Bibby Stockholm

[AndyRM]

Pick your news outlet of choice by all means, but this prison ship monstrosity just rocked up when I was perusing the BBC website:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-65919498

It looks like it's been made out of shipping containers.

I can well understand the concerns of local residents too.

The interior of the thing doesn't look much better:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-66099583

Two people in rooms that size? This isn't going to go well.

 

[Beebo]

It’s oil worker’s accommodation.
I’ve lived short periods in oil workers digs but in the desert not the sea. Still just converted shipping containers. The thing is you are only ever there for a short period, usually 28 days on 14 days off. There’s plenty to keep you busy in the day and you are paid handsomely for the privilege.

They aren’t designed for long term accommodation. It’s basically a prison ship.

My main concern for this type of accommodation is the derived and infrastructure surrounding it. Where is the GP and health care. You can’t just parachute asylum seekers into a remote location and expect them to be ok.

A cynic would suggest this is designed to fail spectacularly.

 

[BoldonLad]

It’s oil worker’s accommodation.
I’ve lived short periods in oil workers digs but in the desert not the sea. Still just converted shipping containers. The thing is you are only ever there for a short period, usually 28 days on 14 days off. There’s plenty to keep you busy in the day and you are paid handsomely for the privilege.

They aren’t designed for long term accommodation. It’s basically a prison ship.

My main concern for this type of accommodation is the derived and infrastructure surrounding it. Where is the GP and health care. You can’t just parachute asylum seekers into a remote location and expect them to be ok.

A cynic would suggest this is designed to fail spectacularly.

Doesn't that mean that a rig worker, say in the North Sea, (of whom there are many in my area) is spending 2/3 of their life living in such accommodation?

 

[Electric_Andy]

I don't see the point. The inside looks ok to me; better than my 1st year Uni digs, but what are they going to do all day? Surely not just sit in their rooms and tiny communal areas? How do they get to land to the shops etc, or are they basically imprisoned there and food is provided on the barge?

 

[AndyRM]

Doesn't that mean that a rig worker, say in the North Sea, (of whom there are many in my area) is spending 2/3 of their life living in such accommodation?

Yeah, but there are massive differences. Remuneration, security, actually having some freedom etc... There's no defending this.

 

[Pale Rider]

I’ve lived short periods in oil workers digs but in the desert not the sea.

Blimey, if my static caravan is anything to go by, living in a tin box in the desert would be hot with a capital 'aitch.

 

[Beebo]

Blimey, if my static caravan is anything to go by, living in a tin box in the desert would be hot with a capital 'aitch.

It did have aircon.
But it’s the only time I have ever experienced 50degree temperatures in the deserts of Oman.
The only way to describe it is like standing inside a hair drier. It’s just relentless and exhausting.

 

[Pale Rider]

It did have aircon.

Ah, I hadn't thought of that.

Were it not for the aircon, I reckon being inside a container in the desert would be extremely harmful to health, or even fatal if it was an extended period.

I believe heat plays a big part in the dreadful stories of migrants dying in lorries - another tin box.

 

[Bromptonaut]

Ah, I hadn't thought of that.

Were it not for the aircon, I reckon being inside a container in the desert would be extremely harmful to health, or even fatal if it was an extended period.

I believe heat plays a big part in the dreadful stories of migrants dying in lorries - another tin box.

Heat and/or lack of fresh air I think. Certainly so in the Purfleet case with the Vietnamese folks.

 

[Pale Rider]

Heat and/or lack of fresh air I think. Certainly so in the Purfleet case with the Vietnamese folks.

Tend to agree lack of fresh air must also have played a big part.

Come to think of it, it's likely some of the migrants were in the back of an unventilated shipping container, just one that had been plonked on the back of artic.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

A cynic would suggest this is designed to fail spectacularly.

It’s deliberate, yes. But any failure will be to the detriment of those on board, as the Home Office will twist the failure to argue more strongly for deportations to Rwanda or whatever other inhumane program they can concoct.

They want it to look like a prison ship so that the public view the occupants as criminals, thereby stoking up more anti-refugee rhetoric from some sections of the public and groups like PA. Housing only adult males on it reinforces this deception.

The Home Office knows that choosing locations with small communities that have inadequate services and infrastructure creates panic and resentment among locals.

All of this is designed to demonise and dehumanise people who overwhelmingly have their applications for asylum granted.

They could redirect the £millions they (we) are spending on schemes like this to employ staff to process applications. I’ve read that for the cost of this barge the government could have employed another 150 staff to process applications already in the queue.

Why don’t they do that instead? (I already know the answer.)

 

[BoldonLad]

Yeah, but there are massive differences. Remuneration, security, actually having some freedom etc... There's no defending this.

Wasn’t defending it, just saying that accommodation is considered acceptable for rig workers for 2/3rds of their working life.

I am of the “fix the processing and get on with it” group. But, we do have a backlog, which, presumably, cannot be cleared overnight, so, we have to accommodate people somewhere.

 

[BoldonLad]

I don't see the point. The inside looks ok to me; better than my 1st year Uni digs, but what are they going to do all day? Surely not just sit in their rooms and tiny communal areas? How do they get to land to the shops etc, or are they basically imprisoned there and food is provided on the barge?

My reading of the article suggested it would be moored at a quay and connected to services, so, presumably, they could come and go.

 

[Pale Rider]

they could come and go.

Drat, I'm starting to go off the idea.

 

[matticus]

Doesn't that mean that a rig worker, say in the North Sea, (of whom there are many in my area) is spending 2/3 of their life living in such accommodation?

yes-and-no; it's rarely their working life for very long. They either leave due to injury, or earn enough to setup a more normal life.
(I guess some get promoted to positions with more ... "perks" ... )