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Displaying items by tag: Independence of the Sea

Following the impressive meeting for the first time of two cruiseships together at Cobh on Sunday, the Port of Cork has released footage on their website which can viewed by clicking here, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The cruiseships were the inbound Independence of the Seas (157,000 tonnes) one of the largest cruiseships in the world and the outward bound 121,000 tonnes Celebrity Eclipse. For another view taken at closer quarters of the cruiseships which have a combined tonnage of over a quarter million gross tonnes see below.
She will be returning to Cobh tomorrow for another overnight cruisecall. On the same day the Discovery (700 passenger capacity) is also due to arrive but the vessel operated by Voyages of Discovery will dock at Ringaskiddy. 

On Friday the Port of Cork welcomes another large cruiseship in the form of the Emerald Princess which carries 3,592 passengers, nearly 500 more than the Celebrity Eclipse. The 113,000 tonnes vessel is nearly 950-feet long, is 118 wide and draws 28 feet under the waterline. With 19 decks the vessel towers above the oceans and will also do so when alongside Cobh's 350m deepwater berth.

One of the numerous amenities onboard is the CyberGolf link and jogging track which are located high up near the stern. Directly situated below is the Skywalkers Nightclub and for movie-goers, films are shown at an oudoor theatre. The top of the range cabins are the 900 balcony staterooms which offer first class hotel style 24-hour room service.

Published in Cruise Liners

Shipyards

Afloat will be focusing on news and developments of shipyards with newbuilds taking shape on either slipways and building halls.

The common practice of shipbuilding using modular construction, requires several yards make specific block sections that are towed to a single designated yard and joined together to complete the ship before been launched or floated out.

In addition, outfitting quays is where internal work on electrical and passenger facilities is installed (or upgraded if the ship is already in service). This work may involve newbuilds towed to another specialist yard, before the newbuild is completed as a new ship or of the same class, designed from the shipyard 'in-house' or from a naval architect consultancy. Shipyards also carry out repair and maintenance, overhaul, refit, survey, and conversion, for example, the addition or removal of cabins within a superstructure. All this requires ships to enter graving /dry-docks or floating drydocks, to enable access to the entire vessel out of the water.

Asides from shipbuilding, marine engineering projects such as offshore installations take place and others have diversified in the construction of offshore renewable projects, from wind-turbines and related tower structures. When ships are decommissioned and need to be disposed of, some yards have recycling facilities to segregate materials, though other vessels are run ashore, i.e. 'beached' and broken up there on site. The scrapped metal can be sold and made into other items.