Millions given to shipping company with no ships!

Oh dear NotSpaghetti. I am ignorant about these things but wouldn't Due Diligence take this into account? I heard this morning a Tory Councillor from Ramsgate saying that councillors were not given information about this arrangement and she very much doubted if the port, or town was able to cope with ferries at this short notice.

This morning, heard that the "news" of the government deal with Seabourne hadn't even been discussed at the local council meeting in December and the person representing the ferry ward hasn't had "so much as an email" to this day.

Ben Sharp, of Seabourne has been a managing director before of a
company Mercator International which was forced into liquidation by HMRC over unpaid tax in 2014.
It owed £1.78m.

Boris Johnson's Garden Bridge project (which will not be built after all): 46m lost

Channel ferries which will likely never run: 14m.

NHS patient record system (not introduced): 10bn lost

Department for Transport Shared Services Centre project (barely used): 81m lost

Common Agricultural Policy Delivery Programme (delayed payments to farmers and incurred EU fines): 215m

Tory party friends and donors: benefited.

Universal Credit: effectively stops payment for 5 weeks and will thus impoverish thousands (and their children).

Really, the last thing you need running anything are people with knowledge, experience and expertise in the field. We all know experts are useless! You have to laugh or you would cry!

Labaik
It's very possible that there wasn't a uk one available at this time. Theres no problem with the Dutch doing the job, they are some of the best in the world.
The problem (if there was one) isn't getting the dredger, it's getting the crew, something else we stopped investing in.

But we obviously don't have enough.

Grandad1943 - If you track what happened to the ferry I think you will find it was brought back from hazardous waste to general use so the checks should have already been done.

Labaik
There's every possibility that the dredger is Dutch. But I can assure you that we have dredgers, my Godson is a captain of one.

I do feel confident that hazardous material on these ferries will be secure provided it remains under the control of the haulage companies and the trucks retain a driver with the vehicle throughout the crossing.
The drivers operating vehicles with freight that come under COSHH regulations have to retain a "Haz-Chem" licence on top of their LGV driver qualification.

Therefore, in the above, it would be imperative to have such persons on board the ferry rather than just having a driver leave the vehicle on the ferry at the embarkation port and another take over the vehicle at the arrival port, as can be the case.

In regard to heavy delays at the ports commencing on the 30th of March, then I feel the recent statement by the RHA should be taken notice of. In that, the Hauliers representative advised that it is highly probable that little or nothing will happen in the first few weeks following Brexit, simply because nothing will be fully prepared.

However, the EU Commision would soon come under pressure from the remaining EU member states asking why Britain is still enjoying all the full benefits of membership without having any of the obligations.

It is then the RHA feel that checks and severe delays through the ports would commence.

However, throughout the holiday period, neither the RHA or the FTA have made any statement in regard to recent government announcements with reference to additional ports and ferries being brought online as far as I am aware. When those haulage companies representative organisations do comment on the foregoing, that I feel should be taken great note of, for the RHA have been "Spot on" in all they have stated throughout this growing crisis.

Is it true that the dredger is Dutch and that we don't even have a dredger to use?

Just heard a joke on News Quiz Grayling standing on the cliffs of Dover shouting "I do believe in ferries"

There is so much about this brexit nonsense which any sane person would find unbelievable.

Yes unbelievable,that it’s terms and conditions were copied and pasted from a fast food outlet, plus it had the total of £66 in the bank.

We absolutely must not sleep-walk into any kind of brexit, let alone a catastrophic "no-deal" even if the majority of Tory party members want it.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jan/04/most-tory-members-would-choose-no-deal-over-may-brexit-plan

Yes Grandad I know there are regulations, I'm just not convinced they will be followed! Nothing about Brexit has given me confidence. As we both say you couldn't make it up!

Re the fast food company, yes Grandad1943 my point exactly.

Sorry Nonnie your name came up as Bonnie again on the dictation.

Bonnie, the hazardous substances the shipping company could be dealing with would fall under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Legislation (COSHH). In that, it is part of the regulations encompassed under the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 and those handling such substances are subject to the most stringent monitoring and control measures applicable under the above legislation. Those substances can be liquids, powders, vapours radioactive material or any other substance likely to cause injury to the health of any person in the vicinity of such substances.

Thankfully the ship this company are chartering (i believe) is a roll on roll off ferry (Ro-Ro) and therefore the road haulage companies using this ship will be well experienced in the monitoring and transport of such materials even while it is on board the vessel.

However, I did read today that this so-called shipping company has copied its terms and conditions to customers from the website of a pizza delivery company. Therefore, whether they will know where Folkestone or Ostend is and in which direction the ship is proceeding may be another matter.

You could not make this up, could you?

Well, at least it's a real ship and not a fictitious one; must look on the bright side y'know...

Oh petra I'm not sure that is reassuring!

Nonnie
The hazardous waste would be in sealed containers.

Bit worrying that it has been used for hazardous waste! Don't know anything about how you prepare such a boat for safely carrying food and/or animals. Hope someone knows what they are doing.

One ship proposed for the route, was apparently the former Dover-Calais ferry MS Nord Pas de Calais which was built in 1987.
When SeaFrance was liquidated in 2011, Eurotunnel bought it and leased it to MyFerryLink until 2015.
After that it was laid-up and designated for use “for hazardous freight and waste”, before being renamed Al Andalus Express and sent to the Mediterranean. In March 2018 (when the Ostend Ramsgate route was originally planned) it was chartered for two months by Naviera Armas for Las Palmas and Puerto del Rosario.
At that point, Maritime News said “( It) is still one of the prospective ships for the proposed new connection between the Belgian port of Ostend and Ramsgate, in the United Kingdom. But this initiative, carried by Seaborne Freight, a structure created by former executives of MyFerryLink, has fallen behind.”

I haven’t yet Googled the MyFerryLink connection.

I do wonder where all the extra capacity is coming from. Businesses are stocking up on parts, where are they putting them? Where are the extra ferries? Unused ones must have been costing someone a lot of money. What about all the extra lorries, where are they coming from? Are there lots of qualified HGV drivers currently unemployed? Where are all the empty warehouses which are to be filled? There must have been a lot of inefficient businesses if there is all this spare capacity!

Wouldn't it be cheaper and simpler to train lots more customs people to avoid the necessity for all this?