18 June 2009, Zeebrugge, Belgium

We were supposed to be in Ostend today but this was changed to Zeebrugge awhile ago when we found out that the tide was not cooperating with the departure time of the Prinsendam. Ostend has a very small harbour and the swinging space in the harbour is a maximum of 175 meters at low water. With the Prinsendam being 204 meters the pilots require that the ship leaves around high tide. That would have been 6 hours earlier than the scheduled departure time, which would reduced the port time to half a day and then you cannot make a good day in Bruges. I looked at the option of backing all the way out of the harbor and so avoiding to swing around inside but at departure time there would have been an estimated 3 to 4 knot current running perpendicular to the harbour entrance and than you cannot hold the stern while backing out. Thus Zeebrugge being next door was a viable and workable alternative.

Ostend is working hard on improving the harbour and hopefully in the near future we can swing in the port and that will then solve the departure issue. If the ship is leaving the port with the nose out, we can just give full ahead and make 10 to 12 knots while exiting the harbour and then a cross current of 4 knots is not such a big problem. Zeebrugge is a big open harbour with lots of space as the outer harbour was built to receive the largest container ships. The harbour consists of three ports. A port inside the locks, the old outer harbour and the new outer harbour. We were scheduled to dock at the inside of the old outer harbour breakwater, which is now in use as a ferry, passenger and small cargo pier. Due to the fact that it is the old breakwater, the pier is not straight but curved. The only way you can dock against it is with having thick fenders between the ship and the dock. If they were not there, then only the rim of the bow and end of the stern would be touching the dock and the rest of the ship would two to three feet off the dock.

The curved dock, formely the breakwater of the old port boundaries.

The yokohama fenders alongside the ship

Thus the port provided two large Yokohama fenders for the Prinsendam to rest against. To breach the distance between ship and pier, a shore gangway was provided which also made it easier to get on and off with the tide going up and down. However, same as yesterday, the tide was not that much today, only 9 feet, and so we did not have much of a problem. The big fenders derive their name from the town of Yokohama where they were first used and most likely invented. They are nowadays used in most ports where there is a large tide and they “roll” up and down against the pier with the ship. Much better than having the ship scrape against small fenders or wooden pilings while following the tide.

Zeebrugge is part of Dutch (Flemish) speaking Belgium so it was nice to hear Dutch voices in all its dialects over the VHF’s again. Having been used to not being able to comprehend local Spanish, Italian or Greek, now suddenly we knew at all times what was going on again around the Prinsendam. Although sometimes you really did not want to know what was going on. The chit-chat of the small river barges going on all day and they way they solve navigational issues did not always feel in synch with the “planning attitude” that we have on the HAL ships. But the Prinsendam made a sufficient regal impression when entering the port that all the small fry got out of the way very quickly.
I have a major project going onboard at the moment to clean up the storage spaces in the ship and today was finally the day that we could off load scrap iron and get some money for it. In Mediterranean ports they take it as well, but they always try to charge the ship for the container and labor instead of paying a good price for the scrap metal. Today we made some money and that money goes into the crew fund. The fund desperately needs a financial injection as I have been spending big time on the spruce up of the crew gym here onboard.

We left on time after the last tour, The Bruges & Belgian Beer tour, had returned to the ship. The participants had spent the afternoon tasting Belgian beers, thus it was a very happy group that re-boarded the ship.

Tomorrow we are in Amsterdam, which is the end of the cruise. Here most of our guests are leaving but about 125 guests are staying on. Quite a few of the crew are going home as well, including about all of my Dutch navigators so “channel fever” is running high at the moment. I am scheduled for the IJmuiden pilot at 3 am. So I will be on the bridge at 2 am. thus time for an early night.