Tristan da Cunha Shipping News

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	MV Edinburgh photographed left by David Morley on Monday 30th June, and looking smart after a re-paint whilst in dry dock recently. The ship's unloading is going well and passengers went aboard at 17.00 on Wednesday 2nd July for departure for Cape Town. On board will be David Morley and his wife Jacki, so Chief Islander Conrad Glass will be acting Administrator in his absence.
Joining David and Jacki will be UN monitoring station manager Clement Mochet (see story on Station News Page) and Richard Galliers, a geologist from Cape Town, who has been taking core samples at the factory site and the harbour, to ensure that no nasty surprises are encountered when building the crane and the factory.

MV Edinburgh
arrived safely from Cape Town on Friday 27th June at 10.00. Passengers got safely ashore and offloading has commenced in calm conditions. It will be important to unload essential groceries (including flour which ran out of stock in the Supermarket several weeks ago) despite only being able to use the factory crane, as the weather forecast for the weekend is not promising.

MV Edinburgh Delay
It is reported from Cape Town by Dorrien Venn, representing Ovenstones, that due to unforeseen repairs being carried out while the vessel is in dry-dock, MV Edinburgh's estimated departure has been postponed until Friday 20th June.

June MV Edinburgh Voyage
MV Edinburgh is scheduled to depart from Cape Town on 12th June, as previously planned, with arrival at Tristan on 18th June, unloading for about a week (depending on sea conditions) and departing on 23rd / 24th June and expected arrival back in Cape Town on 30th June. Aboard will be Administrator David Morley and his wife Jacki for a UK leave and outgoing CBTO Station Manager Clement Mochet on completion of his tour. Chief Islander Conrad Glass will serve as Acting Administrator during David Morley's absence.
This voyage is crucial to the Tristan community as much of the May cargo was returned to Cape Town due to high seas and lack of a heavy duty crane preventing unloading. Supplies of groceries are very low - especially flour. Regular visitors will be aware that winter shipping arrivals and departures are often changed due to high seas, and if ever Tristan needed a calm week - 18th-23rd June needs to be the one.

SA Agulhas Developments
The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Directorate: Antarctica and Islands have entered into a new four year contract with Titan Aviation. As a result SA Agulhas will be using a very large Kamov KA32 helicopter as well as a B105, which give them greater efficiency and passenger/cargo carrying capacity.
SA Agulhas has a also introduced a revised on board alcohol policy which restricts alcohol consumption to the bar available each evening, and changes duty free purchase arrangements.
We have a separate page devoted to images and information on SA Agulhas and the two regular fishing vessels MV Edinburgh and MV Kelso which provide the scheduled service to Tristan da Cunha - see Scheduled Ships Page.

MV Edinburgh departs at last for Cape Town

Above ~ Barge leaving the harbour ~ Right ~ Barge returns safely
Images from Robin Repetto showing passengers being transported by barge to MV Edinburgh which eventually departed on 21st May 2008 after a prolonged trip - see details below. Even on this day there was 'a bit of a swell' which would have precluded cargo unloading but did allow an experienced barge crew to spot a lull in the swell (see central picture) to safely get out to sea and dispatch the patient passengers to the awaiting ship. Islanders hope for better weather a MV Edinburgh returns in June as Island Store groceries are running very low.

MV Edinburgh departs at last for Cape Town
Scheduled to arrive on Tristan on 30th April, arriving on 1st May but not able to unload passengers until 6th May, the ill fated MV Edinburgh has at last left for Cape Town on Wednesday 21st May, ETA 28th May. The original schedule was for departure on 6th May, arriving back in Cape Town on 12th May.
Much of the incoming cargo (over 50 crates) remained on board and will return to Cape Town awaiting the next MV Edinburgh sailing due to leave on 12th June. The poor weather compounded the problem caused by the lack of a heavy duty crane. A knock-on effect will be shortages of groceries and stocks of flour are very low.
Leaving Tristan is the BBC Horizon film team led by Dr Noe Zamel who has carried out work on the asthma gene on two previous trips to Tristan da Cunha. We expect to publish news of the team's work and publicise the resulting broadcast in due course. Joining the team aboard MV Edinburgh is Father Chris Brown who is going on leave, and a group of seven Islanders.


Images from Robin Repetto on 15th May 2008 show the typical May seas which battered the re-built west wall of Camogli Harbour and prevented cargo being unloaded from MV Edinburgh, also delaying loading of passengers until 21st May, three weeks after the ship first arrived from Cape Town.

MV Edinburgh brings BBC Horizon Team
MV Edinburgh arrived from Cape Town on Thursday 1st May, but owing to poor weather passengers were not landed until Sunday 4th and cargo on Tuesday 6th May. MV Edinburgh's cargo was restricted due to Tristan's heavy duty crane being out of action (see Harbour News Page for further details).
Notable amongst Edinburgh's passengers is a team from the BBC who will be making a film scheduled to be shown in the UK as part of the Horizon series. The team is led by Dr Noe Zamel who carried out work on the asthma gene whilst visiting Tristan da Cunha in the 1990s.

Also arriving is an electrical engineer - Maans van Niekerk - who is trying and sort out electrical problems (as Tristan has experienced recent power cuts because the new modern stand-by generator is not really compatible with the old electrical system, which was installed in 1968 with a life of 30 years). He is also beginning to plan an electrical upgrade upgrade which it is hoped will be delivered in 2009.
Inevitably, MV Edinburgh's departure will also be delayed, probably until next weekend - ie Friday 9th - Sunday 11th May. The loss of the big crane is slowing unloading and bad weather is forecast for Thursday 8th May.

Welcome return of SV Europa

SV Europa arrived in fine weather on 5th April 2008 and so was able to anchor overnight and spend two days at Tristan da Cunha.

See 2nd picture on the Cruise Visits Page.

RFA Lyme Bay departs

RFA Lyme Bay departed on Saturday 29th March
with the Task Force responsible for Operation Zest

- see full reports on these separate Operation Zest Pages :

Zest Invasion ; Operation Zest 1; Operation Zest 2

Easter arrival and departures
The cruise liner MV Endeavour arrived on Saturday 22nd March, picking up Tristan guides for an afternoon on Nightingale, and landing passengers ashore on Tristan on Easter Sunday 23rd March. The Endeavour was photographed by David Morley from The Residency garden with RFA Lyme Bay to the east.

MV Edinburgh loaded on Easter Saturday morning and set off for Cape Town in the afternoon.

SV Concordia's March Visit
Canada-based SV Concordia arrived on Friday 14th March and remained until Sunday 16th March when Administrator David Morley took this photo. of the yacht with the Lyme Bay in the background.
She carried 40+ students who study on board as well as help sail the ship. They are on an 8-month cruise around the world. The students came ashore and did a Q&A at St Mary's with the children there, on their experiences at sea and life on Tristan. They presented Chief Islander Conrad Glass with a plaque and David Morley presented them with some books.

Next year they hope to return for a longer stay and hope to stay ashore overnight.

MV Corinthian II's brief visit
Cruise ship MV Corinthian II called en route for Cape Town on Saturday 15th March, but couldn't land anyone due to the swell. Nevertheless locum Dr Lazlo (who had covered for Dr Carel Van de Merwe during his leave) managed to get aboard and is now en route to the UK where he will take up his next post in Scotland.
Left : Photo. of MV Corinthian, with the RFA Lyme Bay beyond from David Morley

MV Edinburgh and RFA Gold Rover arrive on 5th March
MV Edinburgh arrived on Wednesday 5th March with the Ovenstones team to assess the Factory fire damage and a new generator. The generator was transferred, first to the Lyme Bay, then via Calshot harbour to its new site alongside the fishing factory site on Saturday 8th March - see pictures and report on our Factory Fire Page.

RFA Gold Rover, also returned to Tristan da Cunha on 5th March (after its special December mission to deliver much-needed drugs), to re-fuel the RFA Lyme Bay, see pictures of the maneouvre on the Operation Zest Page carried out on Thursday 6th March.

Photograph from Anne Green taken on 6th March 2008 showing the RFA Lyme Bay and Gold Rover at the Tristan da Cunha Anchorage.

RFA Lyme Bay arrives on 28th February

The 16,000 tonne Lyme Bay arrived at Tristan da Cunha a total sea journey of over 12,400 kms or 7740 miles taking four weeks from its departure from Portland Harbour in Dorset on 1st February.

The ship will provide its own power for its mission - code named Operation Zest - to re-furbish the badly damaged Calshot Harbour - see Harbour News page for details.

Photograph from Robin Repetto taken on 28th February 2008

Cape Town Departures
RFA Lyme Bay left Table Bay Harbour in Cape Town on Sunday 24th February and was reported to be making 14 knots in good weather on Monday 25th, so is expected at Tristan da Cunha on Thursday 28th February at 07.00. See also Harbour News for details of the Calshot Harbour refurbishment, and below for further details of RFA Lyme Bay.
MV Edinburgh left Cape Town on Tuesday 26th February and is due to arrive on Monday 3rd March.On board MV Edinburgh is a team to assess the fire damage and plan a new factory. See Factory Fire News for further details. MV Edinburgh's quick turnaround
MV Edinburgh departed Tristan on Thursday 14th February for its return to Cape Town on 20th or 21st Feb, departing again for Tristan on 23rd or 24th February and arriving Tristan 1st or 2nd March. It is ironical that this trip was billed as an extended factory 'repair and maintenance' voyage, but now the building is burnt to the ground.
This earlier trip than planned is a significant change to the published schedule and potential travellers should note that it is likely that the Ovenstone vessels MV Kelso and MV Edinburgh will have significantly revised schedules as a result of the disastrous fish processing factory fire on 13th February 2008.
The Shipping Schedule Page will be updated as soon as news is received, but dates are very likely to change.

RFA Lyme Bay heads for Tristan da Cunha
RFA Lyme Bay left Portland Harbour in Dorset en route for Tristan da Cunha on 1st February to carry out 'Operation Zest' which will refurbish the island's seriously storm-damaged harbour, hopefully in time for the Austral winter storms. The ship is expected to reach Cape Town on 20th February, continuing to Tristan on 21st or 22nd and arriving (after a total sea journey of over 12,400 kms or 7740 miles!) about February 27th. Also aboard will be Dr Carel Van der Merwe returning from his leave.
We will publish details of the ship's progress on this page and catalogue Operation Zest on our separate Harbour News Page.

Photo left shows the vessel alongside her home port berth in Portland Harbour, Dorset from where she departed for Tristan da Cunha on 1st February 2008.
RFA Lyme Bay is the latest addition to the Royal Navy's Auxiliary Fleet.
Built between 2001-2005, firstly on the Tyne, then completed on the Clyde, the 16,190 tonne vessel is is over 176 m long.
Designed to sail with a crew of 59, the ship is capable of also carrying 356 troops, 1200 linear metres of vehicles (up to 24 Challenger tanks , 12 x 40 TEU containers, and five landing craft and powered rafts.
This is the Lyme Bay's first major overseas mission after being commissioned in August, entering service in November 2007 and since carrying out tests in the English Channel and North Sea.

MV Kelso brings Operation Zest Team
A party of seven Royal Engineers arrived aboard MV Kelso on Thursday 24th January after a rather bumpy voyage from Cape Town to make a survey and plans for the forthcoming party aboard RFA Lyme Bay expected later in the year. The team left on the chartered MV Kelso, at 1000 on Sunday 27 January. Two of the party, Mike Forster and Geordie Heslop, will be returning with the main party. See report and pictures of the team's work on our Harbour News page.

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