Port Elizabeth shipping enthusiasts are in for a treat on Monday when the huge ocean liner, the Queen Mary 2, is due to dock in port.
The scheduled docking time for the 345-metre Queen Mary 2 is 8:00 am. I have seen one other media instance reporting a scheduled docking time of 9:00 am, though.
The Queen Mary is scheduled to arrive in the waters of Algoa Bay at 04h30 (UTC) before making it’s historic first time entrance and berthing in the Port Elizabeth Harbour. She left Durban harbour at 18h40 on 6 April and, at 11h30 on Sunday was off the Transkeian coast equidistant between Port St Johns and Kei Mouth travelling at a comfortable 12.1 knots en-route to Port Elizabeth.
You will be able to see the Queen Mary 2 in Algoa Bay (look for a blue ship indicator) on the MyPE Shipping page, then as the Queen Mary 2 gets closer to the Harbour have a look as she enters the Port Elizabeth Harbour HERE (or click here to see the Harbour movements only).
The Queen Mary 2 is currently on a world cruise and will depart for Cape Town Monday evening at 6:00 pm, from where it will make its way to Southampton on the coast of the English Channel.
A spectactular spectator point for the Queen Mary 2 leaving the harbour will be from the Algoa Bay Yacht Club deck – bring your camera.
Passengers onboard will get to choose from a number of Port Elizabeth destinations including excursions to:
- Kariega Game Reserve
- Port Elizabeth Highlights: Campanile Monument (Built in 1923, it commemorates the landing of the first British settlers who arrived in 1820), Summerstrand, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Campus, Shark Rock Pier, City Centre (Library, Post Office and City Hall), Donkin Memorial (a stone pyramid erected in memory of Sir Rufane Donkin’s wife Elizabeth, whom Port Elizabeth was named after), Fort Frederick, St George’s Cricket Ground and final stop the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
- Pumba Game Reserve
- Amakhala Game Reserve
- Township Experience: Missionvale, Govan Mbeki Township, Kwadwesi and Kwa Magxaki, Njoli Square, a local school, a gallery of township artists in the squatter camp, Rhamaphosa Village, Red Location.
- Addo Elephant Park
- Lalibela Game Reserve
The Queen Mary then departs South African waters via Cape Town on 10 April and will sail to Southhampton.
More about the Queen Mary 2:
RMS Queen Mary 2 was the first major ocean liner built since Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1969, the vessel she succeeded as flagship of the Cunard Line. The new ship was named Queen Mary 2 by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004 after the first RMS Queen Mary, completed in 1936. Queen Mary was in turn named after Mary of Teck, consort of King George V. With the retirement of Queen Elizabeth 2 from active duty in 2008, Queen Mary 2 is the only transatlantic ocean liner in line service between Southampton and New York, which operates for part of each year. The ship is also used for cruising, including an annual world cruise.
Although not of British construction, the ship was designed by a team of British naval architects, led by Stephen Payne. At the time of her construction in 2003 by Chantiers de l’Atlantique, Queen Mary 2 was the longest, widest, and tallest passenger ship ever built, and with her gross tonnage of 148,528 also the largest. She no longer holds this distinction after the construction of Royal Caribbean International’s 154,407 GT Freedom of the Seas in April 2006. Although later cruise ships are larger, Queen Mary 2 remains the largest ocean liner (as opposed to cruise ship) ever built.
The Queen Mary 2 was intended to routinely cross the Atlantic Ocean, and was therefore designed differently from many other passenger ships. The ship’s final cost was approximately $300,000 US per berth, nearly double that of many contemporary cruise ships. Expenses were increased by the high quality of materials, and having been designed as an ocean liner, she required 40% more steel than a standard cruise ship. Queen Mary 2 has a maximum speed of just over 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) and a cruising speed of 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph), much faster than a contemporary cruise ship. Instead of the diesel-electric configuration found on many ships, Queen Mary 2 uses integrated electric propulsion in order to achieve her top speed. This uses gas turbines to augment the power generated from the ship’s diesels.
Queen Mary 2’s facilities include fifteen restaurants and bars, five swimming pools, a casino, a ballroom, a theatre, and the first planetarium at sea. There are also kennels on board, as well as a nursery. Queen Mary 2 is one of the few ships afloat today to have remnants of a class system on board, as seen in her dining options.
Random Fact for the newly engaged: On 19 October 2011, Queen Mary 2 had her registry changed to Hamilton, Bermuda, from her home port of Southampton, England to allow the ship to host on-board weddings. This ended 171 years of British registry for Cunard ships.
The anal statisticians will get off on this:
- Tonnage: 148,528 GT
- Length: 1,132 ft (345 m)
- Beam: 135 ft (41 m) waterline, 147.5 ft (45.0 m) extreme (bridge wings)
- Height: 236.2 ft (72.0 m) keel to (top of) funnel
- Draught: 33 ft (10.1 m)
- Decks: 13 passenger, 17 total decks
- Installed power: 4 x Wärtsilä 16V 46C-CR / 16,800 kW (22,848 mHP), 2 x GE LM2500+ / 25,060 kW (34,082 mHP)
- Propulsion: Four 21.5 MW Rolls-Royce/Alstom “Mermaid” electric propulsion pods: 2 fixed and 2 azimuthing
- Speed: 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
- Capacity: 2,620 passengers
- Crew: 1,253 officers and crew
See the Queen Mary 2 enter and leave the Port Elizabeth Harbour today (8 April 2013):
See a YouTube video of the Queen Mary 2 arriving in Cape Town Harbour on 24 January 2012:
Alan Straton
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