BBC - Channel Patrol (2014) Part 3

Channel Patrol

Documentary series following the lives of those that use the English Channel for pleasure, those that earn a living from it, and most importantly those who keep it safe.

Part 3:

We follow the crew and pilots on a mammoth cargo freighter as it makes its way through the channel's hazards to Southampton in thick fog. 95 per cent of everything we buy comes to us via sea and the cargo ships that bring us everything from TVs to fresh fruit and veg are getting ever larger. At 368 metres long, the APL Merlion is 62 metres bigger than London's tallest building, the Shard. Getting this mammoth beast safely into port in poor visibility is no mean feat. It's one of the many challenges faced on a daily basis by the team in Vessel Traffic Services in Southampton, who help to park up huge cruise liners as well as massive freighters like this. One of the UK's busiest ports, Southampton handles almost 40 million tonnes of freight and also has 1.7 million cruise passengers passing through it every year.

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