Coastal bunkering tanker Mersey Spirit photographed in Liverpool Docks. I first saw her at the end of November 2010 when she was the Swedish registered Onyx.

Before becoming Mersey Spirit in 2013 she has had a number of names including Ilona Theresa (1996), Densa Gundem (1996), Jetta Theresa (2002) and Onyx (2007).

On 16 May 2012 as the Onyx she was detained in Liverpool for a total of eleven deficiencies including one grounds for detention. At the time she was one of twelve non-UK flagged vessels detained in UK ports.

The vessel was detained because there  were a number of deficiencies which were objective evidence of a serious  failure  or lack of effectiveness of implementation of the ISM code on board the vessel.

Annual surveys had not been carried out for International Air Pollution  Prevention, International Oil Pollution Prevention, Load Line, Cargo Ship Safety  Construction, Cargo Ship Safety Equipment and Annual Class Survey.

Other  deficiencies included the bow thruster ventilation pipe was corroded through in several sections; the Civil Liability for Bunker Pollution Certificate was  missing and the rescue boat searchlight was not approved.

She was sold by her then owner Herning for $3.50m in 2007.

MMSI - 235097283
REG -  UK, Liverpool
IMO - 9119476
Call Sign - 2GGV7
Chemical / Oil Products Tanker
Built -  Rota, Tuza, TR
Yard No. - 16
L 77m W10m
GT 1476
Year - 1996
Liverpool, 9 July 2013

Veteran tug Lashette which at the time (not sure now) was owned and operated by Deans Tugs & Workboats based in Hull.

I photographed her on the 2 April 2012 whilst she was assisting the General Cargo Ship Forte.
 
Shortly after taking this photograph we headed over to the docks and took the P&O ferry to Rotterdam and then onto Brugge by coach where we stayed overnight before heading back. 

I was struggling to find information on her but a couple of members of the Shipspotting site came to my aid. I find Its amazing how much knowledge is out there and how helpful many ship enthusiasts are.

She was built in 1971 by London & Rochester Trading Co. Ltd in Strood as Yard. No.109 and delivered to Crescent Shipping at Rochester and sailed under the UK flag, callsign 2EKM.  In the 1980's she worked for Crescent Wharves Ltd before in 1998 moving to Deans Tugs & Workboats Ltd. in Hull.

She is 24.29m long with a 8.54m beam and 2.59m draught. Powered by two 6 cylinder Caterpillar type D343TA 741 bhp-545 kW diesel engines she has a top speed of 8 knots and a bollard pull of 10t.

MMSI -
REG - UK,
IMO - 7206209
Call Sign -   
Tug
Built - London & Rochester, Strood, UK
Yard No. - 109
L  24.29m  x W 8.54m
GT - 157
Year - 1971
Hull, 12 April 2012

I spent a few hours in Liverpool on Monday and on my way into the City was lucky enough to see Bulk Carriers Zarechensk (IMO 9459395, GT 20748, 2009) and Pythagoras (IMO 9502855, GT 31815, 2012) in the docks whilst Tanker Perseverance (IMO 9289752, GT 42661, 2005) was berthed at Tranmere.

I did manage to take a few photographs with my new camera which was good and I'm going to get the pictures on the site soon.

Yesterday I had a meeting North East of Glasgow which meant leaving the house at 0545 and a long drive North.

The weather conditions were good and once I had crossed the border the sun was rising and the landscape on either side of the road started to appear. It was very scenic as the motorway wound through the countryside, particularly in the hills where there was snow on the higher ground.

The temperature hovered between 2 and 3 Deg.C for most of the journey and I was about 20 miles from my destination when I ran into fog. It stayed foggy most of the day but it was starting to fade away as I got back in my car to head home just after dark. Heavy rain in the North West slowed my return journey considerably but I did get back at a reasonable time.

In total I drove 416 miles.

I am back in Liverpool tomorrow afternoon, it would be good to see a VLCC at Tranmere again but they are rare visitors and as far as I can tell none are planned to visit in the forseable future. I saw quite a few when I was in the Far East but closer to home they are not as common.

Red Funnel Ferries Red Jet 4 photographed arriving in Cowes on 2 November 2013.

This was taken from the side of the Red Funnel Ferry as we were preparing to leave and head back to Southampton.

She was ordered from North West Bay Ships in Tasmania in May 2002 and following sea trials arrived in Southampton aboard the MV Egmondgracht during March the following year. Christened on 18 June 2003 she entered service on the Southampton to Cowes route on Monday 23 June 2003.

Her main engines consist of 2 x MTU 12V 4000 M70 4 stroke direct injection liquid cooled turbocharged diesels each developing 1740kW at 2000 rpm,this gives a service speed of 38 knots and a maximum speed of 42 knots via two MPJ 65R-DD waterjets.

Stopping distance at 35 knots is noted as being 25 seconds / 183m.

She is 39.88m long with a 10.82m beam, 1.26m draught and a Gross Tonnage of 342 tonnes. 

MMSI - 235008564
REG - UK, Southampton
IMO - 9295854
Call Sign - V113
Passenger Ferry
Built - North West Bay, Margate, TA
Yard No.6
L 39.88m  x W 10.82m
GT - 342
Year - 2003

The photograph above is of the General Cargo Ship Forte pictured alongside the dock wall in Hull not far from the entrance to the Marina on 2 April 2012. Since I saw this vessel she has been re-named Transforte.
 
She is a multi-purpose dry cargo ship, equipped for the carriage of containers and strengthened for heavy cargo.

She is 115.5m long with a 16.5m beam and 5.78m draught. GT = 5,232, DWT = 6,419 and NT = 2,382.

In total she can carry 323 20ft containers and has 30 reefer plugs in the cargo hold and 8 on deck.

She was built by Tianjin Xingang Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Co. Ltd in Tianjin,
People's Republic of China as Yard Number SB350-1 in 2005. Her keel was laid on 18 June 2003 and she was launched on 19 November 2004 before being finally completed on 4 February 2005. 

Her main engine is a MAK 8 M 32 C - 4 stroke 8 cylinder 320 x 480 mm diesel engine (3,840 kW at 600 rpm) driving a single controllable pitch propeller giving a maximum speed of 12.0 knots.

In total there are two cargo holds with capacities of 2,405m3 and 7,062m3 respectively.

Crew size =12. 

MMSI - 236270000
REG - GI, Gibralter
IMO - 9318955
Call Sign - ZDGR3
General Cargo Ship
Built - Xingang SB HI, Tianjin, CN
Yard No. -
L 115.5m W 16.5m
GT - 5232
Year - 2004
Hull, 2 April 2012

I was back in Liverpool on Wednesday and Thursday this week. 

Compared to parts of the United Kingdom being battered by storms and floods the weather in the North West is quite moderate for the time of year and certainly a lot more moderate than in North America which is suffering from a Polar Vortex. According to the news the temperatures in some areas are dropping to -35 Deg C which taking wind chill into account takes the temperature as low as -43 Dec C.
 
On Wednesday a drive along the docks on my way into work resulted  in seeing Bulk Carrier Naluhu (IMO 9520792, GT 32315, 2010) in Royal Seaforth Dock and General Cargo Ship Celtic Navigator (IMO 9003548, GT 2606, 1990) in   Canada Branch Dock No.3, unfortunately it was very early and still dark so   again not worth taking any photographs. In the early evening just before it
went completely dark heading down the Mersey bound for Milford Haven I saw the tanker Northern Ocean (IMO 9164495, GT 8594, 1998) and a short time later
Minitank Five (IMO 9321433, GT 5573, 2007) sailed past heading upstream for
Eastham.
 
Back in Liverpool yesterday Chemical / Oil Products Tanker Stenheim
(IMO 9261114, GT 11935, 2003) was the only new ship I saw just as it was going dark, again she was heading upstream to Eastham.
 
Of all the ships I have seen over the last few days only Polar King has left port and is working on the wind farms off the North Wales coast, the rest together with many others remain in the docks. Yesterday afternoon there were 83 vessels in Liverpool docks alone which appears to be a few more  than usual.

There are quite a few ships I have not seen but these are unfortunately located in areas of the docks that cannot be seen by members of the public.

I photographed the Chemical / Oil Products Tanker Perla (or ΠΕΡΛΑ if using her Hellenic name) entering Piraeus on 5 June 2012 from my balcony on the Serenade of the Seas.

Luckily we were on the port side of the ship so we had a fine view of all ships entering and leaving port. Although we did spend most of the day ashore I did get some good photographs before we left Piraeus in the early evening and headed to Santorini.

Built by Sieghold, Bremerhaven in German in 1983 as Yard Number 194 she was previously called Hornisse (1983), Magn ( 1986), Amalie (2008) and
Parashos H (2009) before becoming Perla in 2012.
 
She is 70.69m long with a 11.8m beam and 4.99m draught. GT is 1305, NT 507 and DWT 2050. 

Powered by a single MAK 4M452AK 6 Cylinder Diesel engine (1,455
hp) driving a single propellor she has a service speed of 12 knots.
 
In total she has 10 tanks with a capacity of 2,142m3 and is owned and 
operated by Chrisonafs Maritime which is based in Piraeus.

MMSI - 240856000
REG - GR,
IMO - 8223050
Call Sign - SVA2233
Chemical / Oil Products Tanker
Built - Sieghold, Bremerhaven, DE
Yard No. - 194
L 70m W 12m
GT -1305
Year - 1983
Piraeus, 5 June 2012

Yesterday found me for the first time this year in Liverpool. I was in the city for the afternoon and after a mid-morning drive to the City from Salford through gale force winds and heavy rain I eventually made it to the docks.

In total I saw six new ships which is a good number but is probably due in part to a lack of visits over the Christmas holiday period. In the Royal Seaforth Dock I saw General Cargo Ships Pioneer (IMO 9504102, GT 6621, 2010) and Saga Odyssey (IMO 9401788, GT 29758, 2008), after turning off the main road and heading down to Regent Road which runs along the docks towards the City Centre I  saw Offshore Dive Support vessel Polar King (IMO 9523366, T 7238, 2011) in Canada Branch Dock No.3 and Smit Damietta (IMO 9359521, GT 404, 2005) alongside work boat Channel Chieftain VII (IMO 8731033, GT 118, 2003) in Huskisson Branch Dock No.1.

After a busy day working just outside the City Centre I headed home seeing the newly arrived Bulk Carrier Loza (IMO 9522958, GT 21934, 2011) in the Seaforth Dock just before I turned down a dual carriageway and headed away from the coast.

I did not take my new camera with me due to the bad weather but I did take the above photograph from my Blackberry (hence the relatively poor quality). It was still raining at the time and shows Smit Damietta and Channel Chieftain VII with the newly named Alex Y in the background. 
 
I have seen Alex Y  before, in fact she has been in Liverpool for sometime after being detained since 9 September 2011 as the Dyckburg, she was also the subject of my blog on 6 July 2013. Her new 'details' are Alex Y, MMSI 305317000, AG, IMO 9195913, Call Sign 5VCO2. 
 
At the moment all the above ships are still in port.

I'm back in Liverpool tomorrow so hopefully a couple of new vessels will arrive in the next 24 hours.

Scialoja (CP406) is classed as a small patrol boat operated by the Italian Guardia Costiera (Coast Guard).

She is one of four similar vessels and was built in 1988 by Bacino di Carenaggio SPA.

I photographed her in Livorno on 31 May 2012 as we were heading out of port.

Her displacement is 136t and she has a length of 29.50m with a 6.70m beam and 1.8m draft.

Complement is 16 personnel.

Power is provided by Isotta Fraschini V1712 engines giving a noted top speed of 22 knots.

Barletta (G79) is a Bigliani Class Patrol vessel operated by the Guardia di Finanza photographed in Livorno on 31 May 2012. I photographed her as we got into port (below) and later in the afternoon (above) as she headed out to sea.

This class of Italian patrol boat entered service in 1987.

She has a displacement of 90 tonnes is 26m long with a 6.95m beam and 1.1m draft.

Powered by twin MTU 16V396TB84 diesel engines she can make 42 knots and has a range of 770nm at 18 knots.

Armament consists of a Breda 30/70 30mm auto cannon which has a reported rate of fire of 1600 round / min and an effective range of 3000m.

This is supplemented by two 7.62mm machine guns.