According to this Notice to Mariners, five large fully erected gantry cranes are expected to arrive from China on the deck of the ship Zhen Hua 23 on Mon 2nd Nov.
These will be unloaded directly on to the new quayside being built opposite New Brighton. Weather permitting!
She looks top heavy, must have been calm in the bay, a sign of the times, few or little shipbuilding yards, virtually no steelworks, and an almost no Merchant Navy, and we have a Chinese ship delivering Chinese built gantries, made with Chinese steel, this government sure looks after everybody bar their own people and industries, moan over, will be down to see her unload.
The link states she is coming in on the 3pm high tide. I'm guessing New Brighton by the fort - or upstairs at the Floral with a cuppa! - would be a good place to view her. Arrive early to be on the safe side.
Thanks, dont know much about tides . So I gather the ship comes in the same time as the tide is at its absolute highest , 3pm, but we give it half an hour's leaway because the tide stays in for a while.Got it.
Well, if she is due to actually dock (or moor, or whatever) at 3pm, you might see some interesting manouevring(sp?) if you get there earlier than that. It'd be more fun to see her in motion, I think.
She looks top heavy, must have been calm in the bay, a sign of the times, few or little shipbuilding yards, virtually no steelworks, and an almost no Merchant Navy, and we have a Chinese ship delivering Chinese built gantries, made with Chinese steel, this government sure looks after everybody bar their own people and industries, moan over, will be down to see her unload.
And its for a British dock.
Ship has a draught of 8.4m (27'4") with its current load, basically they fill it full of water putting much of the heavy parts of the ship below the waterline to keep it bottom heavy. When it unloads the cranes it takes on more water and sinks until the deck is level with the dockside then roll the cranes off.
We don't do charity in Germany, we pay taxes. Charity is a failure of governments' responsibilities - Henning Wehn
There have been two incidents with these ship both in 2008 ...
Zhenhua 10 broke its moorings and ended up beached with 5 cranes onboard - luckily a salvage company managed to refloat it without it toppling.
Zhenhua 23 with 3 cranes onboard at Felixstowe in 80mph winds broke its moorings and knocked a dockside crane which fell into another. The onboard cranes survived ok.
Well, if she is due to actually dock (or moor, or whatever) at 3pm, you might see some interesting manouevring(sp?) if you get there earlier than that. It'd be more fun to see her in motion, I think.
Perhaps Ill go for a snoop nearer to 1.30 - 2pm and see whats going on .
If you look here, http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/details/ships/shipid:684956/mmsi:477007300/imo:8414738/vessel:ZHEN_HUA_23 you can see her current position.
We went down to have a look. When she first appeared in the far far distance, the thick fog was coming and going around her and all you could spot was like vague glimpses of what could have been a huge spooky skeleton ghost tall ship with many masts and cross rigging . As she got nearer and stayed in view, by the time she reached level with Perch Rock the mist seemed to clear a little, albeit only for 10-15 mins or so, and with bins, you could get a decent view of the lined up cranes and tugs Flipping freezing there , so didnt hang around to watch any further manoevering - wasnt worth it with the mist thickening again. Certainly a sight you dont see every day, and the vessel definitely looks like it defies the laws of balance .
Would appear she will be here for at least a week. The cranes can only be unloaded at high tide and of course weather permitting. Looking at the weekend weather and Mon Tues next week, gales forecast. Hope it all goes well.
Would appear she will be here for at least a week. The cranes can only be unloaded at high tide and of course weather permitting. Looking at the weekend weather and Mon Tues next week, gales forecast. Hope it all goes well.
Oh heck. Hoping the same doesn't happen here as it did when she was in Felixstowe......due to mooring ropes breaking in strong winds !!
Last edited by granny; 3rd Nov 201511:31pm.
Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~Chief Seattle
Granny - ouch! Hope nobody was hurt in Felixstowe. What a mess. Lansyp, the shipais website is fascinating - reminds folk how much waterborne business still goes on around our islands. I used it to track the three Queens when they visited.
The thing which makes it look a shambles is the use of the long focus lens, which makes distant things look much closer together than is the case. The distance from the ship with the cranes to the stern of the Ever Grand is 500 metres.
The sun came out late afternoon giving a clearer view of the base of the crane on the quay. It is on its own bogies and just in front of the bogies they have stacked several of the bridge/ramps used to transfer the crane to the quay..
Thanks for the continuing updates Wally. To backtrack a little... in the earlier Wirralcam shot from the Wallasey shore, is that the "Egg" buoy in shot? Green con. job? Can't make out the lettering on it.
Thanks for the continuing updates Wally. To backtrack a little... in the earlier Wirralcam shot from the Wallasey shore, is that the "Egg" buoy in shot? Green con. job? Can't make out the lettering on it.
From my position which is close to SS Peter & Pauls Dome webcam, the green conical buoy most likely to be in shot looking at the Liverpool2 cranes is the "Brazil" buoy close to the Fort. The next buoy south is a yellow/ black cardinal buoy "Tower" opposite the Tower grounds. Next further south opposite Egremont is the green conical "Egg" buoy.
Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~Chief Seattle
Ditto. The delivery ship will look a whole lot different when it sails back up the estuary. Wonder if its getting a return load of anything to delivery somewhere.
I guess it will be bombing back to China pretty fast, there are a lot of these cranes getting delivered all over the world because of the Chinese subsidies in steel (the main reason our steel industries have been shutting down).
We don't do charity in Germany, we pay taxes. Charity is a failure of governments' responsibilities - Henning Wehn
its time people realized that EU controls subsidies and unlike the French this country plays by the rules and asks permission for the granting of any subsidies
Last edited by jimbob; 23rd Nov 20156:13pm.
Ships that pass in the night, seldom seen and soon forgoten
Great pics. I hope the quality of the cranes is up to standard. I buy a few things from china off ebay and quality not great. Looking at the size of them they probably move as fast as a liverpool docker!. Whole logistical concept of container shipping amazes me.keeping tabs on where they all are.
I agree with you fish, I passed the container base going out of Liverpool along the A565 a few weeks ago and was staggered how many there were, and thought exactly the same as you . Wonder how many containers get sent to the wrong destinations? Surely their system cant be 100%- its not the Liverpool way!
Originally Posted by fish5133
Great pics. I hope the quality of the cranes is up to standard. I buy a few things from china off ebay and quality not great. Looking at the size of them they probably move as fast as a liverpool docker!. Whole logistical concept of container shipping amazes me.keeping tabs on where they all are.
Who likes this ? Are they the same ones as part of the skyline ?
Last edited by granny; 8th Sep 20165:32pm.
Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~Chief Seattle
when I was going to the pictures in New Brighton couple of months ago,they were practising unloading a ship.I got told they are controlled by computers.
If you ever caught the the TV series 'The Wire' there was a number ofepisodes centred around the docks and mishandling cargo containers - showed rudiments of a control system too.
Chinese container shipping group just gone tits up and there are loads of container ships tootling round with nowhere to go. Running out of food for crews so something will have to happen soon. Port authorities won't let them in because there is no guarantee of payment for facilities. What a way to run a battleship.
That was sunrise, taken from New Brighton.. You can see the fort
Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~Chief Seattle
The ship Zhen Hua 8 is currently passing Holyhead bound for Liverpool. She is believed to be carrying more of the smaller handling cranes for Liverpool2.
Though smaller than the five quayside cranes already in place, these new cranes are still very big and are carried as deck cargo and rolled ashore from the ship berthed in the Mersey.
ETA is currently 08:00 but this may be at the Bar.
![[Linked Image]](http://cdn2.shipspotting.com/photos/middle/5/9/4/583495.jpg)
![[Linked Image]](http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd25/suffolkp/DSC_0143.jpg)
You can see the fort 