14 September 2010
The Friar's Bay outfall pipe, which has been under construction in Shoreham Port for the last month, finally departed on the highest tide of the year through the Prince George Lock.
It was a unique operation as both lock gates had to be open at the same time, thus a spring high time was required to have level water both inside and outside the harbour.
The whole operation had a tidal window of only one hour and with the expertise of the port marine staff, and Land & Marine's team the manoeuvre ran efficiently and to plan in just 57 minutes.
Julian Seaman Harbour Master commented "With careful preparation all risks were minimized to stop the canal emptying over a falling tide. As a back stop against the lock gates not closing, the port engineering team constructed dam plates capable of holding 5 metres of water in the canal at low water."
The 1850m long pipeline was towed from Shoreham Harbour to Friar's Bay, its final destination under the sea bed, where it will be part of Southern Water's new water treatment facility.
Daniel Rees, Marine Superintendent for Land and Marine said, "The whole operation had been carefully planned to coincide with the high tides and the tow of the pipeline proceeded very smoothly, and could have not been achieved without the full support and co-operation of Shoreham Port Authority".
