Pride of Dover Ferry, Admiralty Pier, Western Docks, Dover Harbour, Kent, UK

The cross-channel ferry, MS Pride of Dover berthed alongside the Admiralty Pier in the Western Docks of Dover Harbour:


(Click this MS Pride of Dover text link to see the largest size)

The photo was taken from the Prince of Wales Pier on Tuesday, 27st of April, 2010.

The MF Pride of Dover primarily operated on the Dover to Calais route, normally berthing in the ferry terminal of the Eastern Docks (the Western Docks is the cruise ship terminal).

The ferry was tied up at Cruise Terminal 1 (CT1) on the Admiralty Pier for several days, however, which may have had some connection to the airline crisis that arose as a result of ash fall-out from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruptions in Iceland.

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The MS Pride of Dover (1)

The MS Pride of Dover was built by Schichau Unterweser AG (Schichau Seebeckwerft) in 1987 as a cross-channel ferry for Townsend Thoresen. She was the last new ship to appear in service with the famous Townsend Thoresen orange hull though she was delivered with the P&O house flag painted on her funnel which was changed from the 'TT' logo during construction. Townsend Thoresen was renamed P and O European Ferries late in 1987, following the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster, and Pride of Dover was swiftly repainted in the new company colours.

The industry generally regarded Pride Of Dover and her sister MV Pride Of Calais (photo not yet uploaded) as the most successful ferries ever built for English Channel service. The ships boasted superb handling characteristics and excellent sea-keeping abilities. Between 1998 and 2002 she was under the control of P&O Stena Line and carried the name MV P&OSL Dover from 1999 until 2002 (sometimes P&O SL Dover). Once returned to P&O control she was renamed MV PO Dover before she was repainted into new P&O Ferries livery when her name returned to MV Pride of Dover.

MS Pride Of Dover details (1) (2):

MS Spirit of Britain and the White Cliffs of Dover, Dover Harbour, Kent, UK

After wandering around in small circles in the North Sea off Deal and Sandwich for a couple of hours, the MS Spirit of Britain super-ferry finally entered the Eastern Entrance of Dover Harbour at 11.05 am on Sunday, 9th of January, 2011:


(Click this MS Spirit of Britain text link to see the largest size)

The above view, with the White Cliffs of Dover as a backdrop, was taken at 11.19 am and shows the brand-new cross-channel ferry in the last stages of maneuvering prior to berthing.

The Eastern Arm pier running behind the Spirit of Britain juts out from the Eastern Docks cross-channel ferry terminal (out-of-shot to the left).

At the other end of the Eastern Arm is the Eastern Entrance to the Straits of Dover and English Channel (the other side of Eastern Entrance is formed by the Southern Breakwater).

The strange-looking object on top of the cliffs right of centre is the South Foreland lighthouse. The top of the darker Old South Foreland lighthouse, built in 1793, can be seen near the right-hand edge of the cliffs. Both lighthouses are over 5000 yards distant.

This zoomed photo of the Spirit of Britain was taken 1900 yards away from near the lighthouse end of the Prince of Wales Pier (see all lighthouse photos).

A similar view of the MS Pride of Calais will be uploaded anon.

Abridged extract from a P&O Ferries blog (1):

AIDAblu Cruise Ship and Pride of Dover Ferry, Admiralty Pier, Dover Harbour, Kent, UK

MS AIDA Blu owned by AIDA Cruises, MS Pride of Dover owned by P&O Ferries:


(Click this AIDA Blu and Pride of Dover text link to see the largest size)

The passengers ships are berthed in the Western Docks against the Admiralty Pier on the far side of the Prince of Wales Pier in Dover Harbour.

Photo taken from the jetty at the western end of the Gateway Flats near Henry VIII's Mote's Bulwark coastal artillery fortification on Tuesday, April 27th, 2010.

The ships:

MS AIDAblu

The MS AIDA Blu passenger ship is a Sphinx series cruise ship built by Meyer Werft for the German cruise line AIDA Cruises, a British-American owned German cruise line based in Rostock, Germany.

The parent company is Carnival Corporation & PLC.

The ship is shown part-way through a 7-day German Bight Cruise. Her last port of call was Le Havre (France), the next were Antwerp (Belgium) and Amsterdam (Netherlands, Holland). The cruise then ended in Hamburg (Germany).

Vessel details:

Tonnage: 71,300 gross register tons (GRT)
Length: 827 feet (252.07 m)
Beam: 105.5 feet (32.16 m)
Decks: 15 decks
Installed power: Diesel-electric (about 36,000kW)
Propulsion: 4 Caterpillar MaK engines
Capacity: 2,050 passengers
Crew: 607 crew
Call Sign IBWX
IMO 9398888
MMSI 247282500
Owners website: Aida Cruises

The Pride of Dover primarily operated the Dover–Calais route, but on a number of occasions she made crossings between Dover and Zeebrugge as a result of industrial action in France.

MS Pride of Dover

The vessel ended her P&O service on 15 December 2010 with her last crossing leaving Dover at 2345 local time. She has now been replaced by the new super-ferry, MS Spirit of Britain that arrived in the Port of Dover on Sunday, 9th of January, 2011, after a handover ceremony at the STX Europe shipyard in Rauma (Finland) on the 5th of January.

With a bigger capacity and almost double the amount of tonnage, at 49,000 tonnes, the Spirit of Britain (ex-Olympic Spirit) is the largest ferry to ever cross the English Channel. "P&O" is derived from Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company.

Vessel details:

Tonnage: 26,433 tonnes
Length: 169.6 m (556.4 ft)
Beam: 28.27 m (92.7 ft)
Draft: 6.12 m (20.1 ft)
Installed power: 3 x Sulzer ZA40S Diesels
Propulsion: Triple controllable pitch propellers
Speed: 22 kn (41 km/h)
Capacity: 2,290 passengers, 650 vehicles
Call Sign: GJCR
IMO: 8517736
MMSI: 232001670
Owner's website: P&O Ferries

The main photo (includes sources) was originally uploaded to:

MS AIDAblu Cruise Ship and Pride of Dover Ferry, Admiralty Pier, Dover Harbour

The MS AIDAblu in 2011:

MS AIDAblu Cruise Ship berthed at Cruise Terminal 2, Admiralty Pier, Dover

A new vessel from AIDA Cruises for 2011:

MS AIDAsol Cruise Ship in Dover Harbour on her Maiden Voyage

A Cross-Channel Ferry and Cruise Ship photo.

Clickable thumbnails of all harbour-related photos on the main Panoramio Images of Dover website are available on this blog on the Port of Dover Page (also linked to below the blog title).

The Panoramio photos are each accompanied by a Google Earth satellite map. However, the images are smaller than those on the Images of Dover Blog and the captions are less well formatted.

John Latter / Jorolat

Dover Blog: The Psychology of a Small Town