2 December 2011

As mentioned earlier, throughout the year Shoreham Port carries out regular inspections and maintenance on all of its infrastructure and equipment. Amongst many other structures the Port’s engineering team recently inspected the Prince Phillip lock gates by diving down to examine the submerged structures. The Prince Philip lock gates allow large commercial ships to enter the Port so they are pivotal to Port operations. On this basis and as a result of the inspection the Port felt the gates would benefit from undergoing maintenance.

During the initial removal of the West gates a structural defect was found in the gates and thus they were removed completely. Minimising disruption to the Port’s customers and other stakeholders was a top priority, and the port engineers rose to the challenge working around the clock to adjust the 3rd set of gates the port has for such eventualities, and these were successfully fitted today.

Shoreham Port remained operational throughout and continued discharging ships on the Outer Layby Terminal, which is accessible prior to passing through the locks. The operations and marine division coordinated staff and equipment to suit customer requirements and quickly adapted to the situation. All divisions worked extremely hard and helped to maintain service levels throughout the period of maintenance.

Rodney Lunn, Chief Executive said “We are pleased that no disruption was caused to our shipping operations, and that we now have the West end lock gates working again. A huge thank you to all our staff who worked tirelessly around the clock, and to all our customers and leisure users who offered support and understanding”.