#Ports&Shipping - A former Belfast Port based tug, Irishman is currently to be found busy working in the East Yorkshire port of Hull on the Humber Estuary that flows into the North Sea, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Irishman, a 40 ton bollard pull tug had served in the original fleetline up stationed in Belfast Harbour, when Yorkshire based company SMS Towage located in Hessle, upriver of Hull, entered the towage market on the River Lagan from 2013. The 50 bollard pull tug Masterman, which started work in the city also that year was joined by sister Merchantman in 2015. 

Merchantman in recent weeks assisted in the neighbouring Port of Larne. This involved handling the longest ever ship to the port, tanker CPO Germany which called to the ferryport (P&O services to Cairnryan) for scheduled maintenance.

In addition to Northern Ireland, SMS Towage which has an all (ASD) Azimuth Stern Drive designed fleet totalling 16 tugs, has operations spread throughout the UK, at ports on the Bristol Channel, Portsmouth in Hampshire and asides Hull, the towage firm has fleets elsewhere on the Humber estuary. These operations are at the Ports of Goole, Grimsby and Immingham (see major investment plans at the UK's Biggest Port). The port trio is operated by Associated British Ports (ABP).

Afloat recalls the first occasion of setting sight on Irishman, when in the summer boarding Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) veteran Marco Polo berthed in Hull's King George V Dock. The 24m Irishman had berthed ahead of the sweeping gracefull classic hull lines of former Soviet liner Aleksandr Pushkin launched in 1965 in the then Eastern Bloc state of East Germany.

These liner voyages ran between Leningrad, Russia and Montreal and Quebec in Canada, and also en-route calls via Tilbury, London, coincidently CMV's main UK homeport. (See further below, current cruise to Canada). 

When Marco Polo eased of the berth in Hull's King George V Dock (used by P&O Ferries services to Belgium and Netherlands), the Irishman assisted at the bow of the 20,080 gross tonnage cruiseship. Also in the North Sea port was the aptly named Yorkshireman that handled operations at the ship's 'cruiser' stern. It is from here overlooking the stern that cruise-goers thronged the outside tiered decks to lap up the summer's notably prolonged heatwave and experience transitting the dock's lock. 

Powered by twin Niigata engines at 3,000 bhp, Irishman lead Marco Polo through the dock's entrance. When Marco Polo eventually vacated the dock into the open waters of the Humber Estuary, mooring lines were handled by the cruiseship crew and those of the tugs in advance to the start of a one-night coastal mini cruise to Harwich, Essex.

As previously reported on Afloat, Marco Polo is also pictured in same Hull dock during another cruise accompanied by SMS new Superman which boasts a 72 ton bollard pull capability. The newcomer joins fleetmates, among them Englishman, Welshman and Scotsman.

Marco Polo as previously reported operates cruises to Ireland based from Hull, in addition the port has attracted other operators. This week on Thursday at Tilbury, is from where the cruiseship departed the Thames Estuary on a trans-Atlantic cruise. The first leg involved an overnight passage to Ireland, where the 880 adults-only cruiseship made an arrival yesterday to the scenic surroundings off Glengariff. The Bahamas flagged took anchorage in Bantry Bay.

The cruisecall to the west Cork destination, is where Bantry Bay Port Company is responsible for such ships visiting (but otherwise tanker traffic dominates). A further two cruise callers are scheduled this month marking the end of this year's season.

Today, Marco Polo continues heading further into the Altantic Ocean and bound for St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, where the aforementioned former liner spent a career in the early years. The cruiseship is due to make landfall on 12 September followed by calls including Montreal and Québec City.

#Ports&Shipping - Earlier this year, Afloat highlighted the arrival of Irish built ship-to-shore container cranes worth £10.5 million to the UK North Sea Port of Hull where further business has since taken root, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The growing trade of containers is thanks to the new infrastructure which will double the capacity of the Hull Container Terminal (HCT) to around 400,000 containers annually. The 10-acre facility located on the Humber Estuary, operated by Associated British Ports (ABP) is the third largest short-sea container port on the UK's east coast.

The addition of the new pair of 600 tonne cranes constructed by Liebherr outside Killarney, brings to four container cranes in total located at HCT. The Irish built cranes service ships of up to 500 standard containers, had arrived fully assembled to Hull in April having been transported as deck cargo on board heavy-lift ship HHL Lagos from Cork Dockyard in Rusbrooke.

Port of Hull now handles seven additional vessels per week to include the most recent new operator, I-Motion that began a trading link in the Port of Ghent, Belgium. This development marks the first ever container service linking the Ghent port area and the UK. Of the two ships serving the route, Marus, Afloat adds was the one-time Bell Atlas of the former Bell Lines, which had major operations based out of Waterford City followed downriver at Belview Container Terminal.

The Belgium based operator, I-Motion's arrival on the Humber follows as previously reported the debut in March of Samskip's operations between Hull and Amsterdam in neighbouring Netherlands.

The upgraded facility at HCT comes equipped with four ship-to shore-cranes that operate container handling operations alongside three berths capable of berthing vessels up to 199m in length.

As for the Irish built cranes they form part of a £15 million investment by ABP Port of Hull which also includes the purchase of terminal reach stackers and tug trailers.

In addition the port has created 9,000 square metres of new storage for customers.

#Ports&Shipping - UK ports operator, Associated British Ports (ABP) celebrated a milestone as the Port of Hull’s two £10.5 million cranes built in Ireland, served their first container shipment.

The fully assembled 600 tonne cranes arrived on the Humber estuary last month from Cork Dockyard in Rusbrooke. The cranes constructed by Liebherr had been loaded on board heavy lift vessel HHL Lagos.

First to use the new 50m high ship-to-shore gantry cranes in Hull was Thea II, Afloat adds the containership's coincidental connection with Cork, from where last year BG Freight Lines launched a new service linking Liverpool.

The cranes are equipped to handle ships with more than 500 standard containers. The 360 TEU capacity Thea II had arrived last Friday from Amsterdam, to discharge and load 180 containers.

The newly-expanded terminal that can now handle double the capacity - some 400,000 containers per year - is going from strength-to-strength as it has recently secured three new weekly sailings from Amsterdam to Hull with Samskip.

“After taking around a year to construct and even longer to plan, seeing these colossal cranes up and running ahead of schedule is a highly-anticipated moment,” said ABP Humber Director Simon Bird.

“These huge pieces of kit will be part of Hull’s skyline for at least 20 years serving around 10,000 vessels in their lifetime. We have driven in major investments such as new equipment, increasing the footprint of the terminal and employing more operational staff to prepare for our next wave of growth in the container business.”

The Humber container ports - Immingham and Hull - has seen 28% growth compared to last year. ABP state they are committed to investing £50 million in its container terminals on the Humber - located in Immingham and Hull - in response to continued growth in demand.