LNG terminal exclusion zone

LNG exclusion zone
Chartlet courtesy of Wilsonian SC

At the last MSBA business meeting, Captain Ian Clark reminded boaters to keep 150 metres away from the LNG terminal. Otherwise, proximity alarms go off and mayhem ensues, potentially resulting in a fine!

Curiously, the Notice to Mariners states that the exclusion zone increases to 250m if a tanker is berthed, but only if your vessel is >50m long or you are exceeding 7.5 knots through the water.

3 thoughts on “LNG terminal exclusion zone”

  1. What is their overall plan? To stop leisure users from the Medway.
    I’m fed up with the continuous rules that are released that is detrimental to users of the river.
    Perhaps the Medway is not the best place to have this facility.

  2. Yes, kind of agree with above … have always tried to keep clear and not (especially) tack in too close. The exclusion zone impinges on the ‘slacker’ water coming in against the tide from the Grain, forcing one out into channel…

    And, as has been pointed out, as I’m a mere 7.2m am I excluded … I fear not, and not only for reasons of sense. Clearly they view rule applies to ALL pleasure craft of whatever length…

    Maybe the aim is to have a regulated channel for us to transit, canal style…

    Peel Ports would be better off dealing with the obstruction to small craft off the Grain Fort … and the old defence boom pylons now sticking out into good water along Burntwick. Oh yes, I forgot, big ships aren’t affected!

  3. When I asked Ian Clark, the new Peel Ports Marine Manager, how a leisure boater would know if he/she is 150 metres off the terminal, he replied that the zone is shown on up-to-date charts. This implies that you can take a fix to, say, 50m accuracy, while sailing in Saltpan Reach.

    As for the massive nasty obstruction on Grain Hard, it is shown on the charts (the largest scale official ones anyway) so Peel Ports are not going to move it. As it’s outside the buoyed channel they will not even mark it. There is a recommended yacht track which passes close to the Grain Hard buoy. It’s best to pass close to it if you go on the landward side.

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