Category: Port towns

Cities that are home to, close to, or have links to ports – like Hull and Lincoln – have much higher per capita traffic accident rates because the more trucks they attract increases traffic jams, suggests one. study.

The researchers analyzed road collisions and demographics from more than 300 urban areas in England, Wales, France, Germany and Spain.

They found that in all five countries, port cities often had higher collision rates than expected, suggesting there is a link.

In Lincoln, there were 35 percent more crashes than expected given the size of the city’s population, while in Hull, there were 22 percent more crashes.

In France, accident hot spots included the coastal towns of La Rochelle, Loirent and Marseille. In Germany, they included the port cities of Bremen and Hamburg and Regensburg on the Danube. And in Spain, Aviles, Cadiz, Gijon and Seville (port of Guadalquivir) – all maritime cities – have experienced more collisions than average.

Hot spots have also been identified in the south-east of England, in areas between London and the major ports on the coast. The worst was Woking – located between the M3 and the A3 which connect the capital to Southampton – 47% more collisions than expected depending on the size of the population.

Two towns in Kent – which are home to the towns of Dover and Medway and the Eurotunnel terminal – recorded above-normal accident rates – Maidstone (44 percent higher) and Eurostar Ashford station (43 percent of more). Crawley, near Gatwick Airport, also experienced high accident rates.

“Our study shows that there is remarkably high variability in road crash rates in cities across the UK and Europe,” said Carmen Cabrera-Arnau, PhD student, University College London.

“The collision rates in the port areas were surprisingly high and need to be investigated further. The presence of more heavy goods vehicles can be a contributing factor to more traffic congestion, ”she said.

“The ports attract heavy goods vehicles from elsewhere. If the infrastructure surrounding the port is not accommodating enough, the ports will lead to increased traffic, which is associated with more frequent traffic collisions, ”added Ms. Arnau.

Collisions were higher than expected in London and Paris – which act as hubs for miles around and therefore create huge levels of congestion – but not in major cities in less centralized countries like Spain and Germany.

“Our results can help policymakers identify priority areas for reducing road collisions and highlight areas that are below the national road safety standard and therefore should be included in upgrading strategies. government, ”said Arnau.

The study is published in the journal PLOS ONE.

GALVESTON, téx. – People are hungry to see their cities come to life with summer travelers, and now that cruises start sailing again over the holiday weekend, it looks like travel is back.

If you visit Galveston, Texas, it’s easy to see: Summer vacation is in full swing, even before the cruises take off.

“Right now it’s just packed. They are wall-to-wall people, ”said Rodger Rees, CEO of the Port of Galveston.

Travelers enjoy it, and family businesses thrive.

“I don’t even know how this place can get busier, but I think it’s going to be great,” said Gracie Bassett, who runs Gracie’s gift shop with her family.

“My parents have had Gracie’s for 24 years and they’ve been in the retail business for 29 years,” Bassett said. “I just grew up in the store.”

They feared COVID-19 could cut this family legacy short, but this stop for trinkets and treasures never stopped.

“Because Galveston is so close to Houston, it is one of the fourth largest cities in the country. People could drive, and they just wanted to get away from the COVID madness, so they were coming to the beach, ”Bassett said.

Her family has been so busy that they were able to expand and open a second store just down the street. But, the success here contrasts sharply with the void a few blocks away.

“From a cruise perspective, we’ve been really hurt,” Rees said. “We’ve, we’ve lost about $ 44 million in revenue in the last 16 months.”

Galveston’s biggest attraction has been docked for over a year. The companies supporting the cruise industry have also nearly sunk.

“We were still inactive and it was very hard on us,” said Jason Hayes, owner of several cruise parking lots in Galveston.

The business he built with his mother since 2003 has barely survived. He said he always saved money for rainy days and was grateful that he was able to build on that over the past year.

“We haven’t shut down our Comcast. We didn’t stop our insurance on our buses, ”said Hayes. “We continued to pay our bills. If we had known we were going to be shutting down for 16 months, you know, I probably would have sold my buses.

But this man, just like this city, lives and breathes cruising. He even got married on a boat.

“It’s what we do. It’s who we are. We’re a cruise ship parking family,” Hayes said.

This love kept her hope alive that the ships would return.

“You can feel it. It’s in the air. People are getting ready. People are calling. People are excited, ”said Hayes.

Cruises are expected to take off throughout July, with more ships docked in Galveston in the coming months.

But, this time off the cruise, travelers across the country have shown: there’s more here than just a port.

“What proves it is when you go out and see the cars and you see Oklahoma, you see Michigan, you see Kansas, you see Iowa,” Rees said of the tourists here. from different states coming just to enjoy the beach.

“Galveston is so rich in history and it’s kind of like, you know, little New Orleans, it’s got a lot of character. So, you know, there’s a lot of upside potential here, ”Rees said.

Because even when the cruises return, these families still want travelers to come and stay where they call home.

In a step towards a limited cruise season at the end of the summer, Norwegian Cruise Line has signed an agreement with the State of Alaska and several of Alaska’s port operators.

Governor Mike Dunleavy’s office on Thursday announced the agreement, which sets out a set of protocols that will guide the resumption of Norwegian cruises to Alaska. All cruise lines that wish to operate in the United States this year must enter into such agreements with American ports in order to navigate with the blessing of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Honestly, I was skeptical that this would happen, but I’m just excited that it actually happens, and we’re going to have cruise ships returning to Alaska this summer,” said John Binkley, president of Ward. . Cove Dock Group, which has a new private cruise ship dock just north of Ketchikan.

The first Norwegian ship would set sail for Alaska in early August. Week-long trips would run through the end of October and visit Ketchikan, Juneau, Glacier Bay National Park and Hoonah’s Icy Strait Point. Trips through the end of August would also include stops in Skagway.

The agreement stipulates that a Norwegian ship would pass through Southeast Alaska once a week. On Monday, the company said the 4,000-passenger Bliss would be on the route, but is listing four potential ships for its routes in Alaska, giving it some flexibility.

“We thank the State of Alaska for facilitating the development of this agreement, the first agreement to be submitted to the CDC for approval for Alaska,” said the president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Frank Del Rio, in a statement provided by the governor’s office. .

The multiport agreement aims to meet a requirement of the CDC. It lays out safety procedures to prevent COVID-19 from getting on board and outlines the Norwegian’s plan to respond to cases while traveling.

Notably, the company said it plans to sail only with fully vaccinated guests and crew and allow cruise tourists to explore port cities independently in accordance with updated CDC rules. If cases of COVID-19 occur on board, those infected and exposed will be quarantined in specially designated cabins. The agreement says they will rely on the medical facilities on board the ship to treat cases and “remove affected people from the area in accordance with applicable transport, medical care and accommodation requirements.”

The agreement also outlines procedures for port operators, including the requirement that 95% of port staff be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The CDC must approve the plan before the ships can set sail.

“Norwegian will submit the deal to the CDC this week, and the CDC has committed to a five-day deadline,” governor’s office spokeswoman Lauren Giliam said Thursday. Norwegian did not respond to requests for clarification of the deal.

On Thursday, the private dock owners of Ketchikan, Skagway, Juneau and Hoonah signed on, as did the Alaska State Department of Health and the Hoonah City Government.

The president and CEO of Huna Totem Corporation, owner of the Icy Strait Point cruise port in Hoonah, said the deal is a model for other ports in the Southeast.

“Together with the Governor’s team, the City of Hoonah, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and the other ports, we have created a model to follow for safe operations, allowing Alaska to resume operations,” said Russell. Dick from Huna Totem in the governor’s office press release.

Local officials in other ports in the southeast say there are still details to be worked out. Ketchikan Port Manager Mark Hilson said city officials have yet to sign the deal.

“For every port community that has not signed on, there is probably some adaptation to be done and work to be done to bring it to a point where municipal entities are comfortable adopting it,” said Hilson. “But it’s progress, and it’s greatly appreciated.

The final deal will need to be approved by Ketchikan City Council. Hilson says it’s not clear whether Norwegian plans to visit the city-owned port of Ketchikan – the cruise line has a preferential mooring arrangement with the Ward Cove wharf north of the city limits – but he says the deal serves as a model for other Alaska cruise lines.

Juneau city manager Rorie Watt says he’s waiting for an updated cruise ship schedule from Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska – the company that schedules cruise ship stopovers – before signing up.

Skagway Mayor Andrew Cremata said his local assembly has yet to give the green light to the deal; he says his community was just added to the document on Wednesday. He said Skagway had “a few issues that we want to resolve”, but he didn’t think they would be a problem “once the adjustments are made”.

Cremata said earlier this year that he was concerned Skagway might not be able to meet a CDC requirement for onshore hospital space for COVID-19 patients. The cruise line executive avoids this problem – if a passenger needs to be disembarked for COVID-19 treatment, they will be sent to a Seattle hospital. But Norwegian also says its vaccination requirements make outbreaks unlikely.

The deal does not specify whether Norwegian would bypass or restrict visitors to port communities with a major COVID-19 outbreak. This has been a concern in Ketchikan, which has seen a record spread of the disease in recent weeks. Ketchikan has already missed two small cruise ship calls due to the outbreak.

Ketchikan Port Manager Hilson said he expects other lines that visit Alaska – like Princess, Holland America and Royal Caribbean – to submit their own proposals for security protocols soon.

“We expect to hear from them shortly,” he said.

Holland America and Princess have announced their intention to restart Alaska cruises at the end of July.

This story was produced as part of a collaboration between KRBD and Alaska Energy Desk.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings on Tuesday announced a donation of $ 10 million to six Alaska port cities: Ketchikan, Juneau, Hoonah, Sitka, Skagway and Seward.

In a written announcement, the company said it was making the donation offers directly to each port community to provide humanitarian aid following the suspension of ongoing cruises.

“My heart breaks for Alaska and its wonderful people as we face a potential second year without any cruise operations during the all-important summer tourist season, dealing another blow to Alaska’s tourism economy. “CEO Frank Del Rio said in the statement. “Alaska is one of our customers’ most popular cruise destinations and we are doing everything in our power to safely resume our operations in the United States, which will provide much needed relief for families,” communities and small businesses that depend on cruise tourism for their livelihood. “

The announcement did not include specific dollar figures for each community, and a representative for the company could not be immediately reached for comment.

But the Sitka Assembly took action last week to accept a $ 1 million offer. And Juneau city manager Rorie Watt said the capital will be offered $ 2 million.

“I take it just as a sincere, good faith effort to try to be of service,” Watt said. “You know, I think that has very good symbolic value for them as well.”

Watt said NCL officials began discussing donations with him in the fall, long before news broke that some residents were trying to limit cruise ship traffic to Juneau through voting initiatives.

Watt said there were no conditions, but the Juneau Assembly will have the final say on whether the money is accepted.

The cruise industry as a whole has been for the most part unable to navigate during the pandemic. But outside of the pandemic, NCL has made significant infrastructure investments in Southeast Alaska, including in Hoonah, Ketchikan and Juneau.

“You know, they definitely have a long-term view. They are trying to develop a system, ”Watt said.

The holding company operates Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

The company said it was working as part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s process to resume cruises by July 4. She said mandatory vaccinations of all guests and crew are a cornerstone of her plan.

The Georgian Bay Theater puts Shakespeare on stage and invites the audience to discover the history of the merchants of the port city with the harbor of Collingwood as a backdrop.

The theater collective returns to the Collingwood Shipyard Amphitheater for the fourth annual Bard on the Bay Shakespeare Festival with a comedy of mistakes.

While the bard’s lyrics remain mostly intact, a few changes made by director Candy Pryce ensure the performance pays homage to Georgian Bay.

While Shakespeare’s comedy is set in Ephesus, a coastal town in the Mediterranean, the Georgian Bay Theater production sets it in Collingwood, with Georgian Bay playing the Mediterranean and Barrie replacing Syracuse – the rival port city of Ephesus. / Collingwood.

“Again, if a born Barrie comes to Collingwood Bay, he dies,” says Solinus, Duke of Collingwood (played by Pryce) at the start of the play.

Pryce said it was a happy coincidence when she noticed that an upside down version of Georgian Bay placed over the Mediterranean Sea shows Collingwood and Barrie in almost the same areas as Ephesus and Syracuse – with a little theatrical imagination added, it works.

If you are not familiar with the story, there is a set of twins both named Antipholus, and they are given servants, another set of twins, both named Dromio. They live about 20 years of their life without any confusion since one Antipholus / Dromio couple lives in Ephesus (Collingwood) and the other couple lives in Syracuse. So when the latter arrives in Ephesus (or Collingwood in this case). Several dramatic cases of mistaken identity ensue, with fights on stage, a courtesan and fart jokes – thus a comedy of errors.

The cast of ten includes three amateur actors / volunteers and seven professional actors. The play is about an hour and a half long and uses the entire amphitheater for various stages in different parts of Collingwood.

“It’s good and bad,” Pryce said. “We compete with the sound of the birds, the weather and the boats… but there is also joy in that. “

After all, a timely “scream” from a goose can really be a joke.

Bard on the Bay began in 2016 on the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death with performances of Twelfth Night. In 2017 it was A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and last year it was As You Like It.

The collective began with members from Collingwood, Meaford and Owen Sound. Pryce is from Barrie, and she said there are now a number of Barrie members in the group.

Although this is Pryce’s first acting role in the Bard on the Bay production, she has been involved in all four festivals as director and stage manager.

She’s happy the collective has continued the feature film Bard on the Bay, and she said the group is planning year round for each of the outdoor shows, with the goal of bringing professional theater to Collingwood.

“It’s really good,” Pryce said. “It’s just something that brings joy to the world and that can be wrong.”

Bard on the Bay performances are paid admissions, with a recommended donation of $ 15. There will also be food and drink trucks at some of the performances.

You can catch the Georgian Bay Theater’s Comedy of Mistakes at the Shipyards Amphitheater at the north end of Maple Street this evening and every Monday through August 5 at 6 p.m., every Saturday through August 3 at 6 p.m. and Sundays, including July. July 14 (2 p.m.) July 28 (2 p.m. and 6 p.m.) and August 4 (2 p.m.).

Theater Georgian Bay is a for-profit collective, so donations received during performances will be shared among the actors who perform there. Pryce said they have yet to be paid for their work on the show.

The collective is currently working towards obtaining non-profit status in order to qualify for artistic grants.

By Francesca Bond

Locking

VIJAYAWADA: The port towns of Kakinada in the east of Godavari and Krishnapatnam in the district of Nellore are being considered by the Vedanta group to establish a zinc smelter. The foundry will be set up by Hindustan Zinc Ltd, flagship of the Vedanta Group in India, and the project was announced during the CII partnership in Visakhapatnam last month.
According to J. Krishna Kishore, director general of the Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board (APEDB), HZL had requested 1,200 acres of land to set up the foundry. “The company said it wanted the land in the port towns, so the council showed Vedanta officials several large plots of land in Kakinada and Krishnapatnam,” he said.
When asked when he expected to know which city Vedanta would set up the foundry, Krishna Kishore said the potential of the two cities would be under consideration by the board of HZ and a decision is expected. ” soon “.
Vedanta Ltd, owned by Anil Agarwal, has a 64.92% stake in HZL, while the central government has a 29.59% stake, and the balance is held by mutual funds, financial institutions and of individual shareholders as of December 31, 2017, according to the company’s file. with stock exchanges on its shareholding.
Krishna Kishore said that HZL should invest Rs. 3000 crore in the first phase of the foundry, with another Rs. 3000 crore in the proposed second phase.
“Besides the zinc smelter, HZL also plans to set up a fertilizer plant to use sulfuric acid generated by the zinc smelting process. The fertilizer plant could be outsourced to a third party by HZL, but that’s something HZL will take care of when the foundry is commissioned, ”he said.
Vedanta’s current plan to install a zinc smelter is the non-ferrous conglomerate’s second attempt to make such a manufacturing unit successful in Andhra Pradesh. Its first attempt ended with the closure of the existing zinc smelter in Visakhapatnam in 2012.
The Visakhapatnam zinc smelter began commercial operations in 1977 and produced both zinc and lead, as well as silver as a by-product. While HZL closed its lead plant in Visakhapatnam in the mid-1990s, long before Vedanta acquired a majority stake in the company from the government, following complaints from residents of villages near the smelter that the tailings of lead seeped into their groundwater sources, the company closed its zinc smelter in 2012, with HZL and Vedanta saying it had become unviable to operate the plant by transporting zinc concentrate from its mines in Rajasthan and elsewhere. More than 300 managers and workers were made redundant when the Vizag foundry closed.
Last year, HZL hired a consultant to find a buyer for the 342 acres of land the smelter sits on, but the move was moved to a cold store after unions at Vizag raised concerns about HZL plans to recognize windfall profits on the sale of the land, which is in the Gajuwaka neighborhood. The 342 acre HZL land will cost almost Rs. 5,000 crore.
Vedanta is now considering converting the land into a ‘city center project’, as announced by the company at the partnership summit last month, and confirmed to ToI by HZL spokesman Pavan Kaushik earlier this month. .
Krishna Kishore said HZL’s new smelter in Andhra Pradesh would use imported zinc concentrate, forcing the Vedanta Group to locate the plant in a port city.

Giant ships sail towards the sea, fishermen return with their bounties, carts go back and forth carrying fishing boats and whales pass by, oblivious to all the action on the shore. Look no further for the best of Oregon’s port cities, travel destinations in their own right.

ASTORIA: Better observation of ships

Particularly beautiful at sunset, spectacular views await in Fort Stevens State Park, on the South Jetty Observation Deck, where the Columbia River meets the ocean. Or just enjoy the spectacle from inside your car at Hammond Marina Marine Park, where the sea channel passes close to shore. The Maritime Memorial Park offers up-close vantage points to observe maritime traffic and pay tribute to the lives lost at sea.

NEWPORT: the largest working seafront

Newport, the Dungeness Crab Capital of the World and proud home of the West Coast’s largest commercial fishing fleet, remains a hub of maritime activity where hungry locals and tourists alike eat like royalty along the popular waterfront for two centuries. Here, fresher than fresh seafood markets coexist with galleries, souvenir shops, restaurants, and a host of fun family attractions, including the famous Oregon Coast Aquarium.

DEPOE BAY: Le Petit Port

Claiming to be the smallest port in the world, at just 5.5 acres, Depoe Bay certainly has a lot of charm. For years a safe harbor for commercial fishing vessels taking refuge from coastal storms, it is now a home port and stopping point for all types of vessels and a point of interest for visitors who stand along the seawall to not only watch the boating action or look for Gray Whales but also to admire the artistic Depoe Bay Bridge before setting out to explore the beautiful Depoe Bay City Park.

CHARLESTON: The classic fishing town

This quaint little village, located just eight miles from Coos Bay, is the perfect gateway to outdoor adventure, on land or off. A friendly marina offers charter boats, fishing and crabbing or you can skip the work and visit the market that operates right next to Fisherman’s Wharf and choose from a range of freshly caught seafood. They’ll even clean and cook your dinner for you! Further afield, miles of beautiful beaches, state parks and unspoiled landscapes await you.

PORT ORFORD: the most unique port

Famous for its spectacular ocean views, Port Orford (pictured above) is Oregon’s only natural open water port. It is also one of the six “dolly” ports in the world. Watch in amazement as working fishing boats move in and out of the water on massive hoists throughout the day. At Battle Rock State Park, choose your trail: down to the sandy beach or straight up to the top of Battle Rock itself, where a breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean greets you.