CDG1

Calling on the FT Emirates community for help.

The Marinetraffic ship tracker map shows the QE2 in dry dock as of this morning. She was moved from her berth at Port Rashid over the weekend.

The Dubai dry docks are on the other side of Port Rashid.

QE2 dry dock location name is Al Mina right near to Dubai Maritime City.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/def...spx?level0=100

Looking at the map, the QE2 is sitting in dry dock all on her own. Colour is dark blue, a passenger vessel.

There is another much smaller vessel going by the name "Golar Frost" in the other dry dock near her.
Golar Frost has red colour. She is a tanker.

I have no idea how long the QE2 will be kept in dry dock for inspection. Must be a rather large dry dock to hold the QE2. Ship in dry dock would make for some spectacular pictures.

I am not sure if she is still watered out or if they have removed the water and she is now dry. The procedure takes a while.

If any FTer's could get me some pictures of the QE2 in dry dock from the air or from the ground I would be most thankful.

Do not hesitate to PM me. You can also post here. Thank you very much in advance for any help you will be able to provide.

tezzer

That might explain why when I was down that way on Friday the boilers on the QE2 appeared to be up and running. I thought it was a bit odd for a laid up ship, but if she was on the move, it makes a bit more sense now.

CDG1

Oh how lucky you!

She must be in dry dock now. The little blue square at Al Mina does not show on the ship tracker anymore. They probably cut off all GPS transmission while she is undergoing inspection.

Any FTers going to Dubai... if you could get me some pictures... updated info will do too.

Muchos gracias!

ecanem22

She is supposed to be heading to South Africa for the football world cup, but the owners are having trouble getting her back in class before the trip. They are looking into a tow down there, but don't like the media image of being towed out. Not sure what the latest is, will try to find out...

CDG1

Thank you very much for your post.
The QE2's bow thrusters have gone bust a while. This is why she needed a tug in every harbour. I don't know what the present situation is. Towing her all the way to SA looks a bit adventurous. I am not sure there is such equipment in Dubai. The QE2 is not any ship.

Please post if you know anymore. I hope you will. I think it is good to have all this information made public. As the new owners don't reveal much we need to go looking ourselves for any information we can gather.

aeropix

I drove all around there this afternoon and could not see it, just a few Korean freighters and a LPG tanker in there. However, due to security gates I was turned away several times before I could get out to the drydocks. If you could arrange an invitation I may try again.

Cheers

CDG1

I know how difficult it is to get anywhere near the QE2 in Dubai unlike in other places in the world where she was.

Nakheel (the new owners) are really keeping everything off the public sight. This is not the right way to go. I emailed Dubai Maritime City since QE2 was put in dry dock. I never received any answer. I don't think I ever will.

Talking about getting invitations I think this is too much to ask from Nakeel. Since they have become the QE2's new owners everything seems to be kept secret. Again I don't understand their way of doing. It certainly does not make them popular to us ex-QE2 passengers.

Thank you very much for trying and providing your information. Any information we can get from people who are there in Dubai is invaluable.



Please keep this thread alive. There is only one QE2 although I am most afraid she might have landed in the wrong hands.

CDG1

This is the latest QE2 update.

From the live ships map QE2 looks like she is now inside dry dock.

She has some company at the Al Mina Dry Docks facility.

Right next to her is Castoro 2 (undetermined).
Also two tankers, Golar Frost and Vadoro Linnea and Thor Swan, a Danish Cargo ship.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/def...spx?level0=100

edy4eva

This is interesting. Should start a site and call it Docktalk, or perhaps Cruiser Talk

SYDguy

Thank you for this link CDG1 it is fascinating. I too am a Cunard fan and have sailed on QE2 many times.

By the way did Concorde ever operate CDG1 ? Or was CDG2A already open by the time she started operating ?

PhlyingRPh

Excellent site! Had I known about it earlier, I would have had my mid-life crisis in style and become a real pirate.

CDG1

I remember the official inaugural when they opened CDG in 1974. it entered service a couple of days after the ceremony. There was a Concorde there. I can't quite remember if it was the prototype or one from the two development aircrafts.

The Concorde Inaugural passenger flight left from CDG1 Satellite 5 for Dakar and Rio de Janeiro on January 21 of 1976.

The same day a British Airways Concorde took off from Heathrow to fly to Barhain.

CDG1 was also first to get the A380 with Singapore Airlines.

I hear that Dubai is in the middle of a serious sand/dust storm. I wonder if this has affected the work at the harbour and dry dock facilities. The visibility was very low I hear. The dust storm is supposed to be gone in the next couple of days.

It probably did not affect airport operations but I am sure it must have disrupted maritime traffic. I must have a look at the ship tracker.

CDG1

This link has pictures of the QE2 in dry dock.
She looks beautiful.

http://www.theqe2story.com/forum/ind...pic,872.0.html

I suppose she must be out of the dry dock facility at Al Mina by now. I tried looking on the Marine Traffic tracker but there are no ships that seem to be reporting from Dubai at this moment. I wonder why.

Maybe there are some FTers down there that could take a look and see if they can spot her either from the ground or from up in the air. She is so big and beautiful she cannot be missed out! :-::-::-::-::-:

She may have moved back to Port Rashid by now. I have no idea.

Thank you very much in advance for any update you can provide. Pictures would be ideal.

JGX

Your post got me thinking. . . Probably not much help now, I'm afraid. But looking back, I'm fairly certain I caught her on a shot I took on the climbout from Dubai back in May.

If it is the QE2 then she is where the black arrow is:



HERE is a link to the full res photo (but be warned, it's about 7.6mb!).

I could well be wrong, but thought it may be of interest.

Regards,

JGX

CDG1

Thank you very much for this.

From looking at the large picture the ship you are pointing to is the QE2.
She was often alone where she is moored on your picture.
Great picture by the way!