Tor Bay Harbour

Brixham harbour has unfortunately suffered 4 incidents of unexploded ordnance being landed onto the quayside in the last 3 weeks, some of which have been sufficiently dangerous that they needed to be rendered safe by the Bomb Disposal Team.

These have not only been disruptive to the business activities and reputation of Brixham, they also pose a significant danger to people and infrastructure (for instance, 1 has contained phosphorus which will burn ferociously and another has been an anti-personnel weapon).

A review of CCTV footage has revealed that all of the munitions that have been landed in ‘dumpy’ bags were landed by larger vessels and while I don’t want to introduce any measures or restrictions that would hinder the efficiency with which they can operate out of Brixham, I nevertheless need to take steps to ensure that such incidents do not continue or, God forbid, someone gets seriously injured. These are listed under ‘initial actions’ below. Should these not prove effective, then I will introduce the more stringent restrictions listed under ‘follow on steps’.

Initial Actions – effective immediately:

• Attention is once again drawn to the Harbour Authority’s Notice to Mariners 10/20 which provides direction to vessels that believe they have unexploded munitions on board.
• All vessels wishing to land ‘dumpy’ bags of waste onto the quayside must ensure that:
  • The Harbour Authority is informed by VHF ch 14 before the bags are landed;
  • Bag(s) is/are clearly marked with the vessel’s name;
  • Different types of waste are not mixed; each bag is to contain either Fishing for Litter waste, or galley waste, or commercial waste, but not a combination.

Failure to adhere to the above will result in the bag being considered ‘fly tipping’ and the vessel/company involved will be invoiced for the disposal of such waste. Note that commercial waste is already chargeable since it is the vessel/company’s responsibility to arrange disposal.

Follow on steps (to be implemented if the above are not followed):

• Vessels will be required to inform the Harbour Authority on VHF ch 14 to arrange a Harbour Authority representative to be present whenever waste is landed. This will be restricted to 0800-1800 Monday-Friday and landing of waste will be prohibited outside of these times.
• Bags will be inspected to ensure that they do not contain suspect devices and any that are found will result in the quayside being immediately closed down for safety reasons.

Failure to comply with this direction, if it is imposed, will be a breach of Byelaw 91 (depositing offensive matter) and prosecutions will be sought.

Conclusion

I hope that you will support this approach which in the first instance seeks to increase quayside safety without putting barriers in the way of efficient landing operations, but I reserve the right to impose the further restrictions listed above if the risks persist.