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Displaying items by tag: ABP Hull

#FerryNews - A North Sea ferry docking in Hull, England was delayed for an hour and a half after a man had to be airlifted to hospital.

The Pride of York, operated by P&O ferries, reports HullLive was returning to the UK port on Sunday July 29 having sailed overnight from Zeebrugge, Belgium, when an air ambulance was called after a man became unwell on board.

Passengers on board the ship filmed as staff on board the helicopter landed on the ship.

P&O ferries confirmed the medical evacuation took place and the man was assisted by doctors on board the ferry. A spokesman for P&O said: "There was an evacuation by helicopter last night.

For further reading including footage of the helicopter rescue, click here.

Published in Ferry

#CruiseLiners - Classic former liner Marco Polo made cruiseship calls to Irish ports last weekend and today the veteran vessel is nearing the end of a cruise that began in Hull, the UK North Sea port which is increasingly becoming popular with the cruise sector, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Marco Polo dating to 1965, had embarked passengers from Associated British Ports (ABP) Hull, for operator Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV). The cruise began with a tour of Scottish ports and offshore isles before calling to Dublin and Cork.

Throughout the cruise for the most part, passengers have experienced favourable weather, notable with this current spell of a heatwave across Ireland and the UK. Marco Polo this evening departed Honfleur, France from where the temperature in Normandy reached 29 degrees celsius.

The 22,080 tonnes Marco Polo, one of the world's oldest operating cruiseships arrived to the Irish capital last Saturday to berth at Ocean Pier. This was followed the next day with a call to Cobh, the main cruise location for such ships when visiting Cork Harbour. Yesterday, the itinerary took in an anchorage call off St. Peter Port, Guernsey and on Monday, Isles of Scilly. 

The former liner launched as Aleksandr Pushkin was built in the then East Germany to serve the Soviet Union's Baltic Shipping Company which involved trans-Atlantic 'liner' voyages between Leningrad, Russia and Montreal and Quebec in Canada. In addition to liner en-route calls via Tilbury, London, (coincidently also CMV's main UK homeport) using the 1930 built Art-Deco terminal.

The career of the liner is recorded with varying versions, though it would seem overall that the ship spent a sporadic timeframe in that role with the interim spent as a cruiseship. The start of permanent cruise duties began in the late 1970's.

The cruise career involved charters to German operators and then with Orient Line in the Far East after a major rebuilding in a Greek shipyard took place in 1993. This notably saw increased steelwork to the superstructure between the amidships and the stern. As a consequence this led to a rise in tonnage and a bulkier appearance, though by today's standards, Marco Polo still retains an elegance evoking ocean-liners of the past with stepped superstructure fore and aft and a cruiser stern.

Internally, the shipyard works resulted in the removal of most of the original features and heightening of the centrally placed funnel. There are two restaurents, five lounge areas including the theatre style Marco Polo Lounge, and a wide range of other amenities. Out on decks, there’s a swimming pool, three whirlpools and a traditional walk-around promenade.

In 2015, the year the 176m vessel celebrated its 50th anniverary, Marco Polo made a trans-Atlantic voyage to retrace a 'liner' service between the UK and Canada. The celebratory cruise departed Tilbury in July that year involving a 34-night voyage.

For the past decade, Marco Polo has been chartered to UK based CMV whose six-strong ship fleet includes Magellan. The much larger and more modern cruiseship of 46,000 tonnes resumed this season with duties among them 'home-porting' out of Dublin. In addition to these non-fly cruises, the 1,250 passenger ship is offering for the first time cruises directly embarking from Cobh with destinations such as Iceland.

Also homeporting out of Dublin this season is Celebrity Cruises 'Soltice' class Celebrity Eclipse.

Returning to Hull, where a further five ships is scheduled to call to this season, though the first caller to the port on the Humber estuary was Silver Cloud. See story on seperate cruise call to Galway Bay anchorage.

The luxurious Silveas Cruises operated cruiseship, the fourth expedition ship out of a nine-strong white hulled fleet ('Cloud' with a black hull), enjoyed a day call to the port on the Humber. Hull last year was UK City of Culture and is the gateway to the historic city of York.

Hull is also home to the daily P&O Ferries services to Zeebrugge, Belgium and Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In total these routes saw just under one million passengers travel annually.

Sisters Pride of York, built in Scotland and Japanese counterpart, Pride of Bruges serve the longer route to Belgium. Larger sisters, Pride of Hull and Pride of Rotterdam both Italian built, run the Dutch route which too provide overnight crossings. 

Published in Cruise Liners

#Ports&Shipping - The arrival from Cork Harbour of two state-of-the-art cranes worth £10.5 million to a UK North Sea port will double the volume of trade handled at ABP's Hull container terminal.

The increase in capacity is according to Associated British Ports expected to reach more than 400,000 units per year.

The giant 600 tonne and 50 metre high ship-to-shore gantry cranes made an impressive entrance as they arrived yesterday on board heavy lift vessel HHL Lagos.

The fully assembled gantry cranes as Afloat reported earlier this month had been loaded on the Hansa Heavy Lift ship at Cork Dockyard. Loading operations took around a week to complete before the 168m vessel sailed to the North Sea port on the Humber Estuary which was accessed through the lock gates.

The new cranes are part of a recent £15 million investment which also includes the purchase of equipment such as reach stackers and tug trailers. In addition to the creation of 9,000 square metres of new storage for customers.

ABP has committed to invest a total of £50 million in its container terminals on the Humber - located in Immingham and Hull - in response to continued growth in demand.

ABP Humber Director, Simon Bird, said: “This major investment underlines our confidence in the future as growth in our container business looks set to continue in the years ahead.
“Across the Humber our container terminals have seen a 41% growth in volumes since 2013. Our ambition is to build on this success by continuing to deliver state-of-the-art equipment and first class infrastructure to benefit our customers and the wider economy.”

The Liebherr cranes are bespoke made and took around 11 months to build in Ireland. The HHL Lagos took three days to sail to the Hull where the ship's on board heavy lift crane were used to carefully place the new cranes on the quayside crane rails. The cranes will be fully operational by the beginning of April 2018.

Hull’s 10 acre container terminal is the third largest short sea container port on the east coast. During August 2017, 10 new employees were taken on in preparation for the increased demand of the 24-hour operation.

In addition to Hull, ABP also operate ports on the Humber at Grimsby, Goole and Immingham. The four ports handle around 13% of all of the UK’s seaborne trade. Every year the ports handle £75 billion worth of trade, more than the Mersey, Tyne and Tees combined.

Published in Ports & Shipping

About Dublin Port 

Dublin Port is Ireland’s largest and busiest port with approximately 17,000 vessel movements per year. As well as being the country’s largest port, Dublin Port has the highest rate of growth and, in the seven years to 2019, total cargo volumes grew by 36.1%.

The vision of Dublin Port Company is to have the required capacity to service the needs of its customers and the wider economy safely, efficiently and sustainably. Dublin Port will integrate with the City by enhancing the natural and built environments. The Port is being developed in line with Masterplan 2040.

Dublin Port Company is currently investing about €277 million on its Alexandra Basin Redevelopment (ABR), which is due to be complete by 2021. The redevelopment will improve the port's capacity for large ships by deepening and lengthening 3km of its 7km of berths. The ABR is part of a €1bn capital programme up to 2028, which will also include initial work on the Dublin Port’s MP2 Project - a major capital development project proposal for works within the existing port lands in the northeastern part of the port.

Dublin Port has also recently secured planning approval for the development of the next phase of its inland port near Dublin Airport. The latest stage of the inland port will include a site with the capacity to store more than 2,000 shipping containers and infrastructures such as an ESB substation, an office building and gantry crane.

Dublin Port Company recently submitted a planning application for a €320 million project that aims to provide significant additional capacity at the facility within the port in order to cope with increases in trade up to 2040. The scheme will see a new roll-on/roll-off jetty built to handle ferries of up to 240 metres in length, as well as the redevelopment of an oil berth into a deep-water container berth.

Dublin Port FAQ

Dublin was little more than a monastic settlement until the Norse invasion in the 8th and 9th centuries when they selected the Liffey Estuary as their point of entry to the country as it provided relatively easy access to the central plains of Ireland. Trading with England and Europe followed which required port facilities, so the development of Dublin Port is inextricably linked to the development of Dublin City, so it is fair to say the origins of the Port go back over one thousand years. As a result, the modern organisation Dublin Port has a long and remarkable history, dating back over 300 years from 1707.

The original Port of Dublin was situated upriver, a few miles from its current location near the modern Civic Offices at Wood Quay and close to Christchurch Cathedral. The Port remained close to that area until the new Custom House opened in the 1790s. In medieval times Dublin shipped cattle hides to Britain and the continent, and the returning ships carried wine, pottery and other goods.

510 acres. The modern Dublin Port is located either side of the River Liffey, out to its mouth. On the north side of the river, the central part (205 hectares or 510 acres) of the Port lies at the end of East Wall and North Wall, from Alexandra Quay.

Dublin Port Company is a State-owned commercial company responsible for operating and developing Dublin Port.

Dublin Port Company is a self-financing, and profitable private limited company wholly-owned by the State, whose business is to manage Dublin Port, Ireland's premier Port. Established as a corporate entity in 1997, Dublin Port Company is responsible for the management, control, operation and development of the Port.

Captain William Bligh (of Mutiny of the Bounty fame) was a visitor to Dublin in 1800, and his visit to the capital had a lasting effect on the Port. Bligh's study of the currents in Dublin Bay provided the basis for the construction of the North Wall. This undertaking led to the growth of Bull Island to its present size.

Yes. Dublin Port is the largest freight and passenger port in Ireland. It handles almost 50% of all trade in the Republic of Ireland.

All cargo handling activities being carried out by private sector companies operating in intensely competitive markets within the Port. Dublin Port Company provides world-class facilities, services, accommodation and lands in the harbour for ships, goods and passengers.

Eamonn O'Reilly is the Dublin Port Chief Executive.

Capt. Michael McKenna is the Dublin Port Harbour Master

In 2019, 1,949,229 people came through the Port.

In 2019, there were 158 cruise liner visits.

In 2019, 9.4 million gross tonnes of exports were handled by Dublin Port.

In 2019, there were 7,898 ship arrivals.

In 2019, there was a gross tonnage of 38.1 million.

In 2019, there were 559,506 tourist vehicles.

There were 98,897 lorries in 2019

Boats can navigate the River Liffey into Dublin by using the navigational guidelines. Find the guidelines on this page here.

VHF channel 12. Commercial vessels using Dublin Port or Dun Laoghaire Port typically have a qualified pilot or certified master with proven local knowledge on board. They "listen out" on VHF channel 12 when in Dublin Port's jurisdiction.

A Dublin Bay webcam showing the south of the Bay at Dun Laoghaire and a distant view of Dublin Port Shipping is here
Dublin Port is creating a distributed museum on its lands in Dublin City.
 A Liffey Tolka Project cycle and pedestrian way is the key to link the elements of this distributed museum together.  The distributed museum starts at the Diving Bell and, over the course of 6.3km, will give Dubliners a real sense of the City, the Port and the Bay.  For visitors, it will be a unique eye-opening stroll and vista through and alongside one of Europe’s busiest ports:  Diving Bell along Sir John Rogerson’s Quay over the Samuel Beckett Bridge, past the Scherzer Bridge and down the North Wall Quay campshire to Berth 18 - 1.2 km.   Liffey Tolka Project - Tree-lined pedestrian and cycle route between the River Liffey and the Tolka Estuary - 1.4 km with a 300-metre spur along Alexandra Road to The Pumphouse (to be completed by Q1 2021) and another 200 metres to The Flour Mill.   Tolka Estuary Greenway - Construction of Phase 1 (1.9 km) starts in December 2020 and will be completed by Spring 2022.  Phase 2 (1.3 km) will be delivered within the following five years.  The Pumphouse is a heritage zone being created as part of the Alexandra Basin Redevelopment Project.  The first phase of 1.6 acres will be completed in early 2021 and will include historical port equipment and buildings and a large open space for exhibitions and performances.  It will be expanded in a subsequent phase to incorporate the Victorian Graving Dock No. 1 which will be excavated and revealed. 
 The largest component of the distributed museum will be The Flour Mill.  This involves the redevelopment of the former Odlums Flour Mill on Alexandra Road based on a masterplan completed by Grafton Architects to provide a mix of port operational uses, a National Maritime Archive, two 300 seat performance venues, working and studio spaces for artists and exhibition spaces.   The Flour Mill will be developed in stages over the remaining twenty years of Masterplan 2040 alongside major port infrastructure projects.

Source: Dublin Port Company ©Afloat 2020.