Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: RTE Angelus

As reported previously on Afloat.ie the Bridget Carmel (WD-39) which was in a collision with the tanker Ocean Lady off Anglesey on Monday, not only appears occasionally in RTE's Angelus but also as a mural in Wicklow Port, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The 24m long green-hulled Wexford registered trawler, with a crew of three was escorted by the Wicklow lifeboat and safely secured alongside the ports East pier where she is superbly depicted at the same location. She is one of over a dozen vessels painted in great skill across an uneven surface along the pier's promenade wall and the work of local postman and shipping enthusiast Pat Davis.

Apart from the mural of the trawler (click HERE) there are a wide variety of vessels represented from general cargo-ships and the inclusion of STV Asgard II and the World's last ocean-going paddle-steamer P.S. Waverley. These vessels have too berthed alongside the adorned eastern breakwater where spectators flock to see the start of the biennial Round Ireland Yacht Race which was held last year.

The photo of the trawler was taken on a previous call at the Packet Quay, Wicklow and not Arklow as stated. The Packet Pier is the most used commercial quay in the Co. Wicklow port, where timber and scrap-metal cargoes are relatively common. For example the Arklow Rebel which loaded scrap-metal bound for Liverpool, to read more click HERE.

Published in Fishing

About Brittany Ferries

In 1967 a farmer from Finistère in Brittany, Alexis Gourvennec, succeeded in bringing together a variety of organisations from the region to embark on an ambitious project: the aim was to open up the region, to improve its infrastructure and to enrich its people by turning to traditional partners such as Ireland and the UK. In 1972 BAI (Brittany-England-Ireland) was born.

The first cross-Channel link was inaugurated in January 1973, when a converted Israeli tank-carrier called Kerisnel left the port of Roscoff for Plymouth carrying trucks loaded with Breton vegetables such as cauliflowers and artichokes. The story, therefore, begins on 2 January 1973, 24 hours after Great Britain's entry into the Common Market (EEC).

From these humble beginnings however, Brittany Ferries as the company was re-named quickly opened up to passenger transport, then became a tour operator.

Today, Brittany Ferries has established itself as the national leader in French maritime transport: an atypical leader, under private ownership, still owned by a Breton agricultural cooperative.

Eighty five percent of the company’s passengers are British.

Key Brittany Ferries figures:

  • Turnover: €202.4 million (compared with €469m in 2019)
  • Investment in three new ships, Galicia plus two new vessels powered by cleaner LNG (liquefied natural gas) arriving in 2022 and 2023
  • Employment: 2,474 seafarers and shore staff (average high/low season)
  • Passengers: 752,102 in 2020 (compared with 2,498,354 in 2019)
  • Freight: 160,377 in 2020 (compared with 201,554 in 2019)
  • Twelve ships operating services that connect France, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain (non-Covid year) across 14 routes
  • Twelve ports in total: Bilbao, Santander, Portsmouth, Poole, Plymouth, Cork, Rosslare, Caen, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Saint-Malo, Roscoff
  • Tourism in Europe: 231,000 unique visitors, staying 2.6 million bed-nights in France in 2020 (compared with 857,000 unique visitors, staying 8,7 million bed-nights in 2019).