P&O ferry at anchor off Walpole Bay

Pride of Burgundy at anchor off Walpole Bay Photo John Horton

By John Horton and David Burrin

A P&O ferry which has served the Dover-Calais route is currently at anchor off Walpole Bay.

The Pride of Burgundy is bound for Tibury and sailing under the flag of Cyprus. She is a roll on roll off ferry built in 1993, with a carrying capacity of 28128 gross tonnage and 179.7 metres length and 28.3 metres wide

From May 3, 2020, the Pride of Burgundy was docked at the Port of Leith, Scotland, as a result of the reduction in traffic across the straits of Dover due to the Covid-19 pandemic. She returned to Dover in late October that year and sailed to Calais, re-entering service on the November 3 in a freight-only mode.

On December 7, the ship was moved to the River Fal lay up berths. These are deep water berths near Falmouth in Cornwall.

In April 2021, it was announced that the Burgundy would be back in service by June, and the ship was towed to dry dock in Falmouth for a month.

The vessel was then towed to a nearby dock, before sailing to Dover and commencing service on the May 28. However, a month and a half later she was taken off service and laid up at Tilbury. She remained there for two months before returning to Dover on October 14 but now is Tilbury bound again.

8 Comments

  1. its a pity we will never have ferrys here again , i cant think of any other council that has a link to europe and does not want it

    • Give me strength. Why can nothing ever be reported about anything maritime-related without some narrow-minded xenophobe thinking they have to say something about immigration? It’s the one thing I can’t stand about Thanet.

  2. Think p&0 are just keeping it as a spare ferry, it was brought back into service when the pride of kent was recently under maintenance in dunkirk.
    P&O just using 4 ferries nowdays on dover/calais. 2 prides 2 spirits. Covid reasons and competition from irish ferries and a beautiful new dfds ferry.

    That pride ferry has visited ramsgate harbour, taking vip’s , workers & families out to the opening of thanet windfarm. Was such a pis u p.

  3. I helped moor her when she came into Ramsgate. I’m pretty sure she was the largest ship to dock in the port. Pity there aren’t any more ferries docking now.

  4. Time to move on. Dover and the tunnel are far too strong competition for a minor port to compete with. Think about the coastal trade, such as logs for the wood burning plant in Richborough and bulk cargoes from other parts of the UK and the northern European ports. Containers even, for the home counties below the line of the Thames. Basic facilities such as a couple of cranes and a yard, are all that is needed, such as used by Great Glen Shipping. Rather than concentrating all our entry points on a few large ports, we could diversify and be more resilient.
    If the UK revived its home trade it could cut carbon emissions and create a new industry out of wreckage of the once great maritime sector.

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