This month has seen another two unusual visitors to the River Thames, or to be more accurate West India Dock, London.

West India Dock has not been used for handling cargo since the 1980’s and is now used for the mooring of historic vessels, visiting warships and other non commercial vessels.

As an example of the type of vessels calling at West India Dock, Wavecrest Ltd recently handled the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior.

The first of the two recent visitors pictured above is the Logos Hope.  She was originally built in Rendsburg, Germany in 1973 as the passenger car ferry Gustav Vasa and used to operate a regular service from Malmo in Sweden to Travemuende in Germany.

Later she was sold to owners in the Faroe Islands and renamed Norrona. She operated regular ferry services between ports in the Faroe Islands, the Shetland Islands, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. She was  renamed Norrona I when her owners purchased a newer replacement vessel.

The current operators of the Logos Hope, Operation Mobilisation (OM), a Christian Missionary organisation purchased the vessel in 2004 and spent nearly five years converting her into the world’s largest floating bookshop.

The bookshop sells a very good selection of books for all ages and tastes at competitive prices.

OM estimate that more than one million people around the world visit the Logos Hope and her sister vessel the Doulos each year.

The Logos Hope will be open to visitors this weekend (27th/28th June) before sailing on Monday for her next port of call Kingstown, St Vincent.

For further information about the Logos Hope please click here.

The second of the two visiting ships could not be more different! It is the Royal Australian Navy Adelaide Class guided missile frigate HMAS Sydney.

She was commissioned in 1983 and is currently on a six month deployment with the HMAS Ballarat showing the flag around the world.

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Last Thursday I received the sad news that one of my aunts had passed away following a short battle with aggresive lung cancer at the age of only fifty eight.

I found this fitting poem which was written by Bishop Charles Henry Brent -

A ship sails and I stand watching till she fades on the horizon and someone at my side says She is gone

Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all. She is just as large now as when I last saw her. Her diminished size and total loss from my sight is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment when someone at my side says she is gone there are others who are watching her coming over their horizon and other voices take up a glad shout There she comes!

That is what dying is. An horizon and just the limit of our sight.

Lift us up, Oh Lord, that we may see further

During the last few weeks of her life, my aunt was assisted by nurses from our local hospice, the Ellenor Lions Hospice and on behalf of the family I would like to extend our thanks for their help at a difficult time.

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A guest post written by: Rosie Cubbin of CS Shipping Containers

If you are thinking about moving abroad, depending on your final destination, there are a three main ways to move your home contents – by air, by road or by sea.  

If you decide to ship your items it will obviously take longer for them to arrive at their  destination although it will save you money.   When you are trying to decide which method to choose, look at all the options in terms of both cost and time.  

You can undertake the whole move yourself, or pay an international mover such as Wavecrest to take care of it for you.   Much will depend on your budget but, even if money is tight, it could be worth talking to them as there are various options available that mean you can take on some of the process yourself and keep that all important price down!

If you do decide to move your effects by sea, you will probably use shipping containers. These are available to buy or hire and are made of corten steel.  These steel containers are extremely rust resistant (very important for anything having to resist the salt in the sea).  The shipping containers can be delivered to your home so that you can pack your belongings yourself or you can have your belongings  delivered to the Wavecrest depot in Kent so that they can pack them safely in a container for you.

If you do elect to buy your own shipping container – and many people do – you may find it extremely useful in your new country.   Many people use it for additional storage space or as the basis of a container conversion.   But whatever you decide to do with it you must make sure that your container is sea worthy.   The phrase CSC plated is often used and all this basically means is that the shipping container is suitable for shipping rather than purely for storage purposes.   CSC stands for “Container Safety Convention” and the plate is usually attached to the shipping container doors, acting almost as the equivalent of a passport for the container.  Second hand shipping containers that are over 5 years old, can be tested and awarded a certificate (Shippers Own Certificate) that needs to be presented to the shipping line.

But how do you decide which size of all the shipping containers available will take all the contents of your home?  I always find that the best way is to ask Glen or Charlie at Wavecrest.   However, the standard sizes are either 20ft or 40ft and the easiest way to judge the size is to imagine that a 20ft shipping container as the size of a single garage and a 40ft the size of a double garage.   Whilst there are other sizes of shipping containers available generally these have to go as “special” cargo and therefore are often more expensive to ship.  

Once you have loaded your shipping container, it should be collected and moved to the port (if shipping) by rail or road where it can be loaded onto the ship otherwise it will continue its journey by road.  Once your goods have arrived in your new country, the container is then unloaded and must pass through customs.   Wavecrest has a wide network of overseas agents that can help you with all the necessary forms to clear your container through customs.  Don’t forget that depending on which country you have moved to it may be possible to claim back the vat you will have paid on your container.

From there on in you are on the home straight (as it were)!  It is simply a matter of getting your shipping container to your new house and unpacking.  

Bon Voyage!

Article written by: Rosie Cubbin of CS Shipping Containers why not read her Shipping Container Blog

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