Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

#BelfastLough - A bid has been placed by Belfast yard Harland & Wolff on a £1.25bn MoD shipbuilding scheme. According to the Belfast Telegraph, the UK Government wants to build five new ships, each worth £250m. In September, the newspaper…

#BelfastLough - A 'drunk' captain found in charge of his ship at Belfast Port on Boxing Day has been fined £1,000. The Irish News writes that Patryk Tetzlaff (38) was four times over the limit while in charge of a…

The Mackey Opticians sponsored Belfast Lough Autumn Series came to a sad finale yesterday with Storm Brian hanging around long enough to put paid to the morning's racing. Race Officer Ruan O'Tiarnaigh had hoped to run two races as the…

#NewHMSbelfast - One of the newest warships for the Royal Navy is to be called HMS Belfast writes The Irish News.  Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon made the announcement as his visited Harland and Wolff shipyard in the city, where…

#belfastlough - Belfast Harbour Commissioners has announced that ITV Broadcasting, owners of UTV are the latest tenant for its new £250 million City Quays 2 office development. City Quays 2 is a new office led development of 20 acres on…

#belfastlough- A multimillion-pound fleet of new warships writes The Belfast Telegraph could be built in blocks across several shipyards in Britain, including Belfast, the Defence Secretary has announced. While tender is open for selection for the build, Harland and Wolff…

#BelfastLough - The Belfast Telegraph writes that Harland & Wolff has reduced dozens of staff in an "unacceptable" year amid "difficult market conditions" which saw sales collapse and the firm posting massive losses of £6m. The former Belfast shipbuilder, which…

#PortCEO - Belfast Harbour have confirmed that CEO, Roy Adair CBE is to retire from the Port business in the Spring of 2018. The CEO has for more than 12 years presided over an extremely successful development phase of Belfast…

#StoneExports - A Belfast Harbour based firm Conexpo that operates stone quarries has won a Dutch order as part of its exports to surface Europe’s busiest roads. The company won the export order to supply 55,000 tonnes to reconstruct 26km…

Mayor Alderman Deborah Girvan of Ards and North Down Borough Council attended the first night of 'Dolphin & Sharks' at Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough last Friday night writes Mark Mackey. The visit is to encourage the next generation of young…

#RecordCalls - A new tourism high as almost 90 cruise ships are expected to visit Belfast Harbour this summer, bringing with them 150,000 passengers and crew to the city. Belfast’s record cruise schedule for 2017 marks an unprecedented period of…

In all last year’s celebrations of the 150th Anniversaries of Royal Ulster Yacht Club and Carrickfergus Sailing Club on Belfast Lough, it was generally overlooked that neither is the senior club on the lough, even though both were founded way…

#BelfastLough - A sea captain has been convicted of being drunk on duty while piloting a merchant vessel in Belfast Lough last year. As the Belfast Telegraph reports, Eugenijus Tulauskas was found to be nearly four times over the legal…

#CoalShip – A general cargoship that was a frequent caller to Belfast Harbour but did not depart to a port on the Irish Sea or for that matter beyond, so how could that be?, writes Jehan Ashmore. The answer to…

#Harland&Howth - Harland and Wolff, Belfast has been busy working with Stena Line ferries while in Howth Harbour, Co.Dublin the boatyard there has begun work on a passenger-only ferry that in recent years began running cruises, writes Jehan Ashmore.  The annual…

#Decommissioning - For many UK ports writes EnergyVoice, developing the facilities needed for large-scale decommissioning projects is a quest they are just embarking on. But for the Belfast based Harland and Wolff (H&W) shipyard, the asset it describes as the…