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Displaying items by tag: Final 'A' lister

A new cargoship Arklow Artist, the sixth and final of the 'A' class series built at a shipyard in The Netherlands was recently delivered to Co. Wicklow shipowners, writes Jehan Ashmore.

As the video shows the bulk-orientated general cargsoship's transit along the River Ems canal from the inland yard at Westerbroek to Delfzijl.

It was in the nearby north-east Dutch port of Emshaven on the North Sea where shipyard Ferus Smit handed over the Irish flagged newbuild to Arklow Shipping Ltd.

This latest ship series using the nomenclature prefix of 'A' for ASL all began with leadship Arklow Abbey launched in 2019. Whereas a trio of the series named Arklow Accord, Ace and Archer were delivered last year. Leaving the penultimate newbuild, Arklow Arrow launched in December but did not enter service until earlier this year.

Aided by tugs stern and aft, the 8,543 (dwat) Arklow Artist made the transit from the shipyard to Delfzijl, the base for sea trials that took place in the southern North Sea.

The video also depicts a typical Dutch setting of a commercial canal barge passing Arklow Artist against the backdrop of an agricultural scene of a farmstead in the lowlands nation.

At the end of the footage, as Arklow Artist approaches the canal which splits into two, the newbuild veers into the canal on the right so to enter Delfzijl with its background of wind turbines dominating the horizon.

Published in Arklow Shipping

William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland and internationally for many years, with his work appearing in leading sailing publications on both sides of the Atlantic. He has been a regular sailing columnist for four decades with national newspapers in Dublin, and has had several sailing books published in Ireland, the UK, and the US. An active sailor, he has owned a number of boats ranging from a Mirror dinghy to a Contessa 35 cruiser-racer, and has been directly involved in building and campaigning two offshore racers. His cruising experience ranges from Iceland to Spain as well as the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, and he has raced three times in both the Fastnet and Round Ireland Races, in addition to sailing on two round Ireland records. A member for ten years of the Council of the Irish Yachting Association (now the Irish Sailing Association), he has been writing for, and at times editing, Ireland's national sailing magazine since its earliest version more than forty years ago