Eastern Channel dredge to go ahead & News from Cowes Harbour Commission

Cowes Harbour Commission

Harbour Authority & Marine Services

Newsletter 27th November 2018

Eastern Channel Dredge to go ahead

A s you may be aware from recent media reports including the front page of last Fridays County Press, Homes England’s Hong Kong based development partner has confirmed their intention to withdraw from the Victoria Quay and East Cowes developments. This news is obviously disappointing for all the project partners especially after all their hard work and investment. On a positive note the Commissioners have agreed to continue with CHC’s ongoing support and investment into the harbour and have confirmed the placement of the capital dredging of the new Eastern Channel. Please see more details of both these recent developments in the lead article.

In the meantime, as the winter season is arriving, please take the opportunity to check that your boat is well secured and your normal winter maintenance checks are completed before the really cold weather arrives.

Capt. Stuart McIntosh - Cowes Harbour Master

Outer Harbour Project and Eastern Channel Dredge

As many of you will be aware, Homes England (formerly The Homes and Communities Agency) has informed Cowes Harbour Commission (CHC) that their East Cowes development partner Victoria Quay Estates Limited (VQEL) has decided they are unable to proceed with the Victoria Quay development and will be terminating their agreement with Homes England. CHC understands that Homes England will now require a review period to determine the options and way forward for the East Cowes Regeneration and Outer Harbour developments.

CHC raised concerns over the last year to both Homes England and the IWC about the risk that VQEL may not deliver on the development agreements based on the following two main reasons:-

VQEL ongoing delays, lack of communication and visibility of any real activity commensurate with the start-up stages of such a major development.

Since the original marina concept and planning permission the economic climate and marina market demands had changed and softened, which raised questions about the current viability in today’s market and in particular whether there was still the demand for a marina the size planned for Victoria Marina.

CHC have always been committed to finalising the Harbour infrastructure agreement that would have provided up to £2.86 million funding from the developer towards the harbour infrastructure.

However, despite best efforts, CHC were unable to conclude the Harbour Infrastructure agreement with VQEL as reported to stakeholders in our October E newsletter as there were a number of significant and material outstanding issues that VQEL were not prepared to discuss.

CHC’s view on the way forward

CHC has, over a period of 10 years, invested over £4.6 million into the Outer Harbour Project to maximise the potential of Cowes Harbour and its adjacent waterfront marine employment sites for the long term economic future for all harbour and Island stakeholders. CHC realise the strategic importance of the Venture Quays site to the long term future of the harbour and marine employment and therefore is committed to securing its future in the best interest of the harbour and local stakeholders. To this end, CHC has already proposed to Homes England an “Island partnership delivery model” with CHC working in partnership with the IWC to deliver the key local and harbour investment objectives for the harbour and local communities.

CHC has reiterated to Homes England the Commission’s ongoing commitment to working in partnership with the government, the Isle of Wight Council and other relevant parties on the Outer Harbour Project, to maximize the long-term investment benefits for the Harbour, and the local and Island economy and employment.

Eastern Channel Dredge

As a significant part of the Outer Harbour Project, CHC is in final contract negotiations for dredging works for the new Eastern Channel, in line with CHC’s priority and overriding responsibility for navigational safety and strategic objective to deliver improvements to harbour access.

The new Eastern Channel will provide a minimum of 2.25m (below chart datum) channel, and a more direct route to the Solent than the current Small Craft Channel, allowing smaller vessels safe access to and egress from the harbour, minimising potential conflict with the larger ferry and commercial traffic movements.

The Eastern Channel dredge works will commence in January 2019 and be carried out before the end of the MMO (Marine Management Organization) consented window that runs through to the end of March 2019. The dredging can only be done over the winter due to the presence of the eel grass beds off East Cowes.

The Board of Cowes Harbour Commissioners approved the upfront funding of the Eastern Channel dredge, recognizing that under the government’s ‘Guidance for Trust Ports’ the dredging works will be considered as a “stakeholder dividend project”.

Prior to the works commencing a Cowes Harbour LNTM will be issued to inform all stakeholders of the dredging process, timeline and any exclusion zones that may be temporarily in force.

Ferry Incidents in Cowes Harbour - Update

On the morning of Sunday, 21 ^st October 2018 and in restricted visibility conditions, an incident occurred within the Inner Harbour at approximately 0810 hours when Red Funnel’s ferry Red Falcon whilst entering Cowes Harbour, deviated from the fairway into the main harbour mooring, colliding and sinking a yacht before subsequently running aground off East Cowes.

Cowes Harbour Commission (CHC) and Red Funnel have now completed their independent and robust investigations into this incident. Both reports will now be submitted to the Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) and the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), for review and record. The MCA and MAIB are continuing their own independent investigations into this incident and that any lessons learned are promulgated to the world-wide maritime community by the MAIB.

On the 22 ^nd November CHC and Red Funnel investigators and senior management met to discuss the findings and conclusions of their independent reports and found that the recommendations borne by both reports are fundamentally aligned. The main recommendation from both investigation reports is for Red Funnel to carry out a full review of their bridge and navigational procedures and policies and in particular for operating in conditions of restricted visibility. Red Funnels Chief Executive Officer, Fran Collins has reiterated that they have commenced a comprehensive navigational and safety review and confirmed Red Funnel’s commitment to implementing the agreed recommendations from the reviews. Both CHC and Red Funnel have agreed the importance and priority to review and put in place any additional safety control measures or action plans to ensure that the risk of recurrence is as low as reasonably practicable. These actions may include Red Funnel and CHC seeking to enhance the aids to safe navigation, both on the vessels and within the harbour.

The Cowes Harbour temporary General Direction ( Temporary G.D 3.18.2(T) ) will be reviewed once CHC are satisfied that the actions taken by Red Funnel, in conjunction with CHC, have been effective in minimising the risk.

All mariners are advised that CHC has issued revised guidance for navigation during periods of fog in Cowes Local Notice to Mariners No. 30 of 2018: Vessel Movements in Restricted Visibility within Cowes Harbour click here to see LNTM 30 of 2018.

Floating Bridge - Update

The Isle of Wight Council (IWC) are continuing to investigate and review, possible long term solutions and interim short term proposals to the chain clearance issue that are still impacting the operation of the new floating bridge during spring ebb tides.

CHC, whilst continuing to assist the Council wherever possible, has also reiterated CHC’s position that as the statutory harbour authority we have responsibilities for safety and public rights of navigation.

CHC is therefore looking for continued confirmation from the Council, that they will maintain clearance depths over the floating bridge chains to the same clearance, as was available with the last floating bridge.

Wight Shipyard, on instruction from the IWC, have been tasked with designing a long-term chain clearance engineering solution and will as a result, be conducting some trials in early December to test some of the practical elements of their proposed design. These trials may require a very short term closure of the river in the vicinity of the floating bridge. A Cowes Local Notice to Mariners will be issued in advance of the trials to notify all harbour users and an additional harbour launch will be on station to advise harbour users as required.

Cowes Local Notices to Mariners

We are pleased to report that email subscriptions to Cowes Local Notices to Mariners (LNTMs) have now reached over 700 harbour users. May we encourage those harbour users not already signed up to receive direct email notification of Cowes LMTMs to consider subscribing. This will ensure you will be up to speed with all the important navigational information, enabling you to use the harbour safely. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email.