Question on shipping lanes between Southwold/Lowestoft and Ijmuiden

[LittleSister]

The aim is to cross at right angles as its the shortest distance

Javelin lights blue touch paper and retires!\\

Popcorn at the ready.

 

[westhinder]

Do you actually have to avoid the windfarm, or is it acceptable to sail through it? We were turned away by a guard vessel a couple of years ago but that was while it was still being constructed.

Dutch and Belgian windfarms are closed zones, forbidden for all vessels except for construction or maintenance.

 

[aidancoughlan]

Many thanks to Plum for resurrecting my accidentally deleted post…! Have re-posted here with markup. Thanks for all info.





2017 lane changes at westerschelde...

Do ensure your charts are post June 1st 2017 as there were some significant changes to the shipping lanes on the other side of the North Sea

Westhinder posted some info here that relates more to the Shelde area http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread...t=#post6084749

The OP's intended route is miles away as only the West and North Hinders and the Maas West approaches are relevant to the changes.

I agree with Tillergirl: the changes to the TSS are on the Dutch/Belgian border, so not relevant to your proposed trip.

Thanks 4 reminder ... was aware of this & previous thread here OK, but will be well north of it. In any case, have a 2017 2120 north sea atlas chart on the way, which I believe will have the 2017 lane updates in it - will be handy if plans change.

Points 1 & 1 on chart

from what I can make out on your attached chart, points 1 & 2 are on "deep water routeing" for ships and are not part of a TSS therefore rule 10 does not apply. It may be advisory to cross at right angles to make best progress across if ships are in the vicinity but you are not required to do so.

I don't think the points marked 1 and 2 are part of the TSS, that starts further North. On my vector charts those parts of the channel are marked DW and have double headed arrows in them, The double headed arrows are not on the VMF raster charts though.

The 'Y' feature charted (1 & 2) is a deep water route, not a TSS. TSS Rules do not apply, there is no separation, but in my experience ships generally stick to 'Red to Red'.

However, rule 10 won't apply to 1 and 2, as they are South of the TSS.

I accept the point on the TSS. If there is a solid outline of the arrow tis a TSS, if the arrow has a dotted outline of the arrow it is just recommended directions of traffic flow. if there is no arrow, I assume it is only an IMO recommended route rather than a mandatory one.

I have done this from the Orwell to Ijmuiden, which sent us right through the junction South of (1), (2). As stated by others this is not technically a TSS, and is not particularly busy. We had the interesting experience of a ship passing astern of us Northbound, then doing a U-turn and passing in front of us Southbound.

Sounds like this is not really a "lane" from the Rule 10 perspective ... will read a bit further , but will probably treat it like one to be safe !.
UPDATE: The notes on the corner of the admiralty chart says “The DW Routes have been adopted by IMO as a mandatory ships routing system under SOLAS Regulation V/10”, but that doesn’t seem to throw any light on the subject of whether you need to cross at 90 degrees to the traffic flow. Some old threads on here suggest not. http://www.imo.org/en/OurWork/Facilitation/Documents/SOLAS V on Safety of Navigation.pdf

Point 3 on chart

No 3 - note sure I can see clearly enough but I don't see a TSS there. Looks just like 'other' chart marks

At your question mark, I don't think there is a TSS; the TSS has stopped short further north as best I see - but shipping will be generally heading south from that TSS further north as it will be wanting to join the North Hinder TSS (which is well south of your intended route.

That's what I suspected the "TSS" has stopped north of where I wrote (3)/drew the circle... good to get another view/confirmation though. I guess the (dashed) downward arrow shown on the right hand edge of the red circle I drew just highlights that there will be lots of ships exiting here. I think I would prefer to cross a lane - I suspect this area immediately south of the land termination might be less predictable than the lane itself if ships exiting are going different places, but it's a very large scale chart, I guess they will be well dispersed by the time they cross our track.

Angle for crossing TSS

Re 1 and 2 - You are required to head at rightangles to the TSS not 'cross at rightangles'. Obviously the tide will take you northward or southwards depending on the time. Worth planning to time to take the advantage of the tide as best you can.

i.e. your heading should be a right angles to the TSS, not your course over ground (unless for some reason there was no tide)

"not 'cross at rightangles'. " Rule 10 states otherwise. Ones heading should be at right angles to the direction of traffic flow.

The regulations require a crossing vessel to head at or as near as possible to 90 degrees to the flow of traffic in a TSS lane
It's the heading that matters, not the course over the ground

As to track or heading, Rule 10 was probably worst drafted text ever. The 1987 amendment however made it clearer: A vessel shall, so far as practicable, avoid crossing traffic lanes but if obliged to do so shall cross on a heading as nearly as practicable at right angles to the general direction of traffic flow.

The aim is to cross at right angles as its the shortest distance and therefore should take the shortest time and that should be the intention, however it's often the case that either the wind is on the nose or a series of ships require a turn to stb of 12 to 15 degrees or so for safe passage

No worries... whatever the wording, I'm clear on this one OK and we are probably all on the same page... picture worth a thousand words....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_Separation_Scheme


What exactly is the "TSS"?

The TSS's are where there are shaded areas on the chart - not every outlined lane.

Regret I don't agree. TSS are shown either by separation zones (the shaded parts) or lines or both. Dotted direction arrows are not part of a TSS but are "Recommended directions of traffic flows".

The TSS's are where there are shaded areas on the chart - not every outlined lane.

A bit of further googling suggests both ... can (optionally) include shaded areas in between, or not as the case may be!.

Point 4/4A/5 on chart

No 4 and 5 - looks sense to me. My chart hasn't got the right scale but I would have thought you could skirt south of the edge of the TSS as you head for Ijmuiden - and north of the windfarm - not the largest windfarm at the moment - 43 turbines only.

The route you have planned looks right to me. Aim to go between the IJmuiden approach channel and the windfarm to the south of it. You will see shipping during most of your crossing, but it mainly follows clearly defined routes and thus is straightforward to deal with.

We found the shipping entering/exiting the TSS immediately West of (4a) to be more confusing [edit: than point (1)+(2)], as it was dark and they were not all moving in logical directions.

Sounds Good... we are generally on the right track so. Will watch out for the entry/exit OK, that makes sense.

Precautionary areas

In the vicinity of TSS's there are often "precautionary areas" - again, rule 10 doesn't apply because they are not part of the TSS but extreme caution is advised when in those areas.

Yes, will do - we will be looking closer at different scale charts to double check, will avoid roundabouts etc.

Suggested route

My Departure is usually further South (R. Orwell) but I head for North ShipWash and then set course for the RACON and then De Ruyters Gas Platform (Beware the exclusion Zone). I am a bloke who likes physical Waypoints rather than virtual Through the Gap, and then North of the Wind Farm.........From Southwold or Lowestoft Due East should be good until you pick up De Ruyters..

If you stop at Ijmuiden Marina, follow the long pontoon around as there are loads of Berths (Green Tags) nearer to the Gate than the immediately stop on the left just inside the entrance.

Thanks for this, good to get first hand experience of Ijmuiden where we plan to arrive, and I agree it would be nice to “pick up” the oil rigs etc as visual marks.

Timing

Timing the crossing to do quieter bits in the dark is perhaps more important than tidal considerations, unless you plan to travel along the coast at either end, personally I would not choose to close the coast at Ijmuiden in the dark (not that there is much of it at this time of year). Passing the gas platform in the dark is pretty spectacular though...

Interesting – that will be next step, to do some tidal passage planning and look @ times.

Wind farm

Do you actually have to avoid the windfarm, or is it acceptable to sail through it? We were turned away by a guard vessel a couple of years ago but that was while it was still being constructed.

Dutch and Belgian windfarms are closed zones, forbidden for all vessels except for construction or maintenance.

AIS

The most useful tool apart from the MkI Eyeball, was the iPad/ iPhone app that Calculates and shows CPA and TPA for AIS contacts as there is a lot of North/ South traffic

Shiny new WIFI AIS & ipad apps just installed !

Communication with ships

With ais transponder the ship will see your course, speed and intent and will often call you up direct and either ask you to hold course and speed or occasionally will request you slow or alter course.

Avoiding ships

The only ships that give me concern crossing the lanes are the big trawlers that run up and down between the lanes, you're never quite sure whether they will continue or turn and at night it can be a bit worrying.

Yes, know that feeling ... was nearly run over once by a Trawler moving erratically - having changed course several times, passed within 200m in front of us (after we stopped) with no-one visible on deck, and no answer on CH16 ! Will be suspicious of anything fishing.

some of the better links came across while googling...
CHART SYMBOLOGY
http://charts.gc.ca/publications/chart1-carte1/sections/m-tracks/examples-eng.asp
http://msi.nga.mil/MSISiteContent/StaticFiles/NAV_PUBS/Chart1/Sec_M.pdf
SHIP ROUTING /REGS
https://thenauticalalmanac.com/Bowd...Navigator/Chapt-27 NAVIGATION REGULATIONS.pdf
COLREGS RULE 10
http://www.nepia.com/media/73241/Colregs-Rule-10-Traffic-Separation-Schemes.PDF
COLREGS – all rules
http://www.mar.ist.utl.pt/mventura/Projecto-Navios-I/IMO-Conventions (copies)/COLREG-1972.pdf

 

[aidancoughlan]

Again, thanks for all info. After reading back over + reviewing charts a bit more, this is the latest rough plan to keep on deck... will be interesting to see what tides do to it, but will try stick roughly to this...

 

[Boz]

Again, thanks for all info. After reading back over + reviewing charts a bit more, this is the latest rough plan to keep on deck... will be interesting to see what tides do to it, but will try stick roughly to this...

View attachment 64912

I've used a planning program by Neptune Software, that includes a tidal stream calculator - it also works out the optimum ETD for any given day and even prints out the passage plan.....

 

[Pye_End]

Dutch and Belgian windfarms are closed zones, forbidden for all vessels except for construction or maintenance.

How does this comment relate to the pretty chart you posted in this thread?: http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...ew-situation&p=6084749&highlight=#post6084749

I had assumed the green area was current wind farm, and we could go through it, but not the red?

 

[Ali-alshira]

All that about TSS's is true, but irrelevant, because you don't cross any on that route.

We have done it lots of times, the last time was in April. Head due east from Lowestoft. Most of the shipping is on the Dutch side and the deep water routes are normally pretty empty. Pass at least 2 miles from the De Ruyter gas platform. If you go too close, they radio you, but it's all very friendly. After that adjust your course for the gap just south of the IJ separation scheme. And head north of the wind farm. By this time, there is normally almost nothing around except for loads of anchored ships - keep an eye on them - sometimes one emerges or goes in to anchor there. The track crossing the IJ TSS is usually quiet. You think you are nearly there by this time, but it's still a long way before you see the cement works at IJmuiden. Go into the outer harbour to drop sails - plenty of room, but bear in mind there are lots of huge vessels using that canal - we were passed by QE2 or similar, last time. The Marina is very easy and very empty, so go a long way round pontoon M (which is where they will tell you to go) and its finger pontoons, not boxes.