Shipping Forecast

[Rhythm Thief]

I DO know what i'm talking about, i've been in countless boats ranging from very small ones with a two stroke engine (that one incidentally ran out of fuel in the middle of the sea), to barges, to ferries.

Brilliant. I've been on an aeroplane or two in my time; presumably an alternative career as an air traffic controller awaits me, and all I have to do is turn up to Hreathrow and ask to be let in the control tower.

 

[bonj2]

Brilliant. I've been on an aeroplane or two in my time; presumably an alternative career as an air traffic controller awaits me, and all I have to do is turn up to Hreathrow and ask to be let in the control tower.

i've driven boats. The difference being you've never driven a plane.

 

[bonj2]

it only gives a forecast for coastal areas

Tha'ts probably because the information as to what the weather is like in the middle of the sea is of no interest to anybody whatsoever, even people who are going there in boats.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

i've driven boats. The difference being you've never driven a plane.

You didn't say that, you just said you'd been on them. And anyway, I have piloted a glider, once.

 

[bonj2]

You didn't say that, you just said you'd been on them. And anyway, I have piloted a glider, once.

well I have driven countless boats. And gliders don't have engines, so they can't be that hard to "pilot"! (if 'piloting' a glider is the right word...'hanging from' i would have thought more descriptive...)

 

[snorri]

yeah alright ok i acept that it's useful for small boats. But, therefore, as i said why is it called SHIPping forecast?

Because some SHIPS are involved in marine salvage works, offshore construction, subsea construction, pipe or cable laying works. Many of these tasks are weather dependent and require days of preparation before even starting the actual job, so getting a weather forecast is an essential part of the project.

 

[snorri]

I think this story is beginning to smell slightly of bollocks, because i suspect that if any small boat had managed to make it across the atlantic then it wouldn't be allowed to just pull up in a harbour, it would have been rounded up by the coastguard and shepherded into an official port of entry.

So where are the official ports of entry in the UK bonj? and would these also be the official ports of exit for outgoing vessels? Are you sure it would be the Coastguard who would shepherd boats in? What about the Revenue and Customs people, and the Immigration authority and even the Passport Agency? And the Royal Navy, you would think they would be checking too?

 

[bonj2]

Because some SHIPS are involved in marine salvage works, offshore construction, subsea construction, pipe or cable laying works. Many of these tasks are weather dependent and require days of preparation before even starting the actual job, so getting a weather forecast is an essential part of the project.

yeah but they're only fringe activities - they're not going on all the time. once the offshore whatever is built, that's it - it's there, you don't have to build it again.

 

[bonj2]

So where are the official ports of entry in the UK bonj? and would these also be the official ports of exit for outgoing vessels? Are you sure it would be the Coastguard who would shepherd boats in? What about the Revenue and Customs people, and the Immigration authority and even the Passport Agency? And the Royal Navy, you would think they would be checking too?

southampton, liverpool, hull, to name 3. there are probably more.

well - you would not get all immigration and customs and passport checking people etc on a beach, which is why they'd have to shepherd them to an official port of entry, where they DO have those people checking.
Might be the navy instead of the coastguard, whoever was to hand probably

 

[Piemaster]

yeah but they're only fringe activities - they're not going on all the time. once the offshore whatever is built, that's it - it's there, you don't have to build it again.

Wrong. That type of activity is going on all the time. Oil installations are constantly being upgraded and maintained. Equipment needs to be maintained. Workers on rigs like to be fed. New oil wells are being drilled, old ones rebored.
All this is dependent on supply boats getting the required materials offshore. Local detailed accurate forecasts so the boat can be in the right place when the weather is within parameters to enable it to deliver cargo.

Shipping forecast is no bloody use for it though.

 

[bonj2]

Wrong. That type of activity is going on all the time. Oil installations are constantly being upgraded and maintained. Equipment needs to be maintained. Workers on rigs like to be fed. New oil wells are being drilled, old ones rebored.
All this is dependent on supply boats getting the required materials offshore. Local detailed accurate forecasts so the boat can be in the right place when the weather is within parameters to enable it to deliver cargo.

Shipping forecast is no bloody use for it though.

yeah but it is a fringe activity, is what i meant - there isn't MUCH of it going on.

 

[Piemaster]

yeah but it is a fringe activity, is what i meant - there isn't MUCH of it going on.

The supply and maintenance of existing oilfields takes a lot of resources, probably more than the new construction projects. Some of the installations have been sat in the North Sea for a long time now and as they age more maintenance is required.
A new oilfield is opening up in Brazil. Requirements will be for 90-100 support vessels.
My company has around 55 ships around the world not doing MUCH

Offshore shipping is a small percentage of the worlds merchant fleet admittedly. However the 'fringe' activity is important to the UK. Liken it to the motor industry, a slump or contraction of activity has an effect on a lot of supporting companies

 

[Rhythm Thief]

It's amazing how many of Bonj's arguments rely heavily on the word "probably".

 

[snorri]

i've driven boats.

Bit shaky on the terminology there bonj

 

[yello]

[ASIDE] This is my first look at this thread. I wondered how something innocuously entitled "Shipping Forecast" could run to 14 pages. I clicked 'Last Page' and saw bonj had posted. Therein lay my answer. [/ASIDE]

Is it too late to say that I too like listening to the shipping forecast. There is definitely something hypnotic, coded about it. I'm not a regular listener (it depends what's on 'Book at Bedtime') but it is soothing as you drift off; "Tyne Dogger north-east, veering east or south-east, three or four, occasionally five in south. fair. good." is just the thing to induce sweet dreams!