We are delighted to be welcoming back old and new faces to the marina and we can’t wait to see what this boating season will have in store for us.

January 2021 was certainly gloomier than the average January, not only was the weather poor but we were back in full Lockdown. This meant that boat owners were unable to visit their boats or the marina for the foreseeable.

On Valentine's Day we had to hold our annual 'moorers and storers' wine and canapés event as a Facebook live virtual event. As much as we missed having our usual sociable afternoon, we had a tremendous level of viewings and we were extremely grateful for the support.

Thankfully, a week after out event, Boris Johnson unveiled his roadmap. The first key date was 29^th March when owners could re-visit, though were not allowed to stay overnight. This did create more footfall on the marina, but there was no great tidal wave of customers returning, probably as a result of the miserable weather. We also quietly reopened the café for takeaways only on this date.

Before we knew it, the big day arrived. The key date that everyone had been looking forward to, April 12^th – holidays could restart and cruising could begin. The waterways were officially open!

As if by magic, the sunny spring weather arrived (though frosty in the mornings) and our customers returned. Now we are a few weeks on and Aqueduct Marina feels much more normal, with people sat on tables and benches outside of the café and making the most of the blue skies. There is definitely a buzz about the place!

Our fully stocked Chandlery is back accepting customers as normal and there seems to be lots of movement as boats head back out on to the water. Some however, have been taking the opportunity for work to be conducted on their narrowboat. Our boat yard has also been busy – with DIY blackings taking place or the Aqueduct team carrying out the highly-skilled work.

Brokerage viewings were also able to commence on the 12^th April – although we are sticking to viewings by appointment only to help maintain COVID protocols and to uphold the improved service we have been able to provide to buyers and sellers through this policy.

We were able to sell a few boats virtually over the lockdown which is great and the demand for boats still remains very strong. This combined with our free collection service has resulted in a few boats arriving on the brokerage and quickly going under offer – some even before they have hit the market!

The rest of the season and the year is definitely looking promising and the Aqueduct team are in the midst of putting together plans to make up for our missed anniversary event; all to be revealed soon! In the meantime, if there is anything we can do to help or answer any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our team.

After a company decision for some of the team to return to work Aqueduct Marina’s Marina and Operations Director Phil Langley outlines what the executive team has experienced to get to this point and what the future looks like for the marina.

Following the government lockdown announcement, we split our engineering operation into two teams working on a rota basis to protect staff and reduce the risk of spreading COVID 19. This, along with strict social distancing rules, worked very well but after a week it became apparent that the supply chain issues meant we could not continue to operate. Working with an already reduced team due to some staff having to self-isolate we then made the difficult decision to furlough the remaining engineering team.

We looked at our engineering schedule to assess the workload and what was deliverable, we also then took into account employees personal situations and risk assessed who were higher and lower risk. The main reason we have chosen three team members to return at this time is because this number allows us to safely monitor and implement safe systems of work on a manageable scale. We also wanted to do as much as we could for one particular staff member who only started working for us the week of the lockdown and did not qualify for furlough so has been unable to earn for the last three weeks.

Staff who are placed onto the governments furlough scheme have to be furloughed for a minimum of three weeks and we always planned to use this time to take stock and risk assess our operation in order to get staff back to work as soon as safely possible, which is what we are now doing.  

Now strict social distancing rules have been put in place and the engineers will be working alone. We have also closed all shared areas such as the engineers welfare building (brew room). And staff are to bring their own food and drinks which is to be consumed in isolation.

We have new specific COVID-19 related risk assessments which has helped to reduce the risk for staff. All the engineers have their own sets of PPE which as per normal rules isn’t to be shared and they have all been given hand sanitiser to use and carry around with them. Staff have been asked to wash their hands more regularly and government hand washing advice posters have been put up in the toilets. Disinfectant spray is also supplied to clean door handles etc across the site and staff are encouraged to use this.  

We are extremely fortunate to have a fantastic team at the marina and all the staff have been very understanding during these times. The engineers are indeed pleased to be back at work and back to some form of normality during these uncertain times.  As a leisure business we have qualified for a full rates relief, Cheshire East were very quick to implement our application. The furlough scheme was easy to apply for and paid out promptly, the bank was responsive to our request to put the loan repayments to interest only for three months.

We will continue to monitor the current working group and then look to safely introduce more staff members back into work. We aim to work on a 12-18 months plan that enables the marina to operate as we move into what will be a different environment in the future. Each area of the business mooring, caravan site, café, chandlery, brokerage and boat repairs will all have different obstacles to overcome. We understand that there will be challenges ahead and will continue to follow government advice as well as seeking support from trade bodies such as British Marine in order to first and foremost ensure a safe environment for staff and customers.