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Displaying items by tag: DSG

Greenore Port, part of the Doyle Shipping Group (DSG) has announced that it is the first Irish Port to apply for a Maritime Area Consent (MAC) under the newly established Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA), writes Jehan Ashmore.

As Afloat reported in July, MARA became the State’s first authority for issuing of maritime planning permissions. The new agency based in Co. Wexford was initiated by government ministers.

Greenore Port which is at the entrance to Carlingford Lough, is where DSG plan to invest €25m in a state-of-the-art operations and maintenance (OMF) base to support offshore wind on the East Coast. The project at the Co. Louth port is due to be completed in early 2026 and will create in excess of 200 jobs.

DSG which has its origins as a stevedore in Cork dating to 1886, is now a nationwide integrated shipping, logistics and maritime services group. In addition to expanding operations with working on wind energy projects of over 20 years.

It’s port operations at Greenore, handles general cargo, project cargo and a variety of commodities including bulk cargoes in animal feed, rock and fertiliser.

Greenore is also the main steel port in Ireland, and is strategically located close to the important Dublin-Belfast Economic Corridor, which is connected to the M1 motorway.

The port has completed an extensive dredging project to remove over 7000 tonnes of rock from the port’s harbour bed. This permits the port to accommodate merchant vessels of 60,000 deadweight tonnes (dwt) with a 8.5m draft and with ships of up to 200m length overall (LOA).

Published in Power From the Sea
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#waterfrontproperty - People in Passage West, reports EchoLive.ie, have reacted with bitter disappointment to the announcement that the local dockyards are no longer to be sold to Cork County Council.

The Evening Echo revealed yesterday that the docks - the location for a major town centre regeneration proposal - has been taken off the market because of uncertainties surrounding Brexit.

The council had been granted €1.9m from the Government last November to buy the docks from the Doyle Shipping Group for a regeneration scheme that would see the docks become a modern waterfront settlement overlooking the harbour.

However, Brexit has led to the decision to take the site off the market, because it does not know what Ireland's future shipping needs will be.

Local Councillor Michael Frick Murphy said there is a lot of disappointment in the area and people feel the potential of Passage West is being thrown to the wayside.

For comments made by the councillor and more, click here.

Published in West Cork

#waterfrontproperty - Plans in Cork Harbour, reports EchoLive.ie, to redevelop the dockyard in Passage West have been scuppered by Brexit.

The planned redevelopment of the dockyard site into a modern, urban waterfront settlement had been hailed as a ‘game-changer’ for the town when funding was secured to purchase the dockyard from the Doyle Shipping Group last November.

Cork County Council was granted €1.9m by the Government to purchase the eight-acre site but in a ‘bombshell’ announcement yesterday, County Hall chiefs said the site has been taken off the market and the funding would likely be lost.

Senior Executive Officer in County Hall, Jim Molloy, said the dockyard was no longer for sale because the uncertainty that Brexit has created for Ireland’s future shipping needs.

The announcement was described as a bitter blow for Passage West but Mr Molloy said a ‘wait and see’ approach is being adopted by shipping companies and ports until the implications of Brexit are known.

For more on the story click here

 

Published in West Cork
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Marine Institute Research Vessel Tom Crean

Ireland’s new marine research vessel will be named the RV Tom Crean after the renowned County Kerry seaman and explorer who undertook three major groundbreaking expeditions to the Antarctic in the early years of the 20th Century which sought to increase scientific knowledge and to explore unreached areas of the world, at that time.

Ireland's new multi-purpose marine research vessel RV Tom Crean, was delivered in July 2022 and will be used by the Marine Institute and other State agencies and universities to undertake fisheries research, oceanographic and environmental research, seabed mapping surveys; as well as maintaining and deploying weather buoys, observational infrastructure and Remotely Operated Vehicles.

The RV Tom Crean will also enable the Marine Institute to continue to lead and support high-quality scientific surveys that contribute to Ireland's position as a leader in marine science. The research vessel is a modern, multipurpose, silent vessel (designed to meet the stringent criteria of the ICES 209 noise standard for fisheries research), capable of operating in the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The Tom Crean is able to go to sea for at least 21 days at a time and is designed to operate in harsh sea conditions.

RV Tom Crean Specification Overview

  • Length Overall: 52.8 m
  • Beam 14m
  • Draft 5.2M 

Power

  • Main Propulsion Motor 2000 kw
  • Bow Thruster 780 kw
  • Tunnel thruster 400 kw

Other

  • Endurance  21 Days
  • Range of 8,000 nautical miles
  • DP1 Dynamic Positioning
  • Capacity for 3 x 20ft Containers

Irish Marine Research activities

The new state-of-the-art multi-purpose marine research vessel will carry out a wide range of marine research activities, including vital fisheries, climate change-related research, seabed mapping and oceanography.

The new 52.8-metre modern research vessel, which will replace the 31-metre RV Celtic Voyager, has been commissioned with funding provided by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine approved by the Government of Ireland.

According to Aodhán FitzGerald, Research Vessel Manager of the MI, the RV Tom Crean will feature an articulated boom crane aft (6t@ 10m, 3T@ 15m), located on the aft-gantry. This will be largely used for loading science equipment and net and equipment handling offshore.

Mounted at the stern is a 10T A-frame aft which can articulate through 170 degrees which are for deploying and recovering large science equipment such as a remotely operated vehicle (ROV’s), towed sleds and for fishing operations.

In addition the fitting of an 8 Ton starboard side T Frame for deploying grabs and corers to 4000m which is the same depth applicable to when the vessel is heaving but is compensated by a CTD system consisting of a winch and frame during such operations.

The vessel will have the regulation MOB boat on a dedicated davit and the facility to carry a 6.5m Rigid Inflatable tender on the port side.

Also at the aft deck is where the 'Holland 1' Work class ROV and the University of Limericks 'Etain' sub-Atlantic ROV will be positioned. In addition up to 3 x 20’ (TEU) containers can be carried.

The newbuild has been engineered to endure increasing harsher conditions and the punishing weather systems encountered in the North-East Atlantic where deployments of RV Tom Crean on surveys spent up to 21 days duration.

In addition, RV Tom Crean will be able to operate in an ultra silent-mode, which is crucial to meet the stringent criteria of the ICES 209 noise standard for fisheries research purposes.

The classification of the newbuild as been appointed to Lloyds and below is a list of the main capabilities and duties to be tasked by RV Tom Crean:

  • Oceanographic surveys, incl. CTD water sampling
  • Fishery research operations
  • Acoustic research operations
  • Environmental research and sampling operation incl. coring
  • ROV and AUV/ASV Surveys
  • Buoy/Mooring operations