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DFDS’s newest ro-ro vessel, Humbria Seaways, commissioned in February this year, berthed at North Sea Port in mid-September. Her first port visit here was to the Mercatordok terminal in Ghent which handles high volumes of transhipment cargo.
Between Gothenburg in Sweden and North Sea Port this service is one of the most important on the North Sea for DFDS. Conversely, DFDS is a top customer for North Sea Port. With five calls each week, the Danish shipping and logistics group is one of the port’s most frequent users. DFDS’s blue and white ships have been a familiar sight on the Western Scheldt, in the lock at Terneuzen, on the Ghent-Terneuzen Canal and at Mercatordok for many years.
DFDS was particularly busy this month at the Mercatordok terminal in Ghent. In the words of Alain De Brauwer, Route Operations Manager for DFDS Seaways in Belgium: ‘We always have a lot of cargo ready for shipment and we receive large volumes from Sweden. So when a bigger ship calls, it always comes in handy.’
Humbria Seaways was briefly available to ship some extra cargo. The ship had just come out of dry dock and made a quick crossing from Gothenburg to Ghent and back before switching to another one of the shipping company’s routes. As always, there was a tight schedule.
Humbria Seaways is one of the newest Mega Ro-Ros built for DFDS in China. Vessels in this class are 237 metres loa and 33 metres wide notable for their unusually large cargo capacity with up to 6,700 line metres of cargo.
Trinity House has appointed a new Director of Navigational Requirements following the retirement of Captain Roger Barker MNM FNI on 13 September 2020.
Roger joined Trinity House in July 2005 as Navigation (Examiner) Manager after a career in commercial shipping, a subject that he remains passionate about. He was promoted to Director of Navigational Requirements (DNR) in May 2009 and was sworn in as an Elder Brother of Trinity House at the same time.
As DNR he took on a wide range of duties and responsibilities in the service of the mariner. While governing Trinity House through both the Lighthouse Board and the Corporate Board, he also sat on the Executive Committee and the Examiners’ Committee; any major decision made by Trinity House in the last decade will have benefitted from Roger’s enthusiastic and sage input.
Roger is also a keen advocate and adopter of technology, and this was readily apparent in his assessment of potential hazards to navigation such as shipwrecks and other new dangers at sea, liaising with Trinity House’s Planning Centre at all hours and consulting hydrographic surveys and charts overlaid with marine traffic analysis on his ever-present tablet.
Among other things, he also played a major part at IALA, being a leading voice on the Aids to Navigation Requirements and Management Committee, as well as being a frequent liaison with various maritime partners such as the UKHO and the MCA; he was also a Board member for the Trinity House Maritime Charity and Seafarers UK, these latter roles reflecting a lifelong passion for the wellbeing and education of mariners.
Roger will continue to be an important part of Trinity House despite retiring from his role as DNR. He will become the Nether Warden and will retain the role of Director of Deep Sea Pilotage for the next two years.
In November 2016, Roger was awarded the Merchant Navy Medal for Meritorious Service for services to the Merchant Navy; the medal was presented by HRH The Princess Royal at a ceremony in Trinity House.
