Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Port Traffic

#BELFAST HARBOUR - Mariners using Belfast Harbour are advised of a number of changes made to buoys placed in Belfast Lough to aid in navigation and traffic management.

The existing Fairway Buoy has been moved east northeast (ENE) to a new position, while four new buoys have been added - two at the main approach to the Port of Belfast, and two further out in the lough at Kilroot and Helen's Bay.

Vessels heading into the Port of Belfast are to pass north of the repositioned Fairway Buoy, while outward vessels must now pass south of the buoy, both reporting to Belfast Harbour Radio on VHF Channel 12.

Moreover, all vessels arriving to and departing from Belfast Harbour, when proceeding to or from anchorages or other berths within Belfast Lough, are requested to make contact with Belfast Harbour Radio to confirm their passage plans whether inbound (15 minutes from the Fairway), outbound (on passing Beacon No 12) or on heaving anchor.

Full details of co-ordinates of the new buoy placements are included in Belfast Harbour Notice No 20 of 2012, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

Published in Belfast Lough

First quarterly figures for 2011 show that volumes of shipping and port traffic on the majority of principal sectors grew, according to the Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO).

The figures below outline a moderate trade volume growth in four out of the five key freight segments: Lift-on/ lift-off (lo-lo), Roll-on/Roll-off (ro-ro),dry-bulk, break-bulk and the tanker/liquid market.

• Total lift-on/ lift-off (lo/lo) trades volumes grew by 3%.
• Roll-on/Roll-off export traffic was also up 2% per cent on an all island basis.
• Dry bulk volumes through ROI ports increased by 21%,
• Breakbulk volumes were also up 25%
• The tanker/liquid market was the only sector to record a decline, down by -12% compared to the same period last year.

For further information about the figures, charts and a summary released from the IMDO click here

Published in Ports & Shipping

Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.