View of Cammell Lairds facility across a calm River Mersey, I took the photograph earlier today when I went down to the river in my lunch break.

The company was founded in 1828 and the company’s Birkenhead site expands across 130 acres and includes four dry docks, a large modular construction hall and extensive covered workshops.

During my drive into Liverpool today and whilst I was walking along the river I saw three new ships comprising the Bulk Carrier AS Varesia (IMO 9453262, GT 32929, 2011), Tanker North Sea Rational ( IMO 9334296, GT 3991, 2006) and the General Cargo Ship Ayr (IMO 9313711, GT 2541, 2009).

Tomorrow I am heading to Southampton so hopefully will see a few new ships and get to take some good photographs.

Oil Products Tanker Capraia photographed in Livorno on 31 May 2012.

She was built by Cantiere Navale Giacolone in Mazara del Vallo in 2007 as Yard Number 117 and is 74m long with a 14.2m beam and 3.50m draught.

Powered by twin Yanmar type 6S21A-SV four stroke diesel engines (883kW each) connected by reduction gear to the respective propeller she has a top speed of 11 Knots, she is also equipped with a 150kW bow thruster.

The vessel has ten epoxy coated cargo tanks, one pair of slop tanks and a recovery tank giving a capacity of 2400m3 including the slop tank (324m3).

She also has three diesel driven generator sets - 2 x 450Kw for power generation, 1 x 150Kw for harbour power generation and a single 100Kw emergency power generator.

She is operated by the D'Alesio Group which was founded in 1930 when Gaetano D'Alesio  followed his father who was master of small vessels employed in coral fishing to sea.

 Aged 18 Gaetano got his licence as a customs agent and decided to set up his own business. During the Second World War as well as his customs duties he also started building fishing vessels. Shortly after the war in 1947 he commissioned the small tanker Splendour from the Orlando Shipyard in Livorno which was used for fuel shipments to Sardinia.

In the 1950’s while passing through Genoa he noticed the storage tanks of the refineries and the depots  outside the harbour and decided to do the same in Livorno. The first tank of his oil terminal was  purchased from the American military which he had  disassembled and reassembled in the depot,  this installation has grown to a storage capacity of 200,000 tons.

From three ships in 1965 the fleet  grew to 10 vessels in 1975.

At the beginning of the 1980's the company expanded when  D’Alesio became a partner in the management of the Sintermar container terminal, which at the time was the largest private terminal in Livorno. His vessels also started carrying out lighterage to Exxon chartered VLCC's in the Gulf of Texas and he continued to build new vessels.

Gaetano D’Alesio passed away in 1996 at the age of 84.

Todays fleet comprises 11 vessels and the business is still run by the D'Alesio family.

MMSI - 247170100
REG - IT, Livorno
IMO - 9304473
Call Sign - IBUV
Oil Products tanker
Built - Giacalone, Mazara del Vallo, IT
Yard No. - 117
L 74m W 14m
GT - 1845
Year - 2007
Livorno, 31 May 2012

Spabunker Cuarentayuna alongside Costa Magica in Barcelona harbour on 29 May 2012.

She is operated by Boluda Tankers and was previously called VB Veronica.

Built by Union Naval de Levante, Valencia, Spain as yard number 238 in 1996 she is 72.1m long with a 16m beam and 5.3m draught.

She has 12 tanks with a total capacity of 4,244m3.

Powered by a 1130 kW ,1536 HP diesel engine with two Aquamaster Controllable pitch propellers she has a top speed of 5 knots.

MMSI -224878000
REG - ES, Santa Cruz Teneriffe
IMO - 9127382
Call Sign - EALQ
Bunkering Tanker
Built - Union Naval de Levante, Valencia, ES
Yard No. - 238
L 72.1m W 16m
GT - 1656
Year - 1996
Barcelona 29 May 2012

Torm Nakskov passing us as we headed out of Barcelona harbour on our way to Cannes on 29 May 2012.

She was built by STX Shipbuilding Co, Chinhae, KR as Yard Number  2032 in 2009 and is powered by a B&W 6S50MC-C (9480kW) engine which gives a top speed of 15.4 knots.

Since I saw her she has been renamed Bursa, but at the time I saw her she was operated by Torm which was founded in 1889 and celebrated its 125th anniversary on 14 January 2014. With headquarters in Copenhagen and offices in Manila, Singapore, Mumbai and Stamford TORM operates a large and modern fleet Worlwide.

MMSI - 477185600
REG - HK, Hong Kong
IMO - 9387956
Call Sign - VREQ6
Chemical / Oil Products tanker
Built - STX SB Co, Chinhae, KR
Yard No. - 2032
L 183m W 32m
GT - 29733
Year - 2009
Barcelona, 29 May 2012

Bunkering Tanker Magic Duba photographed hard at work in Civitavecchia on 1 June 2012.

Designed by Studio Tecnico Bortolato for Rimorchiatori Laziali an Italian shipowner based in Civitavecchia she was built in Italy by Cantier Navali,  Chioggia as Yard Number c40 in 2010 and is 49.9m long with a 14.0m beam and 4.1m draught. Her keel was laid on 3 February 2009, she was launched on 30 June 2010 and delivered on 3 September 2010

GT =868.44, NT = 600 and DWT = 1650.

The vessel is intended for coastal navigation up to 10Km from shore.

She is a modular unit with a tank capacity of either 1200, 1600 or 2000m3 and can carry petroleum products, double hulled she has 10 tanks.

Powered by a twin MAN D2842 LE 403 (Total 1,058kW) engines with two Azimuth type Schottel  drives and a bow thruster for maximum manouverability she can make 9.5 knots.

MMSI - 247296100
REG - IT, Napoli
IMO - 9594119
Call Sign - IIFZ2
Bunkering Tanker
Built - Chioggia, Chioggia, IT
Yard No. - c40
L 49.9m W 14m
GT - 868
Year - 2010
Civitavecchia, 1 June  2012

We visited the site of Kin-Saiyoku Station on the 19 August 2014.

This was one of the largest stations built by the Japanese Army using POW and civilian labour on the death railway. 

As the majority of the line is single track this station together with 55 others along the line provided vital passing points, yards and sidings.  

Plan of the original station and siding layout.

Some of the sidings were used to hide trains from allied air raids, from late 1944 and during 1945 trains were only run at night in an attempt to protect them from allied aircraft. This station was an important target and was bombed on a number of occasions by the RAF and USAF, a number of bomb craters still exist. 

Speed boat we used to get back from Koh Larn on the 17 August 2014.

The front of the boat was open and this is where we sat.

The boat was fast and on quite a number of occasions we became airborne as we hit waves and the wakes of the local ferries as we headed back to Pattaya where we moored just off the beach and waded to shore in knee deep water.

This was one of numerous speed boats that are available for charter and the vessels are constantly buzzing from Pattaya to Koh Larn and surrounding areas.

Chemical / Oil Products Tanker Envico photographed early morning as we sailed past Immingham on 23 August 2012 on our way back into Hull from Rotterdam. As usual I was up on deck just before dawn as we peeled away from the main shipping lane running off the East coast of England and headed towards the Humber estuary. She was built in 2005 by Shanghai Edward in  Shanghai, China as Yard Number 132 and has an overall length of 155.47m with a 27.73m extreme breadth and 9.78m draught.

Her keel was laid on 16 November 2004 and she was launched on 6 April 2004 before being finally completed on 19 September 2005

GT =13,769, Summer DWT = 19,999 and NT = 6521.

In total she has 9 transverse bulkheads, 3 longitudinal bulkheads and 7 tanks giving a cargo tank capacity of 22,659m3

Main engines comprise 3x Wärtsilä W6L32CR and 1x Wärtsilä 4L20 (total 9,720kW) diesel engines, the vessel is also equipped with a 900kW bow thruster.

MMSI - 266201000
REG - SE, Bonso
IMO - 9308546
Call Sign - 2SFZX
Chemical / Oil Products Tanker
Built - Shanghai Edward, Shanghai, CN
Yard No. - 132
L 155.47m W 22m
GT -13769
Year - 2005
Immingham, 23 August 2012

The River Mersey photographed on the 7 October 2014.

It was a cold, very wet and windy day with the temperature struggling to get past 7 Deg.C. It was a bit warmer by the time I left work at 5.30pm but not by much, at least it had stopped raining by this point.

In the distance the tug Strathglass (IMO 9483657, GT 659, 2008) is preparing to tow a large loaded barge from the Camell Laird's yard to Rosyth. She is being assisted by local tugs Svitzer Bidston and Ashgarth.

Strathglass was a new vessel for me, other new ships seen on the day were the tanker Front Avon ( IMO 9654567, GT 29993, 2013) which was berthed at Tranmere and veteran offshore supply / tug Artemis (IMO 8321591, GT 1987, 1984) which I saw whilst driving along the  dock road on my way home.

We visited Hellfire Pass and the memorial museum on the 19 August 2014. 

Although known as Konyu cutting by the Japanese Army, Hellfire Pass was built by POW and Civilian labour during WWII. The pass is located a remote part of the the Tenasserim Hills and was a particularly difficult section of line to build.

The pass was cut from the rock with very limited mechanical tools and with heavy loss of life ,using only picks and shovels, hammers and sticks of gelignite almost the entire pass was drilled, blasted and cleared by hand.. 

It was known as Hellfire Pass because of the continual hammering noise and the flickering light from smoky fires, oil fired bamboo torches and carbide lamps which created a scheme that looked like a living image of hell. 

Work on the cutting started in April 1943, groups of men worked around the clock on 16-18 hour shifts to complete excavation of the 17m deep and 110m long cutting through solid limestone and quartz rock in only 12 weeks. 

The museum was opened on 24 April 1998.

Heading down the route of the railway towards Hellfire Pass, our guide told us that the Australian Army had cleared and stoned up the path.

Entrance to Hellfire Pass

In the pass

Memorial plaque at the end of the pass.

View from the track looking down into the valley, I imagine that this was the type of country cleared by the POW's.