Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00She's a new breed, a cruise ship for cars, lorries and passengers, a super-sized super-ferry.
00:10It's Cutting Edge, it's the largest ferry in the world.
00:13Stenna Britannica is a multi-million pound gamble that size and style will give her the edge to rule the North Sea,
00:20and one of the busiest ferry routes in the world.
00:24A lot of pressure on us, I feel.
00:26The stakes are huge. To survive, this super-ferry must convince millions to come on board.
00:33This is the acid test. We're doing this for real.
00:45Stenna Britannica and her sister ship, Stenna Hollandica, have broken the mould.
00:50They're the biggest ferries in the world, 240 metres long, two and a half times as tall as Big Ben.
00:58These ferries are monsters.
01:01Seven decks, each the size of a football pitch, hold more than 500 vehicles.
01:07Three passenger decks, 538 cabins, three restaurants and a cinema that can entertain 1,200 passengers.
01:17Sector Rosenberg, Stenna Britannica. Good afternoon.
01:21They cost an astonishing £360 million.
01:27But their owners are banking on these super-ferries to carry more customers across the sea than any competing line.
01:34It's a six-hour journey across one of the busiest waterways in the world.
01:39Britannica will have to make the round-trip from the hook of Holland to Harwich in England every day.
01:45That's 365 days a year.
01:51In Rotterdam, the future is almost ready to go.
01:54But Britannica's captain, Matthew Holmes, is under pressure.
01:58He's got just two days to get his big ship ready for a final inspection.
02:03We've got the two long lines from the port quarter, have we?
02:07If she doesn't pass, she doesn't sail.
02:10That's perfect. We've got a little bit of wind forecast later on in the week.
02:19It's not going to be easy for Captain Holmes and his 90-member crew.
02:23They have all just met their new ship, and it will take every one of them to get her ready in time.
02:29So a lot of unfamiliarity for everybody, not just me, everybody.
02:33And it's a team effort, no question about that.
02:36Captain Holmes wastes no time checking up on every department.
02:40So you're putting the cameras and the monitors? Yes.
02:43When will you have that ready?
02:45How are we doing with the stuff out of the container?
02:48Is it empty? Yeah, all empty.
02:50But Captain Holmes can't do it all.
02:55Paul Woods is an onboard services manager.
02:57His job is to make sure everything from the cabins to the kitchens to the dog kennels are ready for inspection.
03:06At the moment, there's a lot of chaos,
03:08but it won't be long before we can get all this gear away and all the equipment up and running.
03:13The kitchen is one of the biggest challenges.
03:16It's huge, the size of an Olympic swimming pool.
03:20In just one year, the chefs will walk more than 1,600 kilometres,
03:25cook 75,000 kilos of meat and stir a million litres of soup.
03:31You OK in here, Arthur?
03:34Where's all this kit going anyway, guys? Are we going to have room for all this?
03:38Hopefully, mate, hopefully.
03:40Deck 11 is where the superferry really starts to look like a cruise ship.
03:45Up here, it's a floating first-class hotel with 538 passenger cabins.
03:52Tony Rudge and his team have to make sure everyone is in perfect shape.
03:58We've got 1,368 beds to make.
04:02We've got a three-day structure to get those made because the public will be on very shortly.
04:08But there's a bigger deadline looming.
04:11In just a few hours, four safety inspectors are due on board, and Captain Holmes has a problem.
04:17The state-of-the-art fire alarm system is malfunctioning.
04:22If they can't fix the fault, Britannica's maiden voyage will be delayed,
04:26a blow that could put the huge investment at risk.
04:30It's one of those ship stoppers, as we call them.
04:33Potentially, it can prevent us sailing, so it's quite important.
04:37Captain Holmes calls Chief Engineer Brian Fowley up to the bridge to solve the problem.
04:42Usually, it's a new ship, you're going to have team problems for a few days.
04:48The alarm system divides the ship into 22 zones, with 200 smoke detectors in each zone.
04:54When it isn't working, it's like a string of Christmas lights.
04:58If one detector fails, so does the entire zone,
05:02sending dozens of false alarm signals to the bridge.
05:05So you can't sail if the fire alarm system doesn't work on a passenger ship, or any ship.
05:12The fault has to be found, and fast.
05:15How long do you think?
05:17Three, four o'clock, something like that.
05:19Excellent.
05:21Big or small, there are dozens of problems to be solved to get the superferry ready,
05:25and Captain Holmes is loving every one of them.
05:29They're not headaches, it's just busy, I like it.
05:33Up on the bridge, electrician Mike Pearce is working on the problem.
05:38Up on the bridge, electrician Mike Pearce and the engineers have done their job.
05:43The fire alarm system is fixed.
05:46It's basically the CPU and the engine run, which has gone down due to bad communication.
05:52Everything's operating okay now, it's looking good, it's looking like a good fix.
05:56And just in time, the safety inspectors have arrived.
06:00I suggest we split up into teams, technical and technical.
06:06Two days of surveying and testing, and hopefully we have a successful conclusion tomorrow.
06:13The inspectors have to okay all technical systems, from the bridge to the engine room.
06:19What I would like to see here on the panel is that all the doors are in open position.
06:23Yeah, okay, I can show you that.
06:29Finally, the technical inspection is finished.
06:32Yeah, things are going well. The surveyors are happy.
06:36But now that the ship has been put through her paces, it's time for the crew to be put under the microscope.
06:42Cabin evac leaders, cabin evac.
06:45The final test is a mock fire drill.
06:48Officers must demonstrate how they can lead crew members acting as passengers into the lifeboats safely and flawlessly.
06:56If they can't, Britannica's first sailing will be postponed until they get it right.
07:03Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking.
07:06We have a fire on board. As a precaution, we are evacuating all...
07:10Okay, ladies and gentlemen.
07:12If you'd like to go along here and see my colleague, he'll instruct you on how to don a life jacket.
07:21We're just putting the boats to the water. It's part of the regulations.
07:24When you do a drill, you have to put the boats to the water.
07:27We're just demonstrating to the surveyors that the crew know what they're doing.
07:32When the drill is over, the crew wait for Inspector Wouter Krooyen to deliver his verdict.
07:40We think everything went pretty well.
07:42They've passed. With flying colours.
07:45And I appreciate the efforts.
07:51That's it. Smoke over. Back to work. Thank you. Thank you.
07:56Now Captain Holmes and his crew have just 24 hours to put the finishing touches on their super ferry and get ready to sail.
08:07By the next afternoon, the shops are stocked, the 60-seat cinema is spotless and so are the vehicle decks.
08:15The world's largest ferry is empty for the very last time.
08:20But before Britannica can get to work, Captain Holmes has to guide her out of a very tight spot.
08:26She's due at the ferry terminal in the Hook of Holland in just a few hours.
08:30If she doesn't get out fast, she'll leave her first customers stranded on the dock.
08:38It's super ferry Stenna Britannica's first day at work.
08:41She's passed all her inspections and her crew is ready to go.
08:46John, is sunkey one or sunkey two first?
08:50But before she can get to work, she has to travel just a few kilometres down the busy Rhine River to the Hook of Holland ferry terminal.
08:58And she could be late.
09:00Britannica is sandwiched between a pier, a dry dock and an oil tanker.
09:06It's a tight jam for the biggest ferry in the world to get out of.
09:10Captain Matthew Holmes also has the Rhine's infamous current running against him.
09:15He has to wait for the exact moment when the tides change direction.
09:19And the current is the weakest.
09:22It's called slack tide and it's just minutes away.
09:26Captain Holmes will have a narrow window, just ten minutes, to move his ship into the river.
09:31Miscalculate and he'll have to wait another 12 hours, putting the ship's maiden voyage on hold.
09:37Good afternoon. How are you, Captain?
09:39We're good. I recognise you.
09:42He's going to need all the help he can get, including a pilot and three tugboats, to guide him out of port.
09:48It's a brand new ship and I don't want to bend it on my first trip.
09:52With the tugs in position and Captain Holmes watching the clock, slack tide begins.
09:57It's time to go.
09:59Before and after. If you could single up to one head line, one spring forward and one stern line and one spring afterwards.
10:07As the big ship starts to move...
10:10What other heading do you want?
10:13First Officer Neil Rice keeps watch on the port side to make sure Britannica doesn't collide with the parked oil tanker.
10:20How far are we off down aft now, please?
10:25It's a very awkward manoeuvre but it's what we have to do to get out of here.
10:30Tugboat Captain John Venice is no stranger to navigating tight spots.
10:35But he's never worked with such a super-sized ship before.
10:39This ship is quite big. You can see here the timber is quite narrow.
10:43We are lucky we have not too much wind.
10:46Captain Holmes must navigate carefully but still move quickly.
10:51The tidal window is closing fast.
10:54It's not over till it's over and it's not over yet.
10:57This is where you make mistakes when you think it's nearly over.
11:01His timing is flawless.
11:04Britannica turns into the Rhine just when the current is at its weakest.
11:10Nothing's perfect, let's see.
11:13But no, it's all right. No nasty surprises.
11:16Let's just want to get into service now.
11:18Let's get some customers on and show them what a nice ship we've got.
11:22With an open river in front of her, Britannica has just an hour to get to the hook of Holland.
11:28You have the con, please.
11:31265.
11:35Britannica arrives to find the ferry she's replacing, the old Britannica,
11:39already at the pier, delivering her very last load of passengers and cargo.
11:52Captain Holmes was the master on old Britannica for eight years.
11:56Today he's saying goodbye as she leaves to work on another route.
12:01Now the two ferries literally have to switch positions.
12:05Britannica, this is standard Britannica. Hello, Roger.
12:08The intention is we're going to swing between the separation buoy and the low light.
12:13We'll finish up on the south side of the river.
12:17With two huge ferries turning circles in the busy Rhine River, an accident would be all too easy.
12:24Rotterdam Vessel Traffic Control keeps an eye on the ferries as they manoeuvre.
12:29Britannica has no outbound traffic anymore, only one inbound sea vessel, NW-13.
12:35Yes, sir. See you. Thank you very much, sir.
12:37Ari Villap acts just like an air traffic controller.
12:41Right now he's watching the two Britannicas switch places.
12:45This is standard Britannica. She's coming to sea.
12:48We'll wait until the Britannica has left the quay.
12:51Then the Britannica is coming back and going to moor at Standard Jetty in Overland.
12:57The two ships swing safely around each other in the river.
13:05Old Britannica is now officially off duty.
13:08And new Britannica is ready to pick up right where she left off.
13:14First, Captain Holmes manoeuvres her into position.
13:18Here, in the hook of Holland, he has to back his ship into her berth.
13:25His docking must be very precise in order to line up the Britannica with the vehicle ramps.
13:35Job done. Another successful docking.
13:40As soon as the ramps touch down, first on board is more crew from the old Britannica.
13:47Welcome on board. It's nice to have you.
13:49They have to find their cabins quickly.
13:51Vehicles, passengers and cargo will begin loading in just a few minutes.
13:56And Captain Holmes is eager to get to work.
14:04He won't have long to wait. Hundreds of lorries and cars are lined up, ready to drive on board.
14:11It's the last time officers John Pye and Rodney Jones will see the vehicle decks so clean and so empty.
14:28Up in the galley, head chef Tony Marvin and a la carte chef Stuart Morrison are rushing to get ready.
14:35It's Friday night, the start of the weekend and the busiest night for walk-on passengers.
14:40Tonight, they're planning to serve over a thousand dinners.
14:45In a hotel ashore, if you have a big party on, you can call in extra staff.
14:49But on the ship, we're set to our crew because we're limited to space for working in and obviously for living on board.
14:59Britannica has just five chefs to feed up to 1,200 people at once.
15:04So they have to devise a system to get enough meals ready on time.
15:09There's a new process which is regeneration for party groups.
15:14It allows the chefs to prepare food all day, then store it in special refrigerators until passengers place an order.
15:21What the system didn't plan for is the size of the storage carts.
15:29Doesn't fit.
15:30Got a problem, Tony?
15:32Yeah, don't fit, mate.
15:36I thought they were designed to fit into the fridge.
15:38Yeah, I think it's...
15:41That's a problem.
15:43Fortunately, they won't have to worry about storing any food tonight.
15:47Hundreds of passengers are boarding the ferry, checking into their rooms and packing the restaurants and bars.
15:56The first crossing hasn't even begun and it's already full speed ahead.
16:03Down on the vehicle decks, Peter van der Broeck and his dog Nero are looking for unwanted passengers.
16:11I'm looking for illegal trespassers, people that will try to get across the border over the water to a different country.
16:20Peter and Nero will check every vehicle for stowaways before the ferry leaves port.
16:25And they know all the best hiding places.
16:28They could be hiding in the pallet boxes, they could be hiding under the chassis, they could be hiding everywhere.
16:34Every week they find at least one stowaway and sometimes they catch them more than once.
16:40Ferries go on a daily base, so if they get caught today, they'll try it again tomorrow.
16:51Second officer John Pye is also on the lookout for problems.
16:56He's completing a final inspection of the vehicle decks. Britannica is now loaded and secured.
17:08Finally, John gives the OK to disconnect the ramps. It's time to go. Right on schedule.
17:16In the hook of Holland, Superferry Stena Britannica is fully loaded with passengers, vehicles and freight.
17:26She's ready to sail on her maiden voyage across the North Sea.
17:32The vehicle ramps are disconnected from the ship and her bow thrusters push her away from the pier.
17:41Britannica is on her way.
17:45The massive 240-metre long ship has to slowly turn 180 degrees in the River Rhine before she can head for her destination.
17:54Harwich in England, 200 kilometres away.
18:02She has six hours to cross the North Sea and deliver a thousand passengers and thousands of tonnes of cargo on time.
18:15Freight is the backbone of the business, and the Britannica was designed to attract more trucks than any other ferry.
18:25The drivers even have their own restaurant.
18:30Trucker Yolanda Church likes what she sees.
18:34We have our own world, and the passengers who are also on the ship don't know our world.
18:42Arjen van Bloem is another convert.
18:46Yes, the food is good, the cabins are good, nice people on the ferry. Very good.
18:53And while all the passengers eat and sleep in cruise ship comfort,
18:58up on the bridge it's Second Officer Paul Foster's job to navigate the world's biggest ferry across one of the world's busiest waterways.
19:07Right now he's on the lookout for ships that don't abide by the rules.
19:12The biggest challenge is I am aware of the rules I must follow, but not every other ship out there is.
19:20That's the biggest challenge, so we have to think for them.
19:23Every year there are dozens of collisions on this stretch of water, and every day dozens of rogue ships cross Britannica's path.
19:32Day in, day out, every crossing there will be other ships not following the regulations correctly.
19:38Tonight Paul is keeping track of more than 40 ships on various courses.
19:43Every one of them is a potential problem.
19:46Computers can identify each ship and then automatically adjust Britannica's course,
19:53but sometimes good old-fashioned visual navigation is the only way to go.
19:58I find it easier to navigate at night because instead of judging the aspect of another ship with relation to us,
20:10you're seeing a light, a red light. A red light tells me exactly what side of the ship I'm looking at.
20:16The challenge is to maintain a speed of 20 knots while navigating a maze of obstacles in the pitch black.
20:24And stay on schedule. Paul does a perfect job.
20:30It's 4am as Britannica ferries her first load of passengers and freight into Harwich.
20:35Safe, sound and right on time.
20:42At 62,000 tonnes, almost 20,000 tonnes greater than Titanic, it's the biggest strain ever put on this pier.
20:52Up on the bridge, Captain Holmes watches closely as the 50-tonne bow doors open wide and two massive vehicle wraps are deployed.
21:01Now they've got just six hours to get Britannica ready for her return trip to Holland.
21:08It's a tight deadline. Trucks need to get moving as soon as the ship docks.
21:16Drivers are woken up at 3.30 in the morning, so they can start to offload by 4.30.
21:22For Jolanda Church, it's just another day. She'll drive 600 kilometres today.
21:28She'll drive 600 kilometres today to deliver a load of electronics.
21:36As soon as the walk-on passengers depart, there's less than three hours left to clean the ship from top to bottom.
21:47Cabins have to be stripped and cleaned, and the laundry trucked off the ship to be washed in Harwich.
21:5315 tonnes of dirty linen every week.
21:58And clean laundry carted back on.
22:0550 cubic metres of rubbish and recycling, enough to fill five lorries, are picked up every week.
22:13Paul Woods has to make sure the ferry's first turnaround goes off without a hitch.
22:19As the sun rises, the next load of lorries and cars are already lining up.
22:25For Captain Holmes, they represent a massive challenge.
22:29His ship is 30% larger than the old Britannica, but he still has the same three-hour window to load.
22:37To get the job done, the super-ferry was built using an existing roll-on, roll-off design.
22:42Vehicles enter at one end of the ship and exit at the other, allowing them to get on and off fast.
22:51But on Britannica, they built a brand-new ramp system that allows vehicles to enter and exit from two decks at the same time.
22:59It's called LinkSpan.
23:02The physical changes are what you can see here. This is the main part here, which is the double-deck LinkSpan.
23:08That's the main bit that we've had to do.
23:11Martin Stewart is freight manager for the port of Harwich.
23:15The new ramp system required a massive multi-million pound rebuilding project, both here and at the hook of Holland.
23:23When the ferry arrives, the lower ramp is deployed from the ship onto the pier.
23:28At the same time, the hydraulically operated bridge folds down from the shore onto the ship's upper deck.
23:34A lot quicker than it used to be. The two-deck loading we've got now helps a lot. It's a lot quicker with the two-deck loading.
23:41At maximum capacity, they can load 175 vehicles an hour.
23:48Britannica is ready to depart, and LinkSpan operator Ben Nichols is disconnecting the super-ferry for the first time.
23:56And he's feeling the pressure.
23:58It is. Do you have it? It is? Yep.
23:59The largest passenger ferry in the world. Something you don't want to damage.
24:02This is its first voyage out of Harwich.
24:04You've only got a matter of two or three inches left or right, forwards or backwards movement,
24:08and if the ship's not in the right position, the bridge is going to hit the ship.
24:12Ben works carefully with the ship's bosun, Dave Payne.
24:16One slip, and they could cause major damage.
24:19Look at the bridge there. It's got to come down and miss that.
24:22You hear a funny scraping noise.
24:24And after Britannica's bow doors are sealed watertight, she's ready to depart.
24:32Hello. Start up the engine. Start up. Yep, will do. Cheers.
24:37Engineer Simon Bowes uses a high-tech touchscreen to start up each of the two-deck loading.
24:43It's a lot quicker with the two-deck loading we've got now helps a lot.
24:47It's a lot quicker with the two-deck loading we've got now helps a lot.
24:50Engineer Simon Bowes uses a high-tech touchscreen to start up each of the ship's four 60,000-horsepower engines one by one.
24:59There goes number four.
25:03But just as engine number two fires up, there's a sudden massive shutdown.
25:08The temperature's too high.
25:10Chief Engineer Brian Fowley heads immediately for the engine room.
25:14The engines are overheating, and they don't know why.
25:17Temperature's still rising. It's shot back up to 99 again. Yeah.
25:21Brian's got to solve the problem quickly. The ferry has got to get moving.
25:26He decides to override the computer system and cool the engines manually before trying to start them again.
25:32We're going to run a few valves by hand to cool the temperature down a touch.
25:38All set. Give them a start signal. Yeah.
25:43It works.
25:44Hi, Matthew. We've just clutched in, got the engines going. I'm just going to change mode, then I'll pass it up to you.
25:50All right. We'll be ready. Cheers.
25:52The problem looked huge, but the solution was deceptively simple.
25:57One of the valves on the heat recovery system was actually in manual, and it should have been automatic.
26:04So you just click that, put it in automatic, that drops the temperature.
26:09Just another day in the life.
26:11Captain Holmes has got his engines, but now he's also got another problem.
26:21An oil tanker is blocking his departure and won't answer its radio.
26:34Until they can, Britannica is stuck in Harwich, unable to begin her return trip.
26:41He's not communicating with anybody. He's doing all this on his own.
26:45But there's nothing the captain can do.
26:48In the port of Harwich, oil and gas tankers, or ships with dangerous cargo, always have the right of way.
26:54VTS, stand by Britannica. We're just going to wait here until somebody speaks with this tanker and tells us what's going on.
27:00At Harwich VTS, the person responsible for doing that is Ashley Parker.
27:05It's his job to get both ships safely out of port.
27:08The nature of the traffic is that you get close quarters situations all the time.
27:13What we do is try and minimise the dangers.
27:16That means Britannica is stuck.
27:19She'll have to wait for the slow-moving tanker to get out of the way.
27:23The super-ferry may now be late on her very first round-trip.
27:28This is just irritating, but we're safe, the ship's safe, that's the bottom line.
27:34Finally, the ill-behaved tanker makes way.
27:38And Captain Holmes puts the pedal to the metal.
27:47Britannica is now 30 minutes late.
27:50To catch up, it's full speed ahead.
27:55Down on the passenger decks, no-one is aware of the drama playing out on the bridge.
27:59They don't even notice the increasingly heavy swell and high winds.
28:05The shallow North Sea is infamous for its choppy seas.
28:09Captain Holmes is already facing three-metre high waves.
28:13We've got a northerly wind, a northerly swell, and it's quite significant.
28:18For a flat-bottomed ferry, that could cause big problems for the ship and a lot of seasick passengers.
28:25If it weren't for her state-of-the-art fins, called stabilisers,
28:29that deploy when the weather gets rough to keep the gigantic ship from heaving around like a toy in a bathtub.
28:37The ship's pretty steady, very comfortable, and you can see there on the fin stabiliser panel, they are working very hard.
28:45Like wings on an airplane, the computer-controlled stabilisers adjust to the size and direction of the waves to keep the ship level.
28:53On a ferry carrying passengers and vehicles, it's not a luxury, it's a necessity.
28:59It's comfortable for the passengers, but also for the cargo.
29:02We don't have to put so many lashings on the trailers and the freight vehicles because of that.
29:07High-tech navigation tools and clear visibility make for smooth sailing.
29:12But as Britannica reaches the coast of Holland, Second Officer Ricky Winchester is getting worried about the wind.
29:19Mars Approach, Mars Approach.
29:25It's picking up and could make docking both challenging and dangerous.
29:29Yeah, may I trouble you for a wind update inside the harbour, please?
29:38North-northwest, five to six. Thanks very much.
29:41Building the world's largest ferry comes with a price.
29:44She's so tall that she catches the wind like a sail and can easily be pushed off course.
29:49I have to update the captain on the wind.
29:52If it's a strong wind, he has to decide whether he has to take tugs or not.
29:57The mouth of the Great Rhine River is wide open and unprotected.
30:02Breakwaters help reduce the swell, but heavy winds can push ships around and slow them down.
30:08After her delay out of Harwich, Britannica is due at the Hook of Holland terminal in just 20 minutes, and she can't be late.
30:16Captain Holmes calls in a tug.
30:19As we go past, he'll come in on our starboard side, ready to push.
30:24The tug guides the stern of the super-ferry safely into her berth.
30:32And Port Stevedores quickly secure the enormous ship.
30:36The brand-new double-decker ramp system is lowered into position, and unloading begins immediately.
30:43In less than three hours, the job is done. Now it's time to start again.
30:49And they have to move fast. It's Sunday, the busiest night of the week for lorries.
30:54And they've got their biggest payload yet.
30:57Freight is the ship's bread-and-butter, the money-spinner that keeps it afloat.
31:02I know we've got a big load tonight. I think it's over 200 drivers tonight.
31:05Should be good. Make some money.
31:08200 lorries is almost capacity.
31:14Sunday and Mondays are our busiest nights.
31:18We've got a lot of work to do.
31:20But loading the lorries quickly isn't the only challenge.
31:23They've also got to be parked precisely.
31:27Britannica can carry 4,000 tons of cargo per trip.
31:31Every lorry, trailer and car must be strategically placed in the right place.
31:37And it's not easy.
31:40It's not easy.
31:43It's not easy.
31:46Every lorry, trailer and car must be strategically placed to keep the ship stable.
31:52The balance between the port and starboard is fairly critical.
31:55But we've got some big heeling tanks that will keep the ship upright.
32:01Tonight, First Officer Rodney Jones is the man in the hot seat.
32:09If he makes a mistake, the ship doesn't sail.
32:12But Rodney's got a state-of-the-art system to help him out.
32:15Stability software will warn him when the ship is out of balance.
32:19We're looking at the trim of the ship as the main thing.
32:22It's a fine tolerance for a ship this size.
32:26Trim is how level a ship is, from bow to stern.
32:31It's Rodney's job to keep the massive 240-metre superferry completely flat.
32:37To do that, he uses the load stability software to decide exactly where each lorry and car should be placed.
32:47A level ship isn't the only worry.
32:51Second Officer John Pye has to keep his eye on the dangerous goods.
32:56Everything from household paint to corrosive liquids.
32:59It must all be stowed safely for what could be a rough journey across the sea.
33:04You have to identify where they are located on the ship.
33:07So if there was a fire on board, we'd be aware of what was there.
33:11As the stevedores lash the last trailers to the deck, John gives the all-clear.
33:16Yeah, Graham, that's them finished on seven deck, close up, if you like.
33:20Britannica's crew has done it.
33:23They've loaded more lorries than a ferry has ever carried before.
33:27And they've finished the job in record time.
33:30But as Captain Holmes prepares to set a course for Harwich,
33:33he and his crew have no idea that Britannica's challenges have only just begun.
33:40Superferry Stenna Britannica is back in Harwich.
33:44It's just her second round trip and she's running at almost full capacity,
33:48carrying over 200 lorries that need to get off fast.
33:53The huge unloading job goes off without a hitch.
33:57Using the double-decker ramp system, the ferry is empty in less than an hour.
34:03Once again, it's time to reload.
34:05And that job, too, is completed right on schedule.
34:12But at the bow, there's a problem, and it's a big one.
34:16The 50-tonne lower vehicle ramp won't close.
34:21Chief Engineer Brian Fowley is trying to find the problem.
34:25And find it fast.
34:30A worried Captain Holmes stands by and watches closely.
34:42If they can't close the ramp, Britannica can't leave port.
34:46The ramp and bow doors must form a watertight seal.
34:50If they don't, the ferry could sink like a stone.
35:02Hanging from the rafters almost 10 metres above deck, it's dangerous, delicate work.
35:12It's a serious problem.
35:14Another ship-stopper.
35:17The bow ramp forms a watertight seal in the closed position
35:21and is locked in place by two giant hydraulic pins.
35:25When lifted up, one of the pins failed to retract and tore a piece of metal,
35:30blocking it from closing securely.
35:33It's about an inch shy, frankly, of going all the way home.
35:37Right, the force has actually snapped this guardrail here.
35:41And now the pin won't move out of the way.
35:43It won't move in or it won't move out.
35:45To seal the ramp, they need to cut off the broken piece.
35:49Wow.
35:50Oh, come to Daddy.
35:55After two hours of grinding, pounding and brute force...
36:01OK, Pete, you can close the door now. Close the door.
36:11The ramp closes and the doors are sealed.
36:15But it's a short-term fix.
36:17The ramp mechanism still needs to be repaired,
36:20but for now Britannica can leave Harwich safely.
36:25Yeah, before and after you can let the loose ropes go, the drum end ropes.
36:30OK, thank you.
36:32Did you copy, Dave?
36:34It's not a good start and there's still a long day ahead,
36:37but Captain Holmes remains cool, calm and collected.
36:41I know that it's not good for the customers,
36:44so, you know, we've had a big problem this morning.
36:48We've fixed it temporarily,
36:50and now we've got to get to Holland safely and quickly
36:54and try and minimise the delay.
36:56But on the dock, the stevedores seem to have a schedule of their own.
37:00Come over here, please, John.
37:02Britannica needs to get moving, and she's still tied up.
37:07Bridge, throttle, please slide the headline.
37:11By the time she casts off, Britannica is a full two hours and 30 minutes late.
37:16She can cross the North Sea at a top speed of 22 knots,
37:20but it's now impossible to arrive on time.
37:24As Britannica arrives in the hook of Holland,
37:27Captain Holmes still has to deal with the broken bow ramp.
37:31Without it, the Super Ferry's roll-on-roll-off design is compromised,
37:36and with it, her ability to unload fast.
37:40In Holland, vehicles can still enter and exit at the stern of the ship on two levels,
37:45but in Harwich, they can only enter and exit on the upper level
37:49until the lower ramp is repaired.
37:55Bottom line.
37:57Loading and unloading will now take twice as long.
38:01It's not so easy. Of course not.
38:03Hook of Holland port supervisor Erik Jeevers and foreman Ferry Wolff
38:07will have to work closely with the ship's crew to restructure the load plan
38:11and get the Super Ferry back on schedule.
38:15One mistake on the vehicle decks and an accident with a 20-metre long lorry
38:19could shut down the entire ferry.
38:22When they're blocked, it's not possible to do discharging anymore,
38:25and then we have a lot of problems.
38:27With Britannica already behind schedule,
38:30there's no time to lose getting her loaded and on her way back to England.
38:39It's time to get started.
38:46And while the port stevedores carefully direct drivers where to park,
38:51the ship's engineers battle to repair the damaged ramp.
39:00One second, we're still going to wait on.
39:07One second and I'll just check the map.
39:10Up on the passenger decks, it's business as usual.
39:13But down below, the broken bow ramp has slowed down the loading and unloading,
39:17and no-one knows how long it will take to fix.
39:20Ready, Dave?
39:21Yeah, you're ready on the key, Neil. Yeah, ready.
39:24Hi, Hans, way to go.
39:26It is fully out.
39:27Hans Niemons-Verdriet, an engineer with the company who built the ramp,
39:31has been called in.
39:32Very nice to be here.
39:34And he works through the night with the ship's crew on the crossing to Harwich.
39:38I'll try to adjust it a little bit.
39:42But six hours later, they have to get out of the way,
39:45as dozens of vehicles make a U-turn at the broken bow ramp
39:48and drive two decks up to exit on the upper bridge.
39:53Without the ability to drive off on two levels,
39:56the unload is agonisingly slow,
39:58putting intense pressure on the crew to stay on schedule.
40:05Up on the bridge,
40:06Captain Holmes is worried about the consequences of the breakdown.
40:10It just means we're not giving the best service to the customer at the moment.
40:14Some of them may have to wait a bit longer on the key than they're expecting.
40:19Britannica heads back to Holland with her bow ramp still out of action.
40:27There's the enemy harbour in front of us.
40:29With the engineers hard at work below,
40:32there's nothing Captain Holmes can do
40:34but get on with the job of running his ship.
40:37I'm going to do my rounds now.
40:41One of those tasks...
40:43Morning, gentlemen. Everything OK?
40:47Twice a day, every day, he inspects Britannica from bow to stern.
40:52It's a two-and-a-half-kilometre hike to maintain morale.
40:58And look out for problems.
41:00The glitch with the refrigerator doors has been fixed,
41:03their frames adjusted so that food can now roll in and out.
41:07Basically, all it was, it was the metal strip.
41:10He took the whole piece out and modified it and reattached it
41:13and it was able to go in.
41:15Well done.
41:18He's just keeping tabs on people and catching up with what's going on.
41:21If I don't walk around, they don't come and tell me about their daily life.
41:26How many engine rooms have you got a window to the outside world?
41:31Both, both, Captain.
41:34Right. That's my rounds, just about done.
41:37I just like to keep a pulse on how people are getting on and what they're doing.
41:42Meanwhile, the engineers continue to work night and day to repair the ramp.
41:47Is the light float not on?
41:51No go.
41:52While Captain Holmes battles to stay on schedule,
41:55and the deck crew, hampered by the damaged ramp,
41:58load and unload as fast as they can.
42:02Finally, after working around the clock for 72 hours
42:06and six trips across the North Sea, the ramp is fixed.
42:10Now everything is as it should be.
42:13The hydraulic pins that lock and unlock the ramp now work perfectly.
42:17They've made a new retaining plate, joined it on the pin,
42:20and we made it 20 millimetres shorter because the clearance is very tight.
42:25You can see where the paint worked, it's starting to come off.
42:28Since the repair, nothing wrong.
42:30Hopefully it lasts 20 years.
42:33The biggest ferry in the world is back at the top of her game,
42:37loading and unloading hundreds of vehicles
42:40and maintaining a relentless schedule.
42:44I knew we'd fix it, but I didn't know how long it was going to take.
42:48So it doesn't rain, it pours sometimes.
42:52Hey-ho, this is all part of the job.
42:55It's been just a week since Britannica went into service,
42:59but her captain and crew have proven they can handle anything that comes their way.
43:06I love my job.
43:07And I think if you talk to everybody else on the ship, it's the same thing.
43:11The ship will not operate without people,
43:14and the soul of the ship is the people on the ship.
43:18That's what makes the ship.
43:21And for years to come, through fog, rain, sleet and snow,
43:26Stena Britannica will carry millions of passengers, cars and lorries
43:31between England and the continent, and never stop.
43:41STENA BRITANNICA
43:44STENA BRITANNICA
43:47STENA BRITANNICA
43:50STENA BRITANNICA
43:53STENA BRITANNICA
43:56STENA BRITANNICA
43:59STENA BRITANNICA
44:02STENA BRITANNICA