I could not believe my luck to arrive on Ascension island to find a vessel, Ocean Charger, from the USA discharging containers for the many US facilities on Ascension Island.
They were using 3 motorised flat barges to unload the containers. Each barge was capable of carrying either 2 x 20' containers or 1 x 40' container. The barge was driven by a huge outboard engine driving a propellor.
While I could not properly see the operations alongside the Ocean Charger due to the distance from shore, I alas able to closely observe the shoreside operations. The pierhead on Ascension Island is situated on the northern side of the Island, in the capital, Georgetown. The pierhead itself is no bigger than Cascade Jetty on Norfolk Island. The containers were unloaded with a large mobile crane, and placed directly onto waiting trucks for transport directly off the wharf to a compound at the USA base facility.
What amazes me was how easy the whole operation was. From arrival of the barge at the pierhead, tying up, unloading two containers, and reversing back out to sea was only taking them 7 minutes.
Next stop is St. Helena Island, 700 miles south-east of Ascension Island. To get there I have a 3 day journey by sea on the RMS St Helena - the last working Royal Mail Ship in the world.
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