Port Health

We are part of the Wisbech Port Health authority. This monitors Wisbech Port and Port Sutton Bridge.

We provide a Port Health service to commercial ships, leisure and fishing vessels. This includes:

• ensuring minimum standards of hygiene in galleys
• checking on crew welfare and pest control on vessels
• carrying out Ship Sanitation inspections
• carrying out checks on imported foods passing through the port
• sampling water supplies from vessels and quayside supplies to make sure it is safe to drink
• making sure controls are in place to stop infectious diseases entering the port

Commercial ships arriving from a foreign port must carry a Ship Sanitation Control (Exemption) Certificate to show a satisfactory standard of hygiene on board. We can renew these certificates once a ship inspection has taken place.

Fishing vessels that land their catch at our ports can be inspected if food processing is carried out on board. The cooked product can also be sampled for microbiological testing.

Wisbech Port Health Authority also covers an area of sea in the Wash where cockles and mussels grow. Although there is no known commercial harvesting of these molluscs, routine sampling is carried out on behalf of the council. Information is displayed to casual gatherers of these shellfish if they are unsafe to eat because of algal contamination.

For more information, email envhealth@fenland.gov.uk or call 01354 654321.

Ship fees

View the Council's Fees and Charges in full.