1.
GV Tanker ablaze at sea (2 shots)
0.11

2.
SV Victims and survivors brought ashore (4 shots)
0.24

3.
AV Tug playing water on burning wreck (two shots)
0.38

4.
SV Model showing present usage of English Channel
0.46

5.
AV Vessels sailing in close proximity and across bows (4 shots)
1.17

6.
SV Model showing present North and South traffic lanes.
1.23

7.
GV & SV "Seaspeed" Hovercraft talking on passengers and cars
1.39

8.
SCV Hovercraft captains speak to reporter, during scenes of hovercraft in the Channel SOF starts: "It can be..... SOF ends:...... to build up."
2.44

9.
AV Small coastal vessel
2.50

10.
AV Freighter (Maltese)
2.58

11.
AV Super tanker
3.09

12.
SCV Model of tanker and coaster, zoom out to other models
3.14

13.
CV Graphic illustration showing disregarded new proposal
3.20

14.
CV Graphic illustration showing "roundabout" system around U.K.
3.25

15.
AV Large tanker.
3.45

16.
AV "Texaco Caribbean" keeled over on side
3.52

17.
SV Wrecked bow of freighter
3.58

18.
SV & CV "Texaco Caribbean" about to sink in "death plunge"
4.09


TRANSCRIPT: (SEQ. 8): Hovercraft Captains: "It can be very dangerous indeed... I mean you have ships of 120,000 ton tankers which take about 11 minutes to stop, and that's bringing engines to "full astern". From our point of view, from the point of view of the hovercraft, we take evasive action, but for us I don't think it's any problem. We've got the high speed and great manoeuvrability that we don't have to worry about it. Also, we do not let a situation build up. We have a chappie on the radar...he stays with the radar all the time. He picks the ships up on say the six mile range, and he's not exactly plotting it but by watching it he knows exactly what it's doing, and by then our action is quite clear...the situation is just not allowed to build up."




Initials DR.13.53 DR.13.31



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The English Channel, a narrow but very busy international shipping route which lies between Britain and France, has had a disturbing record of major shipping collisions during recent years. Shipping from all sea-going countries of the world uses the Channel regularly, and the United Nations' special committee on navigation....the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organisation (IMCO)..... has been anxiously searching for ways to reduce the existing hazards. While this film does not set out to offer solutions, it does examine the main causes of the collisions and attempts to highlight the seriousness of the problem for international shipping. Visnews' Senior Cameraman Bill McConville flew over the English Channel last Tuesday (16th February), and also made a return trip to France by hovercraft to film scenes of shipping traffic. The film has good natural sound, and includes an interview with senior hovercraft captains.