GREEN NEWS
- 9 March 2012 08:01158305Amalgamating 2 press releases here on GREEN ISSUES.
First P&O Ferries new involvement in the Energy Market.
then...
The GREEN DEAL from Government info via Laura Sandys MP
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P&O Ferries, the UK's leading ferry operator, is to enter the renewable energy market by supplying one of its large freight ships to act as an accommodation vessel for technicians working at an offshore wind farm in the North Sea.
The three to four month charter of the 23,000 tonne European Seaway to Centrica Renewable Energy Limited is the first contract P&O Ferries has secured in the wind energy market.
The ship, 180 metres in length and with enough cargo space for the equivalent of 120 articulated lorries, usually operates as a freighter on the high frequency Channel crossing between Dover and Calais.
But for the period of the charter, commencing in April, she will be anchored seven kilometres off Skegness allowing technicians to live on board whilst undertaking maintenance and operations activities at the Lynn and Inner Dowsing Wind Farm Array. The ship is being supplied to Centrica on a time charter basis, which means she will be manned by P&O Ferries' deck, technical and catering crew providing hotel services to Centrica staff.
Helen Deeble, the chief executive of P&O Ferries said: "As part of our strategy to grow new business we have been considering where we can leverage our existing skills in areas adjacent to our current business. Our initial focus has been upon our maritime skills and has led us to the renewables sector.
"This is the first contract P&O Ferries has secured in the renewables market and demonstrates our commitment to service this growing industry. This development of new business opportunities is a key element of the growth strategy of the company."
John Garner, the company's fleet director, said: "All health, safety and environmental protection requirements of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency will be fully adhered to, to provide the highest level of safety throughout the charter period."
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Doverforum Picture above by Howard McSweeney.
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Laura Welcomes £3.5m Green Deal Cash Boost
Laura Sandys, MP for South Thanet and Sandwich, has today welcomed the Government's £3.5 million cash injection to ensure the UK's workforce has the skills to deliver the Green Deal.
Laura - who is chairing a Green Deal Panel aimed at targeting harder to treat homes - said: "Today's extra funding marks an important step forward in ensuring UK industry is able to deliver the Green Deal. Few people know that we have the draughtiest homes in Europe. Not only are our homes colder, they are far more expensive to heat. By ensuring we have the skills-base to retrofit our housing stock, we can help drive down consumers' energy bills."
"This funding is also good news for students at Thanet College. Having already won £2 million to open a new centre for Sustainable Environmental Technologies, this money could be used to help train-up local young people in the skills of the future - assessing home energy efficiency and installing insulation."
The Green Deal is the Government's flagship energy efficiency scheme aimed at renovating millions of draughty and expensive to heat homes and offices across the country. The Green Deal will support an estimated 65,000 jobs by 2015.
-ENDS-email: dover7@msn.com - 9 March 2012 08:12158308Always good to have info coming through as shown above.
The one from P&O I found particularly interesting re the Dover - Calais workhorse.. the European Seaway. Unfortunately despite it being around for yonks and outside my back window night and day,
I dont have a picture of it. It is one of thoese non glamourous ferries trundling back and forth.
If any one of you guys have a picture doooo put it up. John or Ed might have one.
Well done Lads!
The other press release from Laura Sandys is about investing in skills..always good.email: dover7@msn.com - 9 March 2012 09:43158313I must say I welcome the innovative use of the word 'cash', the charming distinction of "important step forward" and the startling revelation that 'allowing' the four winds free passage through ones home scuppers all efforts to heat said home.
Little wonder then that I was well and truely teed-up to accept that a dead-end scheme offers the 'workforce' "skills for the future". Doomsday is obviously some time in 2015.Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing. - 9 March 2012 10:41158327there's a not very good one on the ferry delay thread post 12 paul.
- 9 March 2012 11:22158345Many thanks Howard for that tip...that's the very one. Have now added said picture to the top release. Excellent. We can now see what we are talking about.
email: dover7@msn.com - 9 March 2012 12:34158352There is or certainly was a P&O catamaran servicing the wind farm off of Thanet, do P&O have a vested interest in this type of energy?Audere est facere.
- 9 March 2012 12:35158353No Martin, their last wind-powered ship went over 100 years ago.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson - 9 March 2012 13:02158358European Seaway is the last of P&O's dedicated freighters and will be superfluous after the end of the refit season now that the two Spirits are in service carrying double the amount of traffic which their predecessors carried.
There were originally four of this class of freighters built to run to Zeebrugge, designed in mind with conversion to passenger ferries at a future date. One was delivered with partial passenger accommodation and became the Pride of Burgundy. They were all transferred to the Calais run when P&O stopped running to Zeebrugge in order to concentrate all services on Calais to compete with the Channel Tunnel.
Two of the others were then given the full conversion to passenger ferries and became the Prides of Kent and Canterbury, known as the Darwin twins.
- 9 March 2012 13:29158364re the second press release, that equates to just over £5000 per constituency for training, lets hope they can do plenty with that.
Another green issue that's been exercising my mind recently ( I love statistics!), DDC's website says they collected 382 tonnes of food waste in December.
A quick calculation after converting to real money from Euros puts that at about 17lbs per household, and assuming only half of the households were on the scheme and contributing by then thats about 35 lbs per household, over a pound a day (admittedly it included Christmas but I think the previous month was similar).
And if you take into account households such as mine who are frugal and recycle all our green waste anyway so we rarely exceed a pound a week that's a lot of food some folks are wasting. - 9 March 2012 13:39158367I can't believe that people see this as good news. Think about it. This will just add millions to our energy bills for no good reason but to bump up the profits of the energy companies.
Then we have £3.5 in order "to ensure the UK's workforce has the skills to deliver the Green Deal".
Skills eh? Laying fibre glass rolls in people's lofts? Skills? That's like calling shelf stacking a skill. It's a joke frankly.
Of course things are getting so desperate that any monies, however small, is trumpeted as a success for the are. People used to talk about the UK becoming a screwdriver economy. It's far worse than that we are turning into a laying insulation into small spaces economy. - 9 March 2012 14:05158370Quite true Philip. The mega-energy-supply companies and their share-holders will not countenance any fall in profits in cash terms which does appear to mean that although usage falls the profits 'must' continue to rise.
Fortunately for those 'devils' across the channel their Governments hold a large stake in these firms.Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing. - 9 March 2012 16:04158380Thanks to Ed there ..excellent overall news as ever and good to see the extra pictures, adds greatly to the overall doverforum document if I can put it that way. Yes the 'Darwin Twins' are familiar on the route and have been for a long time. I went over on one of them recently..cant remember which one now, it had a quaint but pleasant air. I half expected to see 'flappers' in the lounge.
Overall this really sounds like a departure from core business for P&O, good luck to them...keeps people in jobs, probably local people as well.
email: dover7@msn.com - 9 March 2012 17:47158397Here you are Paul - about 350 to go! (I really must stay in more)
- 9 March 2012 19:58158415Great stuff there as always Ed, keeping us up to speed
Ah! no John, you must stay out there, no staying in for you, we love your photos too much
- 10 March 2012 06:58158481Its good to see that P&O can diverse and the ships can be used this way,we also welcome the press releases from our thanet MP always good to get their statments.
Good to see our trusty lads with their cameras can always come up trumps. - 10 March 2012 08:28158494Thanks John, well done as ever. You have a great archive...why dont you let people know about your book again on here, all will be interested.
Good to have the pics from the lads generally as the ship is disappearing off the scene as we can see. But those sleek and large new ones, the Spirits, are certainly looking good, modern, and doing the business.email: dover7@msn.com
