28 July 2006
Jersey Harbours has been encouraged by Jersey Tourism and more recently the Minister of Economic Development to find ways of attracting larger cruise ships to visit the Island. The exposed nature of the St Helier outer anchorages often require large ships to abandon their visits, as their passenger tenders cannot operate in poor weather conditions. If even some larger vessels could safely anchor closer to the port, their tenders would have a shorter trip into the harbour, in more sheltered waters.
Two particular rocks cause a restriction on the size of ships, both in length and draught, which can use the port and anchorages of St Helier. They are positioned 1100m South Westwards of the end of Elizabeth Castle Breakwater towards the Ruaudière Buoy (green), south of St Aubin’s Bay,
Following an initial survey by the Jersey Harbours diving team, it was found that the small reefs each had 2-3 metre high rock pillars which could be demolished. The work will involve drilling the bottom of the pinnacles, placing and firing of explosives to blast them off the main base of each reef. The removal of these heads will also give safer under keel clearances, in rough weather, for the larger ferries now supplying the Island.
From Saturday 29 July 2006, for about one week, Jersey Harbours have been offered the dive time and expertise of the Defence Diving School, Portsmouth, for an exercise and deployment to the Island, accompanied by an Army RCL (Landing Craft), for use on the work. The Defence Diving School is the UK’s No1 establishment for top level training for specialist military and naval underwater operations.
The Planning and Environment Ministry has been consulted and recognise that the position is about 1 mile west of the South East Coast RAMSAR site and the rock blasting is a 'one-off event' and will not pose a long-term threat to the aquatic ecosystem.
Divers will begin surveys and preparations this weekend by drilling the rocks to take the explosive charges. The RCL from 17 Port and Maritime Regiment, Marchwood, will be the base for the diving team during their stay. Detonation of charges is timetabled for around HW at 1100 Monday 31st July and again HW at 1230 on Thursday 3 August, exact timing will depend on shipping movements.
A 1 Kilometre Safety Exclusion Zone will be required for about 20 minutes during each detonation. Notices to Mariners will be published and Navigation Warnings broadcast for each operation. The 1km Safety area will be policed by the RCL landing craft, the Duke of Normandy and other Jersey Harbours Marine Section vessels. The boundary of this safety area will be a line joining the Oyster Rock beacon, East Rock buoy, Hinguette buoy, Ruaudière Buoy, Diamond Rock buoy, Baleine buoy and Les Bûts beacon.
gov.je