Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

#BelfastLough - Work has already begun on a major new film studio lot on the shores of Belfast Lough. According to the Belfast Telegraph, Belfast-based RPP Architects are drawing up plans for the North Foreshore Film Studios located at Giant's…

#Jutland100 - Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster is due to launch the Jutland Square project on Friday, writes the Belfast Telegraph. The project is an art installation commemorating more than 300 sailors from all over Ireland who lost their…

In 2016, Royal Ulster Yacht Club is celebrating the 150th Anniversary of its formation in 1866. To mark the anniversary there will be a series of sailing and cruising events throughout the summer. The important date was highlighted by WM…

#JobLosses - Sixty jobs are set to go at Harland & Wolff, the losses represent approximately one third of the east Belfast engineering firm's permanent workforce, reports BBC News. Discussions are soon to get underway with unions. The company is…

#BelfastLough - Giant's Park on the North Foreshore of Belfast Lough is set to be the location of a new film studio, according to BBC News. The circa £14 million development aims to capitalise on Northern Ireland's increasing popularity as…

#Belfast - Fans of the recently knighted Sir Van Morrison are mounting a campaign to have a new river bridge in East Belfast named in his honour, as the Belfast Telegraph reports. The musician grew up close to where a…

#23mTonnes - Around 23 million tonnes of cargo was handled by Belfast Harbour during 2015, similar to its throughput for 2014. The tonnages suggest a varying performance between sectors in the wider Northern Ireland economy with commodities linked to the…

#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…