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Displaying items by tag: Tanker discharge molasses

#TankerSnap – The above photograph is not of the red-hulled tanker Iver Ability which anchored in Dublin Bay for more than five months and in doing so drew much mainstream media attention, writes Jehan Ashmore.

So what is the identity of this tanker?... with this view overlooking the vessel's complex looking cargo tanks pipeline network. The answer to the vessel's identity is that of the MS Simon, a 40,000dwt Liberian flagged oil-chemical bulk liquids tanker.

The vessel had berthed in Dublin Port nine days ago with a cargo of molasses from Guatemala in Central America. This followed a crossing of the Atlantic, where MS Simon made an en-route call to Amsterdam prior to docking in Dublin Port.

The 176m long vessel discharged the molasses at a northside fuel jetty before shifting to the south bank along Deepwater Quay. 

At this same berth (No.47) is where previously Iver Ability made several calls during the prolonged anchorage that arose following a 'cargo reaction' incident in transporting bitumen in the port.

The final port call was prior to the festive season. On that occasion a change of certain personnel of the 129m vessel was undertaken. 

Late last month Iver Ability finally departed Dublin Bay bound for the Netherlands. 

On completion of duties that is of the MS Simon, the tanker departed the capital this week. On Thursday the ship was monitored offshore of the Scottish coast. At that stage the tanker was off Islay, the southernmost of the Inner Hebrideas.

Published in Dublin Port

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