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Displaying items by tag: Arklow Shipping bulkers

#BulkerSisters - Arklow Spirit last night returned to anchor in Dublin Bay to await orders while another bulk-carrier occupies the same berth to where the Irish flagged ship is one of a pair of the largest registered in the State, writes Jehan Ashmore.

As Afloat.ie previously reported Arklow Spirit on Monday made a maiden call to Dublin Port. The 182m long bulker registered in the Co. Wicklow port had discharged animal feed from Brazil via Cork (Ringaskiddy). A sister Arklow Spray, also of 33,905dwt are the largest ships listed on the Irish Shipping Register that are owned by an indigenous company, Arklow Shipping Ltd.

Arkow Spray the newer of the sisters dating to 2014 and built from the same South Korean yard, is currently docked in the USA at the Port of New York.  The bulk-carrier docked at a berth off the East River that is reached by the Hudson River, had arrived in recent days from Providence, Rhode Island.

Normally both ASL bulk-carriers are to be found operating on global deep-sea shipping lanes compared to serving in domestic waters as in the case of Arklow Spirit. It is otherwise commonplace to have short-sea traders call to Dublin having operated within north-western Europe. It should however be noted that ASL's smaller 14,990dwt bulkers of the 'M' class trade within Irish waters too given Arklow Marsh made a recent call also to the capital.  

As for the Dublin docked bulk-carrier referred in the introduction, this is the Cape Moreton a Hong Kong flagged ship that is berthed in Alexandra Basin. The bulker is marginally smaller in terms of both dwt (32,875) and in length overall at 179m. What is common though is that the trio of bulkers have the same number of cargo holds, five and served by four deck-mounted cranes.

Cape Moreton completed in 2010 is operated by Pacific Basin, one of the world's leading owners of modern Handysize and Supramax dry bulk ships.

The company is headquartered and listed in Hong Kong, an autonomous territory of China. The shipping company was established a decade before the handover of the former British colony to China took place in 1997, has currently a fleet of more than 250 vessels trading on a global basis.

This year Pacific Basin opened a commercial office in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Published in Ports & Shipping

#PORTS & SHIPPING – Arklow Shipping is further expanding its bulker fleet and moving into the market for larger vessels with an order for three ships in South Korea, according to Tradewinds.

The company which is headquartered in the Co. Wicklow port has booked two 35,000-dwt handysize-bulkers and a general cargoship at Daesun Shipbuilding. TradeWinds sources say Arklow is paying a premium for the ships against more competitive pricing from China.

Brokers price the Daesun bulkers at around $25.5m, which compares to similar deals in China at around $22m. As for the general cargoship, she will be delivered in the first half of 2013 and the bulkers in the second half of the year. Arklow previously signed up for a series of 14,000-dwt multipurpose (MPP) vessels at Mokpo, which later went into administration.

The orders were then passed on to Sekwang Shipbuilding only for it also to fall into financial difficulties. Daesun has had its problems too and was delisted from the Seoul Stock Exchange in April as it did not meet the bourse's financial requirements.

The latest order appears to have taken Arklow's owned fleet into the larger-handysize segment. So far it has focussed mainly on bulkers, general-cargo and MPP ships up to 14,000 dwt. It has a fleet of 55 ships including 12 newbuildings, most of which are registered in the Republic of Ireland. Arklow declines to comment on the Daesun order.

Published in Ports & Shipping

Marine Institute Research Vessel Tom Crean

Ireland’s new marine research vessel will be named the RV Tom Crean after the renowned County Kerry seaman and explorer who undertook three major groundbreaking expeditions to the Antarctic in the early years of the 20th Century which sought to increase scientific knowledge and to explore unreached areas of the world, at that time.

Ireland's new multi-purpose marine research vessel RV Tom Crean, was delivered in July 2022 and will be used by the Marine Institute and other State agencies and universities to undertake fisheries research, oceanographic and environmental research, seabed mapping surveys; as well as maintaining and deploying weather buoys, observational infrastructure and Remotely Operated Vehicles.

The RV Tom Crean will also enable the Marine Institute to continue to lead and support high-quality scientific surveys that contribute to Ireland's position as a leader in marine science. The research vessel is a modern, multipurpose, silent vessel (designed to meet the stringent criteria of the ICES 209 noise standard for fisheries research), capable of operating in the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The Tom Crean is able to go to sea for at least 21 days at a time and is designed to operate in harsh sea conditions.

RV Tom Crean Specification Overview

  • Length Overall: 52.8 m
  • Beam 14m
  • Draft 5.2M 

Power

  • Main Propulsion Motor 2000 kw
  • Bow Thruster 780 kw
  • Tunnel thruster 400 kw

Other

  • Endurance  21 Days
  • Range of 8,000 nautical miles
  • DP1 Dynamic Positioning
  • Capacity for 3 x 20ft Containers

Irish Marine Research activities

The new state-of-the-art multi-purpose marine research vessel will carry out a wide range of marine research activities, including vital fisheries, climate change-related research, seabed mapping and oceanography.

The new 52.8-metre modern research vessel, which will replace the 31-metre RV Celtic Voyager, has been commissioned with funding provided by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine approved by the Government of Ireland.

According to Aodhán FitzGerald, Research Vessel Manager of the MI, the RV Tom Crean will feature an articulated boom crane aft (6t@ 10m, 3T@ 15m), located on the aft-gantry. This will be largely used for loading science equipment and net and equipment handling offshore.

Mounted at the stern is a 10T A-frame aft which can articulate through 170 degrees which are for deploying and recovering large science equipment such as a remotely operated vehicle (ROV’s), towed sleds and for fishing operations.

In addition the fitting of an 8 Ton starboard side T Frame for deploying grabs and corers to 4000m which is the same depth applicable to when the vessel is heaving but is compensated by a CTD system consisting of a winch and frame during such operations.

The vessel will have the regulation MOB boat on a dedicated davit and the facility to carry a 6.5m Rigid Inflatable tender on the port side.

Also at the aft deck is where the 'Holland 1' Work class ROV and the University of Limericks 'Etain' sub-Atlantic ROV will be positioned. In addition up to 3 x 20’ (TEU) containers can be carried.

The newbuild has been engineered to endure increasing harsher conditions and the punishing weather systems encountered in the North-East Atlantic where deployments of RV Tom Crean on surveys spent up to 21 days duration.

In addition, RV Tom Crean will be able to operate in an ultra silent-mode, which is crucial to meet the stringent criteria of the ICES 209 noise standard for fisheries research purposes.

The classification of the newbuild as been appointed to Lloyds and below is a list of the main capabilities and duties to be tasked by RV Tom Crean:

  • Oceanographic surveys, incl. CTD water sampling
  • Fishery research operations
  • Acoustic research operations
  • Environmental research and sampling operation incl. coring
  • ROV and AUV/ASV Surveys
  • Buoy/Mooring operations