Shipping numbers continue to decline with bunkering down this week with only the containerships Katherine B and Canopus expected before the weekend.

A&P Falmouth has a quiet order book for the remainder of the month. The company has won contracts to repair the Beltships self-discharging bulker Gypsum Centennial and the tanker Sarnia Cherie. A large number of A&P’s workforce is working on RFA Mounts Bay.

The decline in shipping numbers currently running at 21 per cent is alarming news for the port, especially for the Falmouth Harbour Commissioners.

Lost revenue obtained from pilotage fees, boarding and landing pilots and from harbour dues does little to help the commissioners with the multi-million pound repayment it has to pay back to the Pilots National Pension Fund (PNPF).

A recovery plan for all participating employers/Competent Harbour Authorities will see ports paying escalating payments over a 16-year period. A further review of the deficit recovery plan is expected shortly after the results of the PNPF triennial valuation. Meanwhile some ports have increased charges by five per cent to partly cover the repayments.

During the past 20 years pilotage in this area to Newham wharf, Truro, Dean Quarry, Gweek, Penryn and Falmouth wharves has either ceased or dropped dramatically.