The Port of Dover is supporting its cruise customers by offering lay-by provision for their vessels to help them bring their cruises back home to the UK.

Currently we are hosting two P&O Cruises vessels – Aurora and Oceana.  Everyone on board is fit and healthy and the crew are remaining on-board to protect the local community as well as themselves.  Food and supplies are being provided by their normal specialist suppliers so there will be no impact on the availability of food and other supplies in local supermarkets.

COVID-19 is having a significant economic impact on all of us in the cruise industry, so it’s important that we work together and support each other as we navigate through some difficult times. 

The Port of Dover is pleased to assist P&O Cruises as part of its wider response to the current situation.

We are all being challenged by the spread of the COVID-19 Coronavirus, and for us we know it is essential that the Port of Dover continues to provide this critical link – people up and down the UK are counting on us for the goods, medicines and resources they need.

We have been at the front line of major national and international challenges so many times before.  The ash cloud crisis, for example, saw us at the forefront of the response helping hundreds of thousands of passengers trying to reach destinations not only in Europe but also as far as Africa and the Far East.  This time we will also step up to help ensure that vital goods flow to their destination across Britain.

As outlined by the Prime Minister and his advisers, this situation could go on for several months.  It will be a marathon, not a sprint.  Yet as supermarket shelves need constantly filling and re-filling, each and every day, it will always be a sprint for the supply chains and they will always rely on the speed and capacity of our operation that among ports is unique to Dover. 

I can think of no other time in recent history when the role we, our ferry operators and the whole cross-Channel system here in Kent play in feeding people in the North, the Midlands, London and the South was more important.  That is why the Chancellor of the Exchequer himself this week cited Dover as of particular importance to the country at this critical time.

It is often at a time of significant challenge that we reach out and reconnect with our families and those that matter who may be far away.  This is such a time and we at the Port of Dover are dedicated to meeting the challenge at hand, so that we reach the rest of our British family by delivering the goods they require when needed.

We have planned across the business to ensure that we can look after our customers, the nation and its trade.  Our employees, business partners, contractors, suppliers and local agencies all have high attention on keeping themselves safe, following the advice of the Government and Public Health England to provide this crucial lifeline link.

As we all embrace a new reality, we remain one team focused on maintaining that lifeline.

We are all in it together and together we are all in to keep Britain’s trade flowing.

Doug Bannister

Five different cruises will be calling at the Port from July 2021, heading across Europe and the British Isles.

Sonia Limbrick, Head of Cruise at the Port of Dover said:

“We are delighted to be welcoming Disney Magic back to Dover in 2021. Ever since we became her UK homeport the Disney Magic has brought joy and excitement to the town.

With our excellent new facilities and iconic location, Port of Dover Cruise continues to go from strength to strength. Welcoming back our long-standing customers shows what a great future we have in store.”

Disney Magic returns to Dover for the 2020 season on 25th July, with five cruises in total this year. We look forward to seeing them!

Picture credit – Dover Strait Shipping

ENDS

Below – Scarlet Lady arrives at the Port of Dover early Thursday morning, 20th February.

She berths at Cruise Terminal 2

Above – Sir Richard Branson officially unveils Scarlet Lady to the world in Dover on Friday 21st February. Picture credit SWNS/Virgin Voyages.

Below – official plaque exchange with Captain Marco Carsjens and Steven Masters, Barbara Buczek, Doug Bannister and Sonia Limbrick from the Port. The Port’s plaque is made out of 100% recycled plastic from the ocean.

And finally…. keeping to our promise to Sir Richard Branson that if he brought Scarlet Lady to Dover, we would turn our iconic White Cliffs red….

Dover resident, Tracy Taylor who has worked in construction for over 15 years with experience in secretarial, administration and document control was over the moon when she was offered the role of project secretary back in 2014. With only a five minute walk to the project office and one of the first on the scene she looked forward to the challenges of the office setup, tender and construction phases of this diverse marine and land project.

The Port of Dover and DWDR have a strong ethos for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and with Tracy’s varied experience, she was a prime candidate for further expanding her skill set. In 2018, she attended and completed an IOSH Managing Safety course which qualified her as an Affiliate Member of the IOSH Professional Body.

Fully armed with her new qualification Tracy has become more involved with the Health and Safety regime, joining senior managers on the site safety inspections, inducting contractors and their respective sub-contractors and writing the health and safety reports.

To further add to her newfound status Tracy attended a NEBOSH Certificate in Construction course and in August 2019 passed the exams with the excellent grade of Credit.

The next step was to continue with her independent professional development via IOSH and complete such courses as First Aid, Mental Health Awareness, C&G Confined Spaces Training, Asbestos Awareness and Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH). As a result, in October Tracy was awarded TechIOSH allowing her to practice as a safety professional.

Tracy reflects on the extra study while working full time and says; “Even though it has been hard work achieving the qualifications, my long term goal is to continue with the studying and to achieve NEBOSH Diploma in Construction Health and Safety and eventually become chartered (CMIOSH). I am very grateful for the opportunity given to me by both the Port and the DWDR management team as my job is now much more rewarding and offers more potential for the future.

Kevin Williams, Senior Project Manager DWDR, said, “Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is an essential process to ensure the construction industry maintains a skilful and up to date work force. Often the emphasis is on graduate technical staff working toward chartered status so the opportunity to be able to add another skill set to someone in mid-career is extremely rewarding. Tracy approached the exams with maturity and dedication and has now taken on, and added value to, an extremely important function in the project’s delivery.”

During excavation of the Wellington Dock Navigation Channel, the DWDR team worked closely with archaeologists. Items of interest were discovered which included over 300 historic timbers and evidence of Tudor engineering works, by Thomas Digges, in the form of a ‘Pent’, the first successful endeavour at the port of controlling a natural shingle bar, and the 240 year old oak and elm Nickalls’ trestle framed groyne, designed to stabilise the highly-mobile shingle and sand foreshore. When built both were schemes of national importance and the Pent required an increase in the taxes on beer and grain to fund. Other finds have included the unearthing of several Ice Age mammoth teeth.

To share these incredible finds and give an insightful overview of the Port’s history a series of interactive presentations have been set up with local schools, the first of which was held at St Mary’s Primary School, Dover. Samples of the timbers along with many of the artefacts uncovered during the excavations were taken along for the children to experience first-hand. How often does one get the chance to see a mammoth tooth at close quarters?

Chris Talbot, Communications Manager said: “Even though the presentation provided a lot of detail it was quite amazing how much was absorbed by the pupils. They were quite precise in their questioning and very aware of the history and environment in which they live. Their enthusiasm to investigate the artefacts in detail was a pleasure to behold.

We provided all the children with souvenir samples of 500 year old timbers, along with fact sheets, so that they could share the experience with their parents and siblings.”

Mrs Berbiers, Head of Key Stage 2 at St Mary’s, added: “The children had a wonderful afternoon investigating the artefacts and researching further into the history of Dover; marvelling at the historical links they could make to an area they were so familiar with.”

DWDR Newsletter – Autumn 2019

Contained within the 16-page edition are articles on the return of the public realm to date and where we are in relation to the Stages 1 and 2 of the development, which includes the completion of the two new deep-water berths, refrigerated cargo facility and operational readiness, work on the new hinterland and the Wellington Dock Navigation Channel.

Furthermore, there are updates on the next stages, 3A (Marina Curve) and 3B (Port Centric Logistics Hub), management and re-use of the heritage asset and progress on our marine licence application.

To round up, a visual photographic representation documents the transformation of the Western Docks during the 32 months since the start of the construction.

Kye Clark, from Dover, was employed straight from school as a trainee quantity surveyor and with full backing from the Port of Dover immediately embarked upon the task of becoming degree qualified. Balancing work with study time he recently graduated from University College of Estate Management with a Bachelor of Science (Hons) Quantity Surveying First Class honours degree. Quite an achievement in four years.

During his time on the DWDR project he has worked alongside other quantity surveyors and project managers whilst being mentored by the commercial manager. This has given him an insight into the complexities of issuing multi-million pound tenders for this key infrastructure initiative at a very early stage of his career. An experience clearly reflected in his excellent exam results.

The design and construction of the Marina Control Building was the first major contract where he was the commercial lead, dealing with day-to-day contract administration and valuing variations. Since then, Kye has continued to provide support on other projects within DWDR, such as the New Marina Fit Out and tendering for the New Marina Hard Landscaping & Access Road project.

Kye sums up his time on the project as, “A unique experience to work on a multi-million pound project involving a range of works, from buildings, marine civil engineering and demolition projects, which have been invaluable in helping me to gain the practical knowledge required to get a first class honours degree.

“I have now started the process of becoming a chartered member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a two year process wherein a comprehensive diary needs to be taken of daily activities, undertake 48 hours of Continuing Professional Development per year, produce numerous case studies and undergo a professional interview at the end of the process.”

Mark Pettit, Commercial Manager DWDR, said, “The Dover Western Docks Revival is a world class development at the Port of Dover and has been the catalyst for the Port and its many contractors to employ school leavers and sponsor them though college. Our intention was for this to be a legacy project and Kye is testament to what can be achieved through hard work, and is fully deserving of his first class honours degree. We wish him well as he takes the next step to becoming a Chartered Quantity Surveyor of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.”