Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

#BelfastBoard - Northern Ireland's Regional Development Minister, Michelle McIlveen has announced the appointment of four Belfast City Councillors to the Board of Belfast Harbour Commissioners (BHC). The Board is responsible for operating, maintaining and improving Belfast Port.  The Minister has…

#HMScaroline – A large scale appeal to find descendants of sailors from the island of Ireland who served in the First World War Battle of Jutland is to be launched in the New Year. The Newsletter also writes that, a…

#VesselValeVisits – Leadship of Arklow Shipping’s newest and only cargsoship currently in service out of 10 vessels ordered, Arklow Vale is understood to have made her maiden call to the island of Ireland, writes Jehan Ashmore. The 2,999grt cargoship had…

#BelfastLough - Belfast Lough's north foreshore will soon be home to a concentration of sustainable businesses that promises to be a first for Northern Ireland. UTV News reports on the Cleantech Hub, a 30-acre waterfront site at Giant's Park aimed…

#BelfastPort- In this year’s Northern Ireland Environmental Benchmarking Survey, Belfast Harbour has achieved platinum status – the highest scoring level. The achievement for Belfast Harbour came just before the United National Climate Change Conference COP21 in Paris began. Like the…

#HMScaroline - The Belfast Telegraph writes on the count-down for the opening of HMS Caroline in Belfast's Titanic Quarter. Following the award of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £11.5m and a further investment by Northern Ireland’s Department for Enterprise…

#RigContract -Harland and Wolff, Belfast has completed the dry docking and SPS Class Renewal Survey of the Byford Dolphin Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU) during the summer. The offshore oil rig platform departed Belfast following a six-month dry docking in…

#ArcticBelfast - As previously reported on Afloat’s Ferry News, this week Belfast Port had an eighth Stena vessel docked in the harbour which today marks 20 years of ferry operations, writes Jehan Ashmore. Easily the largest ship is Stena Arctica…

#Sailability - Belfast Lough Sailability has added three new boats to its fleet, as the Carrick Times reports. The 2.4 Olympic class boats Peg and Skye and the Hawk 20’ day sailor keel boat Arica were officially named in a…

#NewBelfastTug – One of the largest UK independent harbour tug firms, SMS Towage has taken delivery of another tug for its Belfast operations last month.  The new ASD (azimuth stern drive) tug to Belfast brings the overall investment in the…

There was some dramatic sailing on the final day of the Belfast Lough Autumn Series. Whilst many of the first Class prizes in the series had already been decided, this didn't stop those behind trying their hardest to make a…

Sunday afternoon saw the second race of the Lisglass Builders Icebreakers Series with a wide range of dinghies across all classes. The Topper class is still depleted with squad training going on elsewhere but it was good to see Freya…

Charlie West–Hurst's Mumbo Jumbo won their first race of the Belfast Lough Autumn Keelboat Series last Sunday morning, finishing just behind the other NIRKRA competitors to win on handicap. This was the fourth different winner in as many weeks with…

#NavyHospital - One the largest and most unusual military vessels in the world came home to Belfast for the weekend and where sea cadets had a tour, according to the Belfast Telegraph. The RFA Argus (A135) will be a feature…

#NewCruiseVisitor – Belfast Harbour which expects 115,000 cruise-goers by end of season, welcomed a first time visitor this morning, the new Mein Schiff 4 which operates in the premium –German cruise market for TUI Cruises, writes Jehan Ashmore. Mein Schiff…

#1987Govfiles - Northern Ireland state papers dating from 1987 reveal of plans by the Government to shut down Harland and Wolff in the 1980s, that risked throwing the peace process into turmoil, civil servants warned, reports the Belfast Telegraph. They…