The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
Be on your guards shipwatchers!
* pilot boarding at 7.15 (Dutch time!)
* entering Maasvlakte / Hoek van Holland one hour later
* 10.45 arrival in Botlek
Man your stations at the webcams.
Enjoy and good luck. I am off to the pier at Maasvlakte!
Thank you all. I feel honoured: a resident spy…..
Indeed, Dutch is my native language, but I worked 18 years for BP (mainly in Amsterdam, but 2 years in London) and so picked up quite a bit of English.
I will try and keep up the good work.
Boyzee: "zee" is Dutch for sea. So perhaps "a boy born at the sea side? Ha,ha.
Boyzee:
To be honest I was unfamiliar with the word "gobsmacked", but now I understand it to be a tad stronger than flabbergasted! Anyway, I will try and give an update tomorrow morning. The Rotterdam site now states that arrival of the AM will be at 12.14 (not sure whether that refers to entering the harbour or at berth in Botlek (takes a few hours to get there as the harbour is some 20 miles long).
As to getting this info, that is not so difficult. Like every airport, the port of Rotterdam has a co-ordination centre which deals with all arrivals and departures(some 300 per day). Everybody can phone the centre and ask for details! The guy on the phone was very open and we had a good chat!
All the best.
Just spoke with the harbour authorities and they indicated that the AM will most probably sail into the harbour at Maasvlakte to-morrow around noon (Dutch time). The captain has indicated that he specifically wants to sail at daylight. Good for those of us who want to view the FPSO throught the available webcams.
I will try to view this monster at the pier in Maasvlakte while entering the harbour mouth.
Interesting stuff this is. I just spoke with the Port of Rotterdam Coordinatiecentrum and the details are as follows:
* arrival into port to-morrow 29/11
* 13.00 pilot goes on board at sea just off Maasvlakte
* 19.00 entering into port
* 21.30 at berth in Botlek
These are all indicative times, as there are conditions to be met (due to the specific nature of the ship) such as the tidal current and the wind force (not stronger than 5Bft; now forecast at 7Bft).
As I said, interesting stuff and so much more "complicated" than sitting behind one's desk
ETA in the Damen Verolme Botlek 2nd werkhaven (at quay 6) is Friday 30/11 at 11.00 hrs (Dutch time). Her ETD is now scheduled for Sunday 16/12 at 07.00.
Apparantly they will need two working weeks do carry out the planned scope of work (but perhaps this may include some sort of cushion).
This morning I rang Vopaks office in Rotterdam to inquire after AM's arrival into the port of Rotterdam. He said that she is conducting sea trials on the North Sea and that her ETA is either 28 or 29 November. The info on their website is outdated (at this moment). I expect that this info is correct.
I'll ring back on Wednesday as I am eager to get a full view of her when she slowly enters the 2nd werkhaven of the Damen Shipyard in Rotterdam.
Will keep you posted.
I like that little bit of Dutch flavour (rather than double Dutch, a Dutch uncle, and so forth,
See the following link https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=protected+by+dutch+marines&&FORM=VDVVXX
Adoubleuk / Wessex
You can't buy a pint of beer in Rotterdam...…. a glass OK.
Should you come over to Rotterdam I might be there as well. There is a magnificent view point opposite Hoek van Holland....
Sorry chaps, but that's what it said minutes ago. Now back to moored status.
That's what AIS records: no longer moored, but underway.
Good to hear!
It is quite clear to me that progress to date is so far ahead of schedule, that the SURF installation cannot keep up this breathtaking speed. No doubt thanks to meticulous planning; no hick ups and perhaps most of all the extremely calm sea conditions WoS. I image that they haven't lost one day due to adverse wheather conditions.
The latest RNS is in its vagueness quite clear: "mobilisation of subsea equipment expected to begin in the coming weeks". I.e. some pieces of the SURF are not quite ready and it will take till the end of August to complete and get it to Lancaster. Then in september / october installation will follow, and let's hope that the sea stays as calm as it has been for months. Provided that the AM leaves Dubai mid september, is all ties in nicely.
Of course it makes no difference at all, if first oil emerges in december or some time in 1Q2019.
Thanks to all parties concerned (or should I say "Chapeau") for all the good work to date. What an enormeous difference with Ithaca's delay, after delay, after delay at the Remontova shipyard in Gdansk.
Beavering away in the Red Sea just north of the Farasan and Dahlak islands. ETA Suez June 2 at 22.00. Makes sense at a speed of 16 knots. See "Itineraries History" dated May 30.
"..... and with line of sight on further activity to ultimately achieve monetisation". Being a Dutchman I may be unable to grasp fully what RT says here (although I notice the split infinitive...). Perhaps a throw away comment, but it sounds like a sale of all assets in the end, whenever that may be. In my experience bids always come as a surprise and are regarded too low (any Ithaca followers on here?). So I stay put for the time being.