Nearly a dozen ships including a chemical tanker, a container ship and a giant car carrier headed for the sheltered waters off Torbay this morning ahead of predicted storm-force winds, reports Devon Live.
The ships were expected to stay at anchor throughout the day as fierce winds were forecast to sweep across the county during the course of the day.
Weather warning for strong winds
The Met Office has issued a weather warning for strong winds affecting the whole of Devon today. The warning lasts until 8pm tonight, and the Met Office says delays to road, rail, air and ferry transport are likely, and some bus and train services are likely to be affected. Delays for high-sided vehicles on exposed routes and bridges can be expected, along with possible short-term loss of power and other services.
It is likely, says the Met Office, that some coastal routes, sea fronts and coastal communities will be affected by spray and/or large waves.
Tor Bay and Babbacombe Bay – the stretch of coastline between Hopes Nose and Shaldon – are well known to seafarers as sheltered anchorages in stormy weather. Both bays offer protection from the effects of the prevailing westerly winds, as well as safe deep-water anchorages.
During the Covid pandemic a number of cruise lines chose the same areas as safe places to anchor ships for months on end until business could resume as normal.
The ships off Tor Bay this morning were the Maltese-registered bulk carrier Maryam D, which left the Belgian port of Antwerp on Friday; the Turkish-registered oil/chemical tanker Zeynep Ka, which left Ceuta in Spain on Friday on a passage to Dublin; the container ship Xin Xin Tian 2, registered in Hong Kong and currently on a passage to St Petersburg in Russia having left MCID Port in China on March 12, and the Italian-registered vehicle carrier Grande Detroit, which left Antwerp on Monday evening on passage to Cork.
According to the Marine Traffic website there were seven more ships around the headland in Babbacombe Bay. They were the British offshore supply ship Viking Sentinel, on a fishery patrol from Portland in Dorset; another British offshore supply ship the Kingdom of Fife, which left Portsmouth on Monday en route to Plymouth; the Belgian cargo ship Fast Sam, which left Gdansk in Poland on April 6 on its way to New Ross in Ireland; the Cyprus-registered container ship CT Rotterdam, which left Rotterdam on Monday heading for Dublin; the Portuguese cargo ship Rheintal, which left Kolobrzeg in Poland on April 7 bound for Ringaskiddy in Ireland; the Antigua-registered cement carrier Cemisle, which left Sheerness in Kent on Monday bound for Arzew in Algeria, and the Bahamas-registered cargo ship Romi, heading for Teignmouth having left Terneuzen in the Netherlands on April 7.
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Source: Devon Live
