LD Lines have announced that the route from Dover to Dieppe will be terminated on 29th June. Not unexpected but it was rather pleasing to have Dover being able to offer an additional continental destination. The Cote d'Albatre will continue to make two round trips to Boulogne daily. The Norman Arrow is capable of performing more round trips than at present but this will not be possible until new slots in Dover can be provided next year.
The Eastern Arm berth should be back in operation shortly after being out for maintenance, whereupon the Cote d'Albatre and presumably also the Norman Arrow will commence using ED1 instead of ED3 as at present. The European Endeavour arrived back in the port yesterday after a sojourn on the Irish Sea so possibly this may complicate matters.
ED3 has been a bit of a compromise. The Maersk D's shifted from ED3 to ED2 to facilitate LD utilising ED3 which has a couple of advantages. The fingers on the ramp are longer and the berth is more sheltered as ED2 is prone to suffer from the pronounced swell which can build up between Pier A and the Eastern Arm.
The Cote has a particular problem in that she is too small to fit bows-in to the ramp and a Yokohama fender has to be lowered into the water before she arrives in order to push her bow far enough off the berth to line up with the ramp. This is then a bit of a balancing act with the bow and stern ropes holding her into the berth. Loading has to be suspended whenever a Maersk D is arriving or departing on the opposite side of the pier.
This is because all the piers in Dover are designed to allow water to flow through them. Dover has very strong circulating currents due to the tidal flows causing jetstreams to pour through the Eastern and Western Entrances. If water could not flow through the piers then the current would flow along the side of each pier and swirl around the end, forming a strong cross current which would have disastrous consequences for ferries attempting to berth.
The photos below show the Yokohama fender being lowered into the water, the Cote d'Albatre well out of the berth after a Maersk D has just departed, the Norman Arrow in berth ED3 with the circular cutouts visible at the pier waterline, and a close-up of water flowing through the circular cut-outs.