Supporting the Authority’s 24 hour, 365 days a year operation is our highly skilled, versatile engineering and marine support teams.

Marine engineering

The engineering team maintain the Authority’s fleet of vessels around the clock, which includes planned maintenance, such as the pilot boats’ yearly re-fit and emergencies.

The work can be demanding. It’s central to people’s safety, and our engineers and marine fitters are relied upon by the Port of Felixstowe for operational pilot boats. In short, the whole Haven looks to the Authority to keep everything moving.

Trained to excellent standards, our team deals with a huge scope of maintenance work involving electrical, hydraulic and mechanical systems and repairing structural damage. They also maintain our fleet of vehicles.

Our standards are underpinned by to the Code of Practice for Workboats, issued by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, we’re regularly inspected by the relevant authorities.

Marine support

Our multi-skilled Marine team provide support across a number of the Authority’s services. They manage the oil pollution response provision using our specialised vessel Hornbill and provide crew for the harbour patrol boat and survey vessel Egret.

A major focus for the team is buoy maintenance. Crucial to safe navigation they ensure the Haven’s buoys are constantly visible, and manage an ongoing Buoy maintenance programme. Each year, buoys are repainted, shot- blasted and lights and batteries checked. Shackles, chains, steel work and plastic hulls are also repaired or replaced.

This versatile team are always on hand to help out with recovering floating objects in the harbour, removals or ad-hoc projects.

Our fleet

Each one of our vessels is built to high a standard to handle the demands of their various jobs. We’re proud of our fleet, which gives us years of excellent service.

Pilot launch boats

Known as ‘Land Rovers of the boating world’, our four vessels are specially built to handle the conditions of the North Sea. Each year, they travel a total of 48,000 nautical miles, which is the equivalent of twice around the equator. Our reserve boat, the ‘Hobby’, stands in for a pilot launch in maintenance and patrols the harbour.

The Hornbill

This specialist vessel plays a crucial role in our oil spill response, scooping up oil from the water. It’s also used for buoy laying, mooring maintenance and collecting debris.

The Egret

Our hydrographic survey vessel, with its specialist tools, is dedicated to helping us map the sea bed, gather tidal information, spot obstructions and carry out environmental sampling.

Facts and figures

	Harbour Patrol	Pilot Launches	The Egret	The Hornbill
Dimensions	Length: 16m Beam: 4.6m Draught: 1.3m	Length: 16.6m Beam: 5.3m Draught: 1.35m	Length: 16m Beam: 4.67m Draught: 1.3m	Length: 20.2m Beam: 8.24m Draught: 2.1m
Max speed	22knots	24knots	21.5knots	10knots
HP	2 x 535hp	2 x 600hp	2 x 450hp	2 x 552hp
Weight	25 tonnes	21 tonnes	24 tonnes	140 tonnes
Construction	Glass-reinforced plastic	Glass-reinforced plastic	Glass-reinforced plastic	Steel
Hull design	Round bilge semi-displacement	Medium V multi-chined	Round bilge semi-displacement	Multi-cat
Carrying capacity	6 pilots 2 crew	6 pilots 2 crew	8 persons	74000 litres recovered oil