The Humber Estuary Sea Cities

Around the coast of Britain are cities

where lives are shaped by the sea.

Well, what a day! Nice day without fog.

Yeah, lovely job.

Each city is a gateway to the wider world.

And around each city, thousands of people work in jobs that

touch all of our lives, whether it's shipping cars...

Just short of £29 million worth within the day.

..or importing fruit.

What I love about bananas is they don't answer back.

Jobs that keep the nation afloat.

This is the tricky bit.

This is where the skill comes in.

Where every day brings fresh challenges.

-YELLS:

-Fire!

These are cities that welcome the Navy,

both serving sailors and new recruits...

Work hard!

..from clocking on in the morning...

You should see me flying a kite, mate, I'm brilliant!

..to relaxing after work.

It's all part of the warm-up.

Around the shores and rivers of people's hometowns...

Together!

..water is a way of life.

Whoa!

On the East Coast of Britain,

the Humber Estuary is home to three major ports.

-'Let's get this thing.'

-Let go of it. Yeah, just let it go.

The cargo kings of Immingham reign supreme.

If you ever want a teddy winning,

my daughter thinks I can.

Grimsby is going with the wind...

We have quite a bit of a climb now.

And in Hull, the race is on for cruise ships and competitors.

Go, go, go!

Hull, an industrial port and also a busy North Sea ferry terminal.

Today, a cruise ship is making a stop off, and that means

dock workers face a very different challenge from their day jobs.

Pull up, pull up.

All the way. There, that'll do, mate.

Gary works as a crane operations foreman normally.

Today, though, he's a baggage handler, amongst other things.

Hundreds of passengers are about to disembark the SS Azores

after a Baltic cruise.

I've been here, around on the docks, since 1974.

Believe it or not! Yeah, I'm 60 this year.

That net there is, if the baggage drops off the conveyor,

that is supposed to save it going in the dock.

-Supposed to, anyway.

-HE LAUGHS

The ship is Norway-bound this evening

with a new set of passengers.

It is good to have a good crack with all the passengers - help them off,

go to the baggage with them and have a good crack with the crew.

I'm not saying nothing now.

The last trip that we was on,

we all got invited on board the ship for a breakfast, a cup of tea

and everything, and they gave us a tour of the ship.

But there is no time for that today - there is work to be done,

and they're behind schedule.

She's late in, is the Azores.

And then the P&O, she's been waiting to come in behind, so...

We've got three ships docking all at the same time,

so it's a bit mayhem.

We need to get the bag drop as soon as possible.

So you stay there, you're all right.

But the ones at the back, just give him a hand, all right?

Mark Foxall is in charge of today's complex logistics.

There's only five cruise days like this a year.

All of the staff have volunteered,

taking a break from their regular duties.

Cos we haven't got the bags off, so it's still early.

There's no... No passengers are coming off

until all the bags are off.

And there is a North Sea ferry to unload.

We've got 130-odd cars and 25 motorcycles and two coaches.

-How long is that going to take?

-About an hour.

-About an hour?

It depends on customs and how quick...

The passengers now know they can't come off the ship

until all the luggage is off.

Might just go have a word.

You forgot to put the passenger on it!

Tonnes of provisions have to be loaded on board,

and Gary is not impressed with the speed of the operation.

Why are we always slow?

-BLEEP!

-Vamoose.

They're always slow on the ship,

that's why we're having a bit of stoppage all the time.

It is stopped again.

Trevor's usually a crane driver, but he's enjoying the job swap.

Usually, I'm just stuck in the steel terminal all day.

It's undercover, so I don't get to see the sun.

Well, when it's sunny, it's nice. And it's a change.

Yep!

That's it, boys, the last van today. Till we get them back.

Now Trevor can start reuniting holiday-makers with their luggage

so they can go home.

-It's quite heavy.

-Yeah? I'll take that.

-All the best.

-Can I get one?

-Thank you.

-You've been marvellous fun.

-Can I have one?

-SHE LAUGHS

-So it's a no then?

-It's a no.

-Damn!

-Is a definite no.

I'm losing it.

All right, where are we going, girls?

Second right, it's a Mercedes.

-Oh, it's just a cheap car(!)

-Cheap car.

Well, there's a lot of cars, but there doesn't seem much baggage,

so I don't know what's gone wrong here.

I wonder if we've lost a couple somewhere in the cruise.

Two, three, four, five... We've got seven cars to get rid of there.

-All in here?

-Yep.

People take the wrong bags.

People say, "That's my suitcase, let's go."

And when they get home, "Oh, no!

"What's all this bloke's gear doing in there? And I'm a woman!"

HE LAUGHS

Has anybody got a set of jump leads in the car?

Just going to speed up.

HE PANTS

-MOTOR REVS

-Yes!

Changing a spare tyre last time.

-HE PANTS

-I'm done in!

I'm too old for that.

Well, that's it now. All done.

For now, maybe.

But hundreds of new passengers are starting to arrive

for the next cruise.

Across the Humber on the south bank, ten miles along the estuary,

is Immingham docks.

Been in the company about 29 years.

Man and boy.

I enjoy the job. Where'd you get an office like this?

It's the start of Guy Armstrong's shift at

the Humber International Terminal.

If you ever want a teddy winning, my daughter thinks I can.

"Dad, you're a crane driver, you'll win me one."

Yeah, it's not like that.

In terms of freight, the Humber ports are the UK's busiest,

and Immingham is the cargo king.

Every year, 55 million tonnes passes through here.

99% of that is imported.

But the consignment Guy's busy with is a rare export.

We normally do coal. This is just a one-off,

seeing how well it'll do.

It's a massive operation -

66,000 tonnes of grain from hundreds of farms.

It's said to be the largest ever consignment of wheat from the UK.

Boredom, it's a big factor, isn't it? As you know,

when you drive your car,

you don't even know how you got to work, do you?

This shipment is bound for Thailand where it will be used to feed

livestock. And that, in turn,

could be sent back as frozen produce to Immingham.

I've got to be genuinely alert all the time.

You're looking out your window, you're looking at your camera,

you're looking at your load, you're looking at your screen

back out your window. It's tiring.

It's a mental...

It's a mental tired.

I'll just nick one here off the back.

We've had a few hiccups and that, but I think it'll be all right.

If we can get going with the weather and that, I think we'll be fine.

With darkening skies, Guy's optimism looks premature.

This cargo must be loaded dry.

It's raining now, look. So, yeah, I'll have to rush

and get this in cos he'll be shutting the lid.

But if I don't get it in, it'll be contaminated.

Guy's skill and speed are put to the test.

But he makes it in time.

The lids slide closed to keep the cargo dry.

Just had a quick feel to see if the grain was wet at all,

but it was in the lee of the ship, of the wind, so it's all dry,

so we hope we are going to get it on the ship.

The sun's coming out now, look.

It's a tight schedule -

six days of round-the-clock loading without delays, and time is money.

The SS Piraeus will need high tide to sail

and other vessels are due in to unload.

Daylight brings more delay.

Are we still working, mate, or are we rained off again?

'No, we're rained off.'

My favourite gaffer.

We are a third of the way through on that one,

so you are probably looking at Tuesday.

But while the cranes stand idle, Guy can't go to work.

Shift supervisor Nick Jennings is under pressure to complete

the consignment.

We've got to try to get this ship completed,

try and get it away as quickly as we can.

Hopefully, if we can get this right, we will get further work from it.

It's good for everybody.

The rain has now stopped, but there is more frustration.

We are stopped due to high winds.

The crane driver has got an alarm going off in his cab.

It's gusting up to 29m/s,

so he has to stop the discharge till the wind subsides.

Frustrating for the lorry drivers,

the crane drivers are wanting to get on.

Work finally restarts.

That's it.

Eventually fully loaded,

the Piraeus will take 40 days to sail the 11,000 miles to Thailand.

-YELLS:

-Haddock!

Haddock!

Haddock! Haddock!

2.30am and the night shift prepares for the morning fish auction.

There is 50 tonnes to sort and grade,

but none of the fish was landed here at Grimsby quayside by trawler.

Instead, it arrived over land by lorry.

The majority of our fish tonight is cod and haddock.

Ship supervisor Nicky Love has to make sure the 50 tonnes

is all accounted for.

Most of it has come on a container vessel from Iceland.

And it docks in Immingham and then they bring the containers here.

It's unloaded here and the fish is, like, graded and sorted

and waits for the market in the morning.

Grimsby is still a centre for fish sales and processing,

but its own fleet has all but disappeared.

There used to be about 600 trawlers in this dock.

Today, there is barely a dozen.

It is 6am and Martin Boyers,

the chief executive of Grimsby Fish Market,

begins his day at work.

There's about 1,000 boxes. I mean, the price will be the price.

The price is not very good at the minute -

the trade's not very clever,

weather's warm, the fish is not actually at its best either.

So it will be difficult today.

It's a lot of fish. It'll be a lot of fish and chips.

Some of that is absolute rubbish.

This used to be one big massive sales...

Now they've it put into three...

Now, in three years, it's declined into one part.

-YELLS:

-Haddock!

185, 90. 185, are you interested?

Then two again. The last two. 2.5 quid.

I tell you, it's 30 please, Tim.

OOHS AND AHS

Six for them to beat.

170. Go on, then.

It's gone OK, actually.

The haddock prices could've been a bit better,

but 15 minutes and it's all been sold.

It has to be sold quickly.

This afternoon, it'll be filleted, processed,

put in a box and being dispatched to some part of the UK.

Kurt Christensen has been in fishing all of his working life.

He came over to Grimsby from Denmark with his trawler skipper dad

in the 1950s and he stayed.

Grimsby was the biggest fishing port in the world.

And through no fault of our own, it has been totally destroyed.

The collapse of an industry

that employed probably 20,000 people, maybe more -

just gone.

The whole of that keel along there was too deep in huge trawlers.

So that was a tremendous sight. It was the full-length.

I mean, these fish docks, we used to have our own police force,

we had our own doctors.

I think there was only one pub.

Which was surprising, bearing in mind what it was like in them days.

But Kurt could see a business opportunity.

I couldn't understand how nobody could see

how big this was going to be.

To me, it was written in letters two miles high that wind power

was going to be massive in this area.

He is Grimsby's Danish consul

and his connection with his countrymen helped persuade

Denmark's biggest energy company to invest in the town.

Kurt now runs wind support vessels alongside his fishing business.

How is it going, Phil?

When you look at DONG Energy, it's the Danish equivalent of BP.

Good morning. Outbound to the Westermost Rough Wind Farm.

We've got nine POBs.

Bryn Jones spent 25 years as a trawlerman.

He now skippers crew transfer vessels out to the wind farms.

I'd love to see the fish docks as it was before,

but that's never going to happen again.

So this industry now, it is breathing new life into the ports,

especially into the area as well -

employments, you know, different... More employment for people.

Five miles off the coast is the Westermost Rough Wind Farm.

35 turbines, each standing 350ft above the North Sea.

Tue Lippert is the project manager.

That's my wind farm.

That's the one that we built for the last three years.

With the official switch-on less than two weeks away,

he and his deputy, Jason Ledden, are conducting final inspections.

Today we're going out to Westermost Rough to actually

talk to the lads that are doing some retrofits

and some snagging out on the turbines.

My first job on the wind farm was as a diver working on the cables

subsea, so I have literally worked my way from the bottom up.

Just going to make an approach now, so concentrate a bit.

You don't always get this right first time.

Although they are made to, you know, push onto these...

..onto these, they are very delicate still.

You can actually damage them quite easily.

Aye, aye. Yeah. OK, mate.

We have quite a bit of a climb now.

All the way up to the platform, and then we'll take the lift.

Tue and his team don't want any complications.

There are conducting checks

and safety drills before the official launch.

'So, what are you guys doing?'

Happy with the turbine towers, they move on to the offshore substation.

It looks like an oil rig but channels the electricity

generated by the wind farm back to the land via undersea cables.

-You haven't changed this level here, have you?

-No.

The wind farm cost £800 million to build

and should provide energy for 150,000 homes.

Should this one have a little bit of yellow paint?

That was good housekeeping.

They were following procedures, which was good to see.

Satisfied that the work is completed properly, they head back to shore.

THEY PLAY THE INFERNAL GALLOP

-Don't make me look too...

-THEY LAUGH

That's great.

Two weeks later, suited and booted,

Tue and Jason are celebrating the launch of the wind farm.

Tue Lippert will return to his native Denmark having finished

the project, as deputy Jason is briefing

the press about building an even bigger wind farm.

Race bank is going to be about three times the size.

-Excellent. No pressure(!)

-No.

-THEY LAUGH

-Great. Cheers.

-Thanks, Dave.

-Go and enjoy yourselves.

-Thanks, Ruth.

-Good to see you.

-Yeah, good to see you.

Kurt Christensen, Grimsby's Danish consul, is one of today's guests.

It makes me feel good

because it is a milestone in Grimsby's future, I think.

I was wondering how I could convince my wife coming over here.

I paid my respects to the local consul

and he took me on a guided tour around the area.

And that did the trick. I could come home to my wife

and say we're moving here.

It's been a pleasure having him as well.

It's been good, been really good.

-The next commander-in-chief.

-JASON LAUGHS

There is a very good future for the Humber, no doubt.

In Hull, wind power will also create hundreds of new jobs.

This site will be home to a £310 million turbine blade factory,

helping make the Humber a hub for renewable energy.

Back at Hull's makeshift cruise terminal,

Kirsty Roebuck is welcoming the new guests bound for Norway tonight.

Hello there.

Just watch your step, my love, cos it's a bit tricky, that one.

-Thank you.

-We'll get you on the coach very, very shortly.

-OK.

I am a people person and I love working with people, helping people.

And then at the end of the day when I go home, I feel much

better having done this job than I do my everyday-to-day job.

Kirsty usually works in the port's estates office.

Right, have a great holiday. Toodles!

We're not trained to do this,

it just comes naturally that we want to help people.

Don't stand up yet, we'll wait for him to pull up for you

and then we'll get you on.

It just stems back from my mum and my mum now being on her own.

I'd like to think that there's somebody there that will help her

like I help people when they come here on their own,

as we've done about seven or eight of them today.

That's where it comes from and that's what I would love to happen.

I'd do it day in, day out. Definitely.

Need some help getting into the marquee and onto the bus?

But some guests require more help than others.

-I've never been an awkward person.

-No, don't worry at all. At all.

We'll get you to the terminal, don't worry.

Christopher Fairbank can't walk but has arrived without a wheelchair.

My main concern is... What I'm really afraid of for him

and his wife is that they have to be able to walk up the gangway,

and he's clearly not going to be able to walk up the gangway.

I've got about 120 left to get on, and that includes cars as well.

But they're proving a problem yet again for Trevor.

A passenger has broken down just as he's reached the car park.

Sounds like the clutch, innit, that?

Yeah, just stand and watch why don't you?

HE LAUGHS

Yeah, that'll do you, mate.

There we go. That's two today already.

How many more next week, while they've been sat here for a week,

waiting?

But Christopher is about to get a more reliable set of wheels.

Taxi, young man. I'll take your hand.

There's still no guarantee,

though, he'll be sailing on the cruise this evening.

You're OK, we've got you. You're in safe hands.

Five minutes and they'll be done with the transit.

I think it is pretty much 95% now that he won't get on.

If I had any influence whatsoever, I would fight in his corner,

I really would.

Shall I open the boot for you?

Trevor is back on baggage.

-Does that go in?

-Yeah.

I'll be in agony tonight.

I'll be laid on the floor.

Crippled.

It's the hardest work I've done all week!

HE LAUGHS

We're going. Let's go.

All the bags have to come in here and they've all got to be scanned

as if you was going on holiday at an airport.

So they've all got to be taken out of here,

through that scanning machine, into that van.

Until Hull gets its own purpose-built cruise terminal,

holiday-makers have to share P&O's check-in with the ferry passengers.

It can get a bit crowded.

Hello, welcome aboard.

I will need your health form, please.

While ship's nurse Branislav Ivkovic

meets the passengers,

his colleagues might be making more work for him.

Whisky, cognac, vodka, anything you like.

All the cocktails.

I am selling all-inclusive packages for £17 per day, per person.

For wine, a cocktail, anything.

All you can drink.

-As much as you can.

-SHE LAUGHS

It happens. You know, people are on their holiday,

they drink more than usual, and then we have cases of...

-HE LAUGHS

-You know what.

-Welcome on board.

-Cheers. Thank you.

Christopher is still waiting.

And it is far from certain that he'll be setting sail this evening.

Some of the fastest boats ever seen on the Humber are heading for Hull.

David Taft is a powerboat racer in his spare time.

For his day job, he runs a mobile key-cutting business in Hull

for unfortunate motorists.

Motorists like him.

I managed to drop the keys into the lake.

The guy came to cut a new key and he was selling the business,

so we bought it off him.

It's so ironic that I've got a key-cutting company helping

other people just like myself who are totally useless with their keys.

Talking about losing stuff, the last time that we actually raced

in Hull, Dave lost his balance and ended up swimming in the marina.

Photographer Gavin Feldt was Dave's navigator last year.

They were side-by-side racing together in a boat called

Hull Speed Ahead.

Dave's been my best friend, must be going on for 12, 13 years.

We are like brothers.

Never argued or anything in all the time we've known each other.

But both new to the sport,

the two rookie racers had a choice to make.

We were sat in the boat in Bournemouth,

after the first race, ripping shreds off of each other.

It is a very, very stressful situation.

We both agreed in the middle of last season that, you know,

our friendship was more important.

It's easy to see how nerves could be frayed aboard a P1 powerboat.

They race at over 70mph on rough water.

It's dangerous and accidents are frequent.

We are rivals now. We are in different teams.

As soon as the visor comes down, all friendships stop.

And we start being best friends when the chequered flag waves.

In a week's time, they'll go head-to-head in front of their

home crowd as the P1 Powerboat Racing Championship moves to Hull.

We're the dustmen of the docks.

Dock DC-1.

We're just going over to the steel terminal

to do some cleaning.

'DC-1, you can go, thank you.'

A dirty dock is definitely a dangerous dock.

Barry Hughes never knows what's lurking beneath the surface.

Picked up one day two baby deer, they must've drowned in here.

Big dead fish. I've had the odd dog.

You got it?

It's just usually rubbish - wood, timber, plastic.

We've got one plastic cover here,

we're just going to pick up another one now.

It'll have to be lifted out with a crane.

I'm going to put a rope round it, tip it alongside of us, all right?

Barry's the founder of family firm Hughes Marine.

We work seven days a week, 364 days a year. You get Christmas Day off.

If the docks work, we have to.

On the quayside, his son, Dean, who's taken over the family firm.

But Barry's finding his supposed retirement hard to stick to.

Everybody wants to retire. And when they do retire, what is there to do?

No, it's a way of life, believe it or not.

I've been working in the docks on the Humber for over 50 years.

I've earned me good living over that time.

Something different every day.

Oh, look, this rope's...

It's got a big iron. Look, it's been a ship's rope.

They broke it leaving and just left it.

That, in a ship's propeller, would stop any ship.

This is only a week. That's a bed. There you are, that is a chair.

Tell me how that's got into the dock.

But there is money in dock debris.

That's what buys these cars.

It doesn't come easy.

Soon, there will be three generations of the Hughes

working on the Humber.

But how will Barry's grandson, Cory, take to the family firm

when he leaves school in a few weeks' time?

'OK. Coming into

'the Humber International Terminal, dock number one.'

This is the world's largest shipment of biomass fuel.

It's on its way to Immingham docks from Canada.

Guy Armstrong is about to learn to use a new machine to unload it

after two decades as a crane driver.

It's totally different to what I've ever done.

But it's the future.

This is a continuous ship unloader, or CSU for short.

It's like a massive Hoover for sucking up the cargo.

These biomass fuel pellets are destined for Drax power station.

Ex-crane driver Paul Smith is in charge of the training.

This seat is like The Voice.

You press this pedal here...

Isn't that right? You been watching Will.i.am?

And you just spin it around. Or Tom Jones. Tom Jones!

-IMITATES TOM JONES:

-Isn't it, boyo?

Yeah, there you go. And that's it.

The main screen. Everything is touch-screen.

It doesn't matter about that pendulum angle?

Right, so your pendulum angle...

It's daunting.

It's a big old piece of kit, isn't it?

-SNEEZE

-Crikey.

-Can we go then?

-Sir Tom.

Well, it's not unusual.

So Guy takes the controls.

-Tommy Tonnage.

-Yeah, we'll put it in the cargo now.

Let's see what this baby can do.

You're getting 1,100 tonne an hour.

So this is unique because you can take your hands off the controls.

You can't scratch your nose with the crane.

-I like it.

-He's a natural.

It's not working, is it?

But as Guy is just about to find out,

there's more to it than he thought.

-The back end...

-BLEEP!

His mate Gaz has spotted a problem.

Just swing round. Come out and have a look.

Whilst moving the machine, Guy has missed a collision

with the ship's cargo doors by less than a foot.

You aren't touching them, are you?

Nothing to stop you doing that.

He's lucky...this time.

You go any more, you've got him.

Don't like him.

It is a steep learning curve.

-That's scary.

-See how close that is?

You could say I touched cloth.

-A simple mistake.

-A simple mistake.

Me armpits are dripping!

That's why people have been doing accidents.

Guy, I don't want you to start making excuses now.

I know, I'm just saying...

The trainees now have a week to perfect their technique

before the Popi S bulk carrier will need unloading.

We are not the brightest of groups, are we?

Mike comes in here to say, "He's untrainable.

"What can we do with him?"

In Hull, cruise ship the SS Azores is due to set sail and passenger

Christopher Fairbank is still unsure if he will be on board.

The ship will actually make the decision once they get to the

gangway as to whether or not he'll actually be allowed to board.

All we can do is help him get as far as he can.

He'll do it in his own time.

You know, it'll be all right.

It's not sailing till well gone six, so you've no panic.

Don't worry. 6.30 you've got till.

For Christopher, the climb ahead looks a daunting one.

It's time to see if he'll be going on his cruise or back home.

All right, we've got you, fella.

Don't you worry.

Good lad.

Lovely job.

If you want to rest, just say when you want to stop, all right?

It's painfully slow, but he's determined to make the cruise.

You surprised me, fella, I didn't think you'd make this.

What do I know?

Finally, after proving the doubters wrong,

Christopher's holiday can begin.

And good news spreads fast.

Did Christopher get on?

Yeah, every one of them. Just finished now. So that...

Yeah, a good result, that.

Oh, superb!

A happy ending!

As the Azores set sail, the dock staff take a well-earned rest...

until the next time.

In ten days, they'll do the same all over again.

Hull's planned cruise terminal can't come soon enough.

The economies of Hull, Grimsby and Immingham all depend

to varying degrees on the tidal Humber estuary.

It's almost like Charlie And The Chocolate Factory,

the chocolate river,

with all the chocolate all churning up.

To the unwary, it may look wide,

deep and easy to navigate, but it's one of the most difficult stretches

of water for shipping.

A lot of people think it's a really dirty river, but actually,

it's very clean, it's just muddy.

And that's because the Humber

contains 10 million cubic metres of silt.

Hydrographic surveyor Tom Humphreys

charts the shifting bed of the river.

I wanted just to do sharks, that was my dream. I ended up on the

Humber, stood here in mud. I didn't really even know hydrography was

a thing until I left university, so it wasn't really on my radar.

The water from a fifth of England's landmass eventually drains

into the Humber.

You've got the tide to account for, the wind, as well as

the sandbanks themselves, cos they can be a danger to us.

Have you seen the tide?

4-6-6.

4-6-6.

Powerful tidal forces constantly shift the riverbed.

800 surveys like this are carried out every year by the team.

It's responsible for 500 square miles of water.

Gradually, over time, this channel here has moved southwards

to the point that it is now.

There's so many people relying on those.

Because if you get it wrong and a ship doesn't get up there,

a company could fold because they don't make a profit.

The other half of the team aboard the Humber Ranger

is coxswain Steve Blackford.

Any mistake he makes is going to be costly.

I daren't touch the bottom now cos we've got this 250,000-pound piece

of equipment. It's so narrow on the keel. You could do a lot of damage.

And then there is a lot of paperwork to fill in then.

This is just the bottom profile of the riverbed.

While Tom monitors the sonar output,

Steve guides the Humber Ranger backwards and forwards

as the riverbed is methodically scanned.

To me, it's just like mowing the lawn at home.

It can last sometimes two hours, three hours, four hours.

Humber Ranger on 15.

That's a completed survey where we are.

The Upper Humber is so big that we have to split it into two boats

and, normally, over two days as well.

Back at the office, Tom feeds in the raw survey data.

We do that by using the software that we have here.

Actually, the depth minus the tide

is around 3m or 4m, so you can see, we've got a real nice clean bottom

there where the mud quite clearly is a nice slope.

With the riverbed depth now charted, the buoys and floats will have to be

moved to show the new safe navigation channels.

This could be a problem area. This is where we'd be looking at

potentially moving the light float

and therefore moving the ships' course.

And back out on the Humber,

that means more work for the crew of the Seahorse.

Stand by. Stay on route, please, John.

The latest survey shows that number 33 float

needs to be moved 50m.

But as they come alongside and try to moor up,

the float begins to list. It could turn over.

Throw the rope off, John.

The skipper Justin Veal is having to study the vessel

against an onrushing tide.

Let go of it, Jeff, just let it go.

-It's tied up now.

-Sorry.

The buoys were over the top, there is no slackage.

-Yeah, I think the chain's buried.

-The whole chain's buried.

We're going to have to leave this one possibly till last, maybe.

You know, you just don't risk doing the job,

you just move to another location.

Next up, it's the Cappers West float.

It's all right, I've got it. Get the bottom. All right, Neil!

Marine supervisor Andy Shorthouse hopes to move four in total today,

but time and tide are against them.

Check the work, please, Neil.

For every move, the one-tonne concrete sinker which anchors

each float has to be lifted from the riverbed

across the deck

and then lowered back into the water.

Using GPS to find the new position,

Justin then gives the signal to release the chain.

HORN BLOWS

The float's now correctly positioned to keep shipping on course...

until the next time.

Deck's cleared, Justin.

You can hear how much it's straining trying to get out of the mud.

You know, it's a 35-tonne winch, that is.

If the chain snaps with people on the deck, you know, broken bones,

death. So I've cleared the deck and then the worst that can happen,

really, is it just comes flying back, knocks some paint off.

You know, that's not... We can deal with that.

'That's it, Justin...'

OK, Andy. Keep an eye on it, mate.

Let off, please, now.

Even it.

From the North Sea to the port of Goole,

50 miles inland,

there are 120 such floats.

And now for the troublesome number 33 again.

-Andy, if at any point you're not happy, just get back on board.

-Yeah.

It's a bit of a twisted link,

so we're just going to take that out and put a new swivel in.

Then it's just reconnecting and back home.

Another day at the office.

HORN BLOWS

All right.

Fought us all the way, but we got there in the end.

We don't like to give up.

Yeah, just to inform you we were successful

and we're about two hours out of the dock.

'OK, thanks for that.'

In Hull, it's powerboat race weekend.

Best mates Gavin Feldt and Dave Taft

are hours from the start line.

Last year, they were in the same boat.

They're now racing as rivals.

This morning, I mean, I woke up at 2.30.

I was thinking about my fuel calculations,

good positions, that sort of thing.

You know, what's going to happen. It's my home city.

Tired, excited, nervous, stressed.

That's powerboat racing.

Gavin, or Gav the Nav, is navigating for his new driver,

Arran Scott. But there is concern about their boat after they broke

the keel in the last race.

We haven't had a chance to get out and test.

We picked the boat up from the repairers on Thursday night

and we had to run straight up to Hull with it.

So, yeah, today is the unveiling.

Go out there, see how it goes.

Extra kill cord, two whistles, knife, rules, boots...

Dave is hoping his arrival at Hull marina

isn't a foretaste of his luck today.

-BRAKES SQUEAK

-Oops.

BLEEP!

-Now it is fully down, yeah?

-Yeah.

Dave and his new navigator, Lee Norvall,

prepare their boat for the weekend's competition.

This is one of them moments where you know that you're going

racing, so it's nice watching it go in.

You must do one pit lap.

Play by the rules, yeah?

And hopefully, it'll just go perfectly.

Stay safe, ladies and gents.

-So, who is going to get it today out of you two?

-Not going to call it.

-You're not going to call it?

-Not going to call it.

-Good luck, mate.

-Cheers.

-Go, go, go!

All the teams know the dangers of the sport.

A driver was killed in a P1 race off the Dorset coast in 2012.

He was thrown from his boat.

Can you please make sure your helmet is fitted when you're on the water?

Every boat is the same, every propeller, every engine.

It is all down to driver/navigator skill.

Dave's wife, Helen,

and the couple's three children wait anxiously for the start of the race.

I've only put my white mascara on. That is how stressed I've been!

SHE LAUGHS

You can't take me anywhere.

And we are off and rolling on a yellow flag.

At the start of this P1 Hull Grand Prix of the Sea, guys.

On the start run, it's fear.

You get to the first turn buoy, it's excitement.

And then the adrenaline kicks in.

Gavin's wife, Sarah, is nervous before the start.

I felt actually physically sick in Gosport before he raced.

Because I didn't want him to go out.

So the nerves for that, cos it's...it's my husband.

Green flag, go, go, go!

And they're off, guys.

GD Environmental and Allam Marine are neck and neck.

Allam Marine coming round first.

CHEERING

Come on, Gav!

Number 99, Arran and Gavin, round the crucial first bend in the lead.

Dave and Lee, in boat number 17, are back in sixth place.

Come on, Dave and Lee!

Come on, baby!

Lap nine out of ten, and Gavin's boat is still out in front.

Last lap.

We are on the last lap.

The guys are doing maximum speed out there, foot hard to the floor

and probably loving every minute of this.

Keep it.

Yes. Come on, Gav!

Come on!

The winner - Allam Marine!

Number 99.

A very good speed race

by Arran Scott and the local boy, Gavin Feldt.

Oh, wow.

Driven out of his skin, hasn't he, today? Well done. Yeah.

Dave and Lee cross the line in eighth place.

But there is little time to celebrate Gavin's win

as race two starts straightaway.

There is no rest for them this time.

There is a green already!

That was quickly! They are off and running.

My money was on Allam Marine, it's staying with Allam Marine.

But this time, number seven gets to the first turn ahead of Arran

and Gavin in boat 99.

SHOUTING

Go, go, go!

Come on!

Arran and Gavin are pushing hard, too hard.

-AUDIENCE:

-Whoa!

-What did they do?

Somebody's hurt.

I don't know what's going on.

You're all right, my love.

Sarah needs to know that Gavin is safe.

-As long as he's in the boat and he's all right...

-Yeah.

CHEERING

-CHEERFULLY:

-Well, they look all right, don't they?

Fortunately, Arran and Gavin are quickly back chasing the leaders.

They survive another spin and still finish third.

Dave, in only his second year as a driver, finishes fifth.

That's my one fear, that it's just going to flip

and he's going to be hurt. But no, he's fine. He's fine.

But it's... I don't know.

I can't even express to you. I'm all shaky!

-It does stuff to you.

-It does.

-People don't understand.

Who don't have a partner racing,

you don't understand how we feel, do you?

-It's great that the Hull boys have done good today.

-Yeah, it is.

I am well proud of them both.

Well proud.

Yeah, I loved it. Loved it. Absolutely loved it.

If we hadn't have spun out,

we would've ended up with another first.

Gavin's dreaming of a podium finish tomorrow.

If we happen to spray champagne, all well and good.

But as long as we don't let the other guys get

out of our sights, that's...that's the main thing.

I can't wait to see Dave. Have you seen him?

We're happy. Disappointed with race one,

but two more races tomorrow and you never know what can happen.

Here you go, brought you a sandwich.

Gavin's trying not to rub his best mate's nose in it.

Hey-up. Nice seeing you again.

But he just can't help himself.

-You seen when you went screaming past him, didn't you?

-Um, yeah.

THEY LAUGH

Are you coming out tonight to celebrate?

Am I coming out tonight?

After what I've just been through?

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

But Gavin should enjoy the moment

because he doesn't yet know there's a problem with his boat.

Ian and Chris are pilots.

They are travelling ten miles out into the North Sea.

The first glimpses of the Popi S.

Today, their job is to guide a ship longer than two football pitches

into Immingham docks.

-Soon fly up there, Ian.

-That's right.

HE LAUGHS

One of them first dangerous parts of our job is actually

getting on the ship, climbing up the ladder.

They have been known to break when pilots have been going up.

Afternoon.

So in other areas around the UK, the pilots have ended up in the water.

Not today, though.

OK, Captain, just through a few formalities.

-You have your passage plan?

-Yeah.

We take our passage in down the deep water route,

past the Spurn light float.

Ian briefs the Greek captain on the ship's course into the Humber.

With the tide, we have 3.2m on the keel clearance.

A lot of captains have had long trips.

As soon as you get on board, you can see the relief

in their faces.

Every ship over 40,000 tonnes needs two pilots to bring it

into the Humber ports.

The next tricky bit, really, will be Spurn light float.

Chris is setting the course for a rendezvous point

with four tug boats.

Steer 2-6-5, please.

VTS, Popi S. Just at the Spurn light float now.

Sunk Dredged Channel in 30 minutes.

Popi S, VTS Humber. That's all received, thank you.

The vessel is carrying what's said to be the world's largest ever

consignment of biomass fuel pellets.

It's bound for Drax power station via Immingham dock.

ALARM SOUNDS

A troubling sound for the captain - the depth alarm.

For a ship the size of the Popi,

to run aground would be more than just an embarrassment.

It's OK, Captain.

Chris reassures the captain there's sufficient clearance

beneath the keel.

They've set their echo sounder at 4m, and it's just gone off.

Spurn Point is a narrow spit of land that separates

the North Sea from the River Humber.

And around its tip, treacherous tidal currents

and sandbags are ever-present hazards for shipping.

It'll be all clear on the radar

and then in the process of about 20 minutes,

there's a million tonnes of ship floating around.

We're all heading to make the turn.

What often happens on this river, ships funnel in.

You might think, "Whoa, this is quite tight."

It is often described as like the cavalry coming over the horizon,

cos you get your tugs coming toward you.

They are the ones who are going to slow you down or help you turn.

They can be real life-savers.

The fun starts here.

Tugs for the Popi S.

'Good afternoon.'

Good afternoon. You're our number four today?

'Cheers, central lead-off?'

That's the one. Thank you very much.

The four tugs move into position

and fasten themselves securely around the Popi S.

Good afternoon again, that is Popi S out to harbour,

making our approach.

You've got to pass these ships that are a set distance off

and not too fast because you can create a pressure wave

which might snap their moorings.

We can stop engines, please.

-Number four, Popi S.

-'Number four.'

Yeah, if you could just give me 10% right of stern again, please.

'10% right of stern.'

A bit of parallel parking, really.

You can cause a lot of damage on this berth.

And of course, the captain is going home,

so he doesn't want to do paperwork.

Which is good for us.

HE LAUGHS

All easy, one.

'Easy one, pal.'

All easy, four.

'Easy four.'

-You have done a professional job.

-IAN LAUGHS

-OK, Captain, thank you very much.

-Thank you.

Now the work of unloading the cargo can begin.

It's frightening.

-Can you smell the wood burning?

-The cogs turning.

Crane driver Guy Armstrong is still mastering the new machine.

It's just different. Good, though. I like it.

Just give us a shout when you're ready to come back in, Guy.

'Aye-aye, mate.'

I'm all right for leaving it there for a bit, am I?

'No problem. I'll push the rest into you, mate.'

So Guy passes out as a qualified CSU operator...

on his 50th birthday.

It'd be nice to put on a wall for your birthday.

-FAKE CRIES:

-Welling up just thinking about it.

Put it next to your 50 badge.

It's the hardest bit, tidying up at the end.

'Looks like you're all set to go out and have a good afternoon.'

'Thanks a lot, fellas. See you again. Have a good day.'

It is a big day for Hughes Marine.

The family firm is welcoming a third-generation.

On his first official day at work,

Cory is travelling down the Humber and into the River Trent with

grandad Barry, who is supposed to be retired.

Morning, VTS. We are bound for the River Trent today, sir.

'That's all OK. Thank you.'

Thank you then, sir.

Three times a year, they make this five-hour trip to inspect

and repair two jetties that were built during the construction

of the M180 motorway.

We'll have a nice run up today. The weather's good.

Kelly and Cory will spend the next three days

and two nights moored up aboard the Panurgic II.

It's not...luxury, but it's doable.

It's a room to say in.

It's better than sleeping out on deck.

I couldn't stay here forever.

I'd miss my house too much.

I can't cook, unless you want bacon sandwiches.

That's the only thing I can cook.

His future's what he wants to make it. If he's any sense,

he'll have his barge master's licence within two years.

Then he can run up and down like this.

Then it'll be on a fiver a week instead of three.

HE LAUGHS

When I first came aboard, it was paraffin lights.

Ships were 60ft long.

Now they are 200ft long.

Only, the same amount of people aboard.

It's like his baby, innit?

So the day he retires is the day he goes, I reckon.

He'd be bored. And Nana would kill him cos he'd get in the way.

He'll be working here no matter what. So will my dad, to be honest.

That's Butterwick jetty. That's our stop.

We are in too fast, we are in too fast.

Pull it up, eh!

Move that out or we'll get the edge raw.

They've arrived. But Barry is not happy.

The work he thought he was coming to do has already been done.

I want to find out who's put all the new ladders on.

All new facing.

We're coming in for a two or three-day job,

they're coming here for a, what, four or five-week job.

Somebody's been and mended all the jetty. We usually do it.

We're all right to do this job. We're all right to do all the jobs.

Plus, that's annoying.

There is still some routine maintenance work to do, though.

Still got to do the lights and whatnot...

It's upsetting that we wasn't called in to do the initial work.

And the day is about to get worse.

This battery is dead.

So that's negative. The crane won't start now.

Barry's son, Dean, who now owns Hughes Marine, is on the river bank,

waiting to take his dad home.

Batteries are flat.

We'll just see.

MOTOR STALLS

No. Just a minute.

Yeah, 60-odd and he's trying to jump-start a crane that's gone down.

Not what I'd expect to be doing at that age,

I'd be retired in Barcelona somewhere.

But without the crane to lift him off, Barry is stranded.

The jetty isn't attached to the bank.

A good day has turned sour.

Finally, they are in luck.

Well, we got it started now.

I'd love to own it in the end.

It's been passed down to my dad, so hopefully,

it'll be passed down to me.

And then I'll pass it down.

Obviously, there are a few things I need to learn.

His dad and grandad prepared to leave Cory aboard for the night.

As the basket swings back around,

Cory is directly in the crane cab's path.

BANGING

Kelly sees the danger just in time. And the crane is broken again.

He was going to walk foreside of the cabin,

where Kelly, the crane driver, saw him,

slams the break on and it's jammed one of the clutches in.

But it kept coming round and it took him up on the side.

Plus, it's only his first day, he'll learn.

Day two of the P1 Power Stop Grand Prix in Hull,

and it's not starting well for Gavin and Arran.

A bit stressful. More than normal.

But, yeah, it was just a bit of damage on the bottom of it.

They've broken the keel on their last two race days.

Will Arran's handiwork survive another?

Not the best start, would be one way of putting it.

And with little more than an hour before the first race,

team mechanic Phil has an engine problem to deal with.

There's a non-start issue

traced back eventually to the ignition switch.

So it's somewhere between the ignition switch and the engine.

Might have to row it, but we'll be there.

No such last-minute drama for team Dave and Lee.

They are analysing the onboard camera footage

from yesterday's racing.

So that's brilliant. Oh, look, that's us there.

That...that doesn't get below 45mph around that corner.

Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to the lovely Humber.

Allam Marine, it'll be touch-and-go if they're out racing.

They've been panicking in the pits all morning, getting it ready.

I'm just going to get my feed checked with Kirsty on the block.

Allam Marine is there, so there you go. Mended boat this morning.

It is a crucial race for Gavin and Arran.

Win and they could go top of the championship.

Green, we're off!

And we are go, go, go, go.

Race three.

-Look at that! That is millimetres away from each other.

-Oh!

Look at this, this is fantastic. Flying past us...

Around the corner!

Come on, Gavin!

Arran's racing on the edge,

pushing his boat to the very limit, but at the same bend

he spun twice on yesterday, he loses it in spectacular style.

Whoa!

It's the moment powerboat racers dread.

Arran and Gavin have been thrown out.

Oh, we've got a boat out. Somebody is out.

Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me.

We've got somebody out there. That was a MAJOR hook.

And a red flag. Race is stopped.

-Who was it?

-I don't know. My legs are like jelly.

But Helen and Sarah are struggling to see you which boat's crashed.

-It's Gavin, I think.

-We've got some drivers in the water.

It'll be all right, it'll be all right.

There's highly trained people out there who will be assisting those.

There are paramedics, doctors,

nurses and very highly qualified people out there on those rigs.

-SHE SOBS

-You're all right. Come on.

Sarah needs to know Gavin is safe.

-Have you got a tissue?

-I haven't.

-Have you got tissue?

-I'm never that organised.

Let's hope those guys are OK and they just went for a dip.

I am hearing over the radio, it's good news, they say no injury.

No injury! Thank you! Round of applause, please.

Allam Marine, they are all OK.

-He's all right.

-He's all right.

-He's all right.

Gavin's finally fished out of the Humber unhurt

and Sarah's relief is plain to see.

-They are all right, babes.

-All right.

-Yeah.

For Gavin and Arran, the weekend's racing is over,

as are any realistic hopes they have of the championship.

-You all right?

-Hm.

-We're all right.

Back out on the water, the racing restarts.

With one less boat.

CHEERING

Gavin is there to cheer his best mate over the line.

Come on!

CHEERING

Go on!

Dave, in boat 17, wins local bragging rights,

finishing sixth overall to Gavin's tenth place.

That is amazing!

'David Taft, what a race. Brilliant. Fantastic.'

At the P1 Hull Grand Prix of the Sea.

I would've loved to have been on the podium here,

but we'll just have to try a bit harder.

Whoa!

So, is Gavin jealous?

Yeah, just a bit, yeah. Never mind.

Gav's safe, the main thing.

You know, everything else here is irrelevant.