rame Head.

We then made our way back to Southampton to be ready to view the departure of the vehicle carrier Don Carlos and the cruise ship Sea Princess followed closely by the Oceana, which made a nice photograph in the early evening sunlight.

Finally we arrived at Ocean Village and the end of another successful Solent Cruise, with a good range of shipping viewed and photographed, with many of the vessels being underway.

Photographs and report by Chris Brooks.

On a reasonably warm August morning, 55 TSS members swarmed onto the Princess Pocahontas under the watchful eye of Cpt John Potter. This was our second Thames and Medway trip for 2005. 

As we left Gravesend, the feeder Veritas-H 4048/95 & roro Valentine 22986/99 were inbound. At the tug moorings was Lady Cecilia 314/91 one of Adsteams recent re-allocations. Meanwhile, Tilbury power station was graced by bulker Spar Vega 38779/95. The small general cargo vessel Schulenburg 2265/81 was inward bound for Tower Wharf. At Coryton was a clutch of tankers, including brand new Paul E 4500/05. Also on station were the three BP tugs, with the brand new Corringham 374/05 being the focus of many cameras. 

On now to Sheerness where the lone reefer Triton Reefer 8818/90
was unloading. At Thamesport, a single containership Lykes Pathfinder 30526/94 provided the only interest. On now to Kingsnorth power station where Lord Hinton 14201/86 and Tinnes 6944/83 were unloading coal. 

We returned to the Thames just in time to see Cambodian registered Havtank 1083/69 on her way out. Off Canvey Island, we encountered outward bound CMA CGM Manet 26050/01. We returned via Purfleet, passing tankers Libelle 8007/99 and Tikhvin
26218/96. Finally, returning to Tilbury, we passed the eldery tug Hazel - E 124/39 at Greenhithe. 

A very good day, just a little short of shipping, but the weather & the
company made up for it.

With thanks to Roger Hammond for the report and photographs.

The new BP tug CORRINGHAM at Coryton.

Newbuilding, PAUL E was at Coryton too.

LYKES PATHFINDER at Thamesport.

TINNES unloading coal at Kingshorth.

CMA CGM Manet outward bound off Canvey Island.

Bulk Carrier BONANZA at Botlek Harbour, Rotterdam

Also in Botlek Harbour was the BRITISH EXPERIENCE

...as was the NORMAND AURORA

SUPREME HARVEST at Rotterdam Refrigerated Terminal

ABU ZENIMA was at Antwerp

FONTHIDA NAREE shortly before leaving Antwerp

PRIVILEGE, one of the many reefers at Antwerp

Conventional cargo ship THEOFANO at Antwerp.

A close encounter with Tug 82 at Antwerp

10th to 13th September - Weekend Visit to Holland and Belgium

Twenty TSS members were whisked very efficiently by the Eurostar departure from London Waterloo and Ashford to Brussels. Once we had found our coach at Brussels Midi station, we proceeded to the four star Hotel Brabant in Breda which was to be our base for three nights.

Early the next morning, we made our way by coach to Vlaardingen where we boarded our usual cruise vessel, the Diane, for our nine hour Rotterdam and Europoort cruise.

After starting the cruise in misty conditions, the sun started to shine through by the time we arrived at Europoort. However, it was to be a mixed day of mist, sunny intervals and cloud for our cruise.

Europoort was quite busy with four large bulk carriers in port - Main Ore, Cecilia, Cape Orchid and China Steel Responsibility as well as a few large tankers including Safwa, Minerva Zenia and Iran Abadeh. The container terminal was busy as usual, with P&O Nedlloyd Heemskerck and LT Cortesia being the highlights.

Botlek Harbour was also quite busy with a number of bulk carriers, including Aviona, Bonanza and Saffron in the harbour.

Eemshaven and Waalhaven also produced some interesting vessels including the Italian cable ship Pertinacia and the conventional freighter Ever Happy. 

Undeterred by the changeable weather, over 100 vessels, were logged and photographed by the members participating in the cruise.

On Monday morning we drove to Antwerp, to board our vessel the Kempenland  for our five hour private cruise of the enclosed dock area. 

Weatherwise, the mist had disappeared and the sun even shone for a while!

Approximately 50 vessels were photographed in Antwerp, with the highlights being the conventional freighters Rasha Star, Wealthy Star and Theofano as well as five reefer vessels - Privilege, Dole Europa, Colombian Star, Duncan Island and Antarctic Mermaid.

As we returned to our boarding point towards the end of the cruise we were escorted for part of the way by the Antwerp Port tug "82", which produced some excellent photographs. 

After the cruise we made our way back to Antwerp for our final night at the hotel before our return journey to London via the Eurostar train from Brussels.

A very enjoyable long weekend, with good company, and approximately 150 ships photographed. 

Photographs and report by Chris Brooks.

At this year's Ship Show to be held on Sunday 16th October at the Royal National Hotel, Bloomsbury, the TSS will be exhibiting at Table No  22. Committee members will be in attendance who look forward to welcoming both members and non-members old and new.

For more details about the Ship Show use the following link : Ocean Liner Society

40 TSS Members assembled at Heathrow on the afternoon of Saturday 22nd October for what was going to be a superb 15 night tour of the Far East. 

Following an uneventful flight by China Eastern Airways, we arrived at Shanghai in the afternoon on Sunday. After a coach transfer we found ourselves checked into the Peace Hotel for a five night stay at this famous hotel on "The Bund" overlooking the Huangpu River.

Monday was a free day to be spent at leisure in Shanghai, however, a large number of our party congregated on the Bund for the 2pm public cruise down to the mouth of the Huangpu River. Those new to Shanghai were amazed by the amount of activity on the river. Barges, tugs, coasters, large merchant ships, naval craft - everywhere!

On Tuesday we had our first private eight hour cruise down to the mouth of the River. Many reels of film were used up!

Wednesday was a free day again - the early risers were lucky to photograph the SD14 Xin He Er Hao making her way down river past the Peace Hotel. The daily routine of the 2pm public cruise down the river enticed many members to spend their afternoon this way again.

On Thursday our private eight hour cruise up river took place. We had to get special permission to go up river as the tourist boats are usually not allowed to cruise up river. Members were amazed at the amount of activity, including shipyards, and many general cargo berths. Once the shipping thinned out we turned around and our boat took us downriver to the mouth of the Huangpu again.

Friday saw a departure in the first rain of the holiday to Shanghai Airport for the short fight to Bangkok. On arrival in a very humid Bangkok we transferred to the very impressive Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel for a three night stay.

Saturday was our private six hour cruise down to the mouth of the river. Some members thought that Bangkok would be a quiet river compared to Shanghai, but we were not disappointed, with many general cargo vessels being present, some anchored in the middle of the river unloading into barges, the old fashioned way. The river was very busy with many vessel movements being witnessed in very warm and sunny weather.

On Sunday it was a private day to relax and take in the sights of Bangkok, some members took a trip to the Bridge on the River Kwai. Others, went off in search of a SD14 at Ko Sichang and found and photographed the Hermes.

Monday saw a late morning departure to the airport for another short flight by Singapore Airlines to Singapore, arriving at the Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa hotel on Sentosa Island late in the afternoon. 

On Tuesday we had our eight hour private cruise of the Eastern Anchorage at Singapore followed by the Western Anchorage on a beautifully sunny day. Many, many ships of all types were photographed.

Wednesday was a free day, during which some spent exploring Singapore, others relaxed at the hotel while others photographed yet more ships.

Thursday was another free day. One group of explorers even ventured across the Straits to Indonesia to find the laid up SD14 Spring - but this time they failed to find it.

Friday was the day for our last organised boat trip. This time we started in the Western Anchorage, then explored the port area followed by the Eastern Anchorage.

Our final day in Singapore was on Saturday. It was a free day before an early evening departure to Singapore airport and then a comfortable flight back with Singapore Airlines to London.

A wonderful two weeks of sun, ships and the sea, which was enjoyed by all who participated.  

CHANG AN 116, a typical Chinese coaster, outward bound in the Huangpu River on 24th October.

Salvage tug DE DA outward bound in the Huangpu River on 24th October.

SD14 XIN HE ER HAO passing the Peace Hotel (with the green roof) on 26th October.

XUE LONG was berthed in the Huangpu, downriver from Shanghai on 26th October.

Traditional bridge forward tanker DA QING 42 berthed at Shanghai on 26th October.

YONG LONG 68 inward bound at Shanghai during our upriver cruise on 27th October.

RATTANA MANII outward bound from Bangkok on 29th October.

It's not only traditional cargo vessels at Bangkok! YANTRA BHUM inward bound on 29th October.

Reefer WINTERNGFAR arrives at Bangkok on 29th October.

V.L.8 was one of many small product tankers at Bangkok.

KOTA SINGA at Singapore on 1st November.

SALVAGE CHAMPION at Singapore during our private cruise on 1st November

CE PACIFIC was one of many large tankers photographed at Singapore.

NEW AN HUI was in the Western Anchorage at Singapore all week.

LAINE was in the Eastern Anchorage at Singapore.