The port of Wisbech handled 10 ships during the month of April.
Two arrived with bricks from Aalst in The Netherlands and eight with timber from Riga in Latvia.
Two vessels arrived on the 2nd Pm tide, Sandal with 1722 cbm of timber and RMS Laar with 1500 tonnes of bricks, Sandal sailed on the 3rd Pm tide bound for Riga to reload.
The crew of the RMS Laar enjoyed an extended stay in port due to the Easter bank holiday weekend; she sailed on the 7th Pm tide bound for Rotterdam.
The next arrival was on the 10th Am tide with the Helt arriving with 1906 cbm of timber, this was her first ever call at the port which seems astonishing considering she was built in 1985.
However, due to her size of 79m, she would have been too long to call at the port before November 1988 when the turning basin was extended on the West Bank enabling vessels up to 83m to call, the previous limit being 75m.
November 1988 marked the turning point for the port opening up a new size of vessel able to call classed as “Saimaamax” due to the vessels dimensions mirroring the maximum dimensions of the locks on the Saimaa canal.
The first vessel to call following the extension works was the 83.9m Herta H with steel on the 9th Nov 1988 followed a couple of weeks later by the 81.22m Atula with 3500 cbm of timber.
Helt sailed on the 13th Am tide bound for Halden in Norway. The Kata made her fifth call of the year arriving on the 12th Pm tide with 2053 cbm of timber; she then sailed on the 14th Am tide bound for Stadersand in Germany.
Sandal made her second call of the month arriving on the 14th Pm tide with 2241 cbm of timber and sailed on the 15th Pm tide bound for Eemshaven in The Netherlands.
The last week of the month coupled with some large spring tides saw a busy period with 5 ships discharged over six days, Seg arrived on the 24th Am tide with 1881 cbm of timber sailing on the 25th Pm tide bound for Antwerp in Belgium.
The 26th Am tide saw 2 arrivals with RMS Cuxhaven making her first call of the year with 1630 tonnes of bricks from Aalst in The Netherlands.
It was followed by the Stortebeker with 2643 cbm of timber, Stortebeker sailed on the 27th Am tide bound for Aberdeen in Scotland and RMS Cuxhaven sailed on the 27th Pm tide for Rotterdam in The Netherlands.
The final vessels for the month both arrived on the 29th with the Helt making her second call of the month on the Am tide with 1770 cbm of timber whilst the Sandal arrived on the Pm tide with 1852 cbm of timber.
Helt sailed on the 30th Am tide bound for Riga to reload for Wisbech whilst the Sandal sailed on the 30th Pm tide bound for Eemshaven in The Netherlands.
So once again yet another busy month for the port handling some 16,068 cubic meters of timber and 3,130 tonnes of bricks making it a total of 36 vessels year to date which is eight more than the same period in 2020.
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