I TAKE issue with Joanne Jaworowski's statement 'nor have any problems been reported with any of the previous 12 port blockages that have taken place over the years' (Letters 14/11). Some of 'non' incidents have been caused by the Port Authority cancelling sailings owing to safety concerns, definitely not a decision made lightly.
Any small craft manoeuvring in the vicinity of ships in a channel are a distraction which can have serious consequences by breaking the concentration of the pilot/captain. Think of seeing a dead animal on the road in front of your car; your instinctive move might be to avoid it and put yourself into the way of an oncoming truck. To carry on with the motoring analogy, what they are doing is the equivalent of riding down the freeway on a bike with a placard on their back.
