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Displaying items by tag: Cargoship Focus

#CargoshipFocus: Corrib Shipping, a Dublin based ship management company, whose Cathma, one of four cargsoships, is at anchor offshore of Cork Harbour this morning awaiting orders, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The 3,990 gross tonnage Cathma, flagged in Curacao a Dutch island in the Caribbean, had sailed light yesterday from Foynes Port. The cargoship having discharged a cargo of fertiliser from Ventspils, Latvia.

Cathma had taken almost a week to complete the voyage from the Baltic to the Shannon Estuary port, one of six terminals operated by Shannon Foynes Port Company.

Along with her fleetmates, Cathma sails for Corrib Shipping based in Dundrum, Co. Dublin. Founded in 1995, Corrib comprises shipowning companies and employs officers and crew to man its vessels.

Cargsoships of Corrib sail as part of the Royal Wagenborg fleet, in which the Dutch shipping operator (alone has 170 plus vessels) act as chartering agents for the Irish company.

The other members of the Corrib dry cargsoship carrier quartet are Cora Jo, Jolyn and Cathy Jo. The latter vessel likewise of Cathma were built by Ferus Smit’s yard in Leer, Germany.

The shipbuilder's Dutch yard in Westerbroek is where Arklow Shipping Nederland B.V. had their first of 10 ‘C’ class leadships, Arklow Cadet launched in June.

Published in Ports & Shipping

#Arklow'V'sisters – Runcorn's record freight in 2014 as previously reported on Afloat.ie, referred to a call to the dock port by Arklow Viking to load salt for Spain, it is understood she is currently in neighbouring Portugal, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Arklow Viking is one of a trio of Arklow Shipping 'V' class 4,950 total dwt cargoships managed by Dutch subsidiary, Arklow Shipping N.V.

Her Portuguese port of call is Ribdeo, having taken a passage through the Bay of Biscay that involved rounding Galicia on Spain's north-western coast from a departure in Lisbon.

Also today, Arklow Venture which had berthed along Cork's City south quays had also sailed from an Iberian port, Musel Arnao. This afternoon she departed the Port of Cork for the short-sea coastal passage off the Cork and Kerry peninsula's and is bound for Foynes on the Shannon Estuary.

While earlier this week on Tuesday, Arklow Venus arrived to Dublin Graving Docks Ltd. The 90m long vessel had made the short sea passage in ballast from Avonmouth Docks.

On arrival at the Irish port, she initially moored along the Lead-In East Jetty within Alexandra Basin before entering the dry dock. The marine engineering business carries out repairs, maintenance and overhauls.

It is understood Arklow Venus is to remain in the graving dock until early next month and follows last year's call of Arklow Viking, for her third special survey.

The 200m long dry-dock is the only such facility in the port. The graving dock chamber can cater for two ships simultaneously or one larger vessel.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, DGD potentially faces closure as the Dublin Port Company plan to redevelop Alexandra Basin by re-using the dry-dock site to provide more quayside cargo space.

On a related note to space and that of cargo volumes, the ASL fleet carry cargoes varying from peat-moss to animal feed and fertiliser. The 'V' class sisters for examples can handle a hold grain-bale capacity of 198762 ft³/5628 m³.

The Dutch flagged trio were all built by Pattje Shipyard B.V., Netherlands, where the yard launched the 'Venus' in 2000, however her sisters both date to 1999.

This pair having been completed before the millennium stand-out, compared to the rest of the 44 cargoships (up to 34,905dwt) to date that were all were built since 2000.

The order for six 'B' class 8,660dwt newbuilds is nearing completion as the fifth in the series, Arklow Brave was launched in mid-December 2014. She was expected to be delivered to her owners this month. 

Published in Arklow Shipping

Galway Port & Harbour

Galway Bay is a large bay on the west coast of Ireland, between County Galway in the province of Connacht to the north and the Burren in County Clare in the province of Munster to the south. Galway city and port is located on the northeast side of the bay. The bay is about 50 kilometres (31 miles) long and from 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) to 30 kilometres (19 miles) in breadth.

The Aran Islands are to the west across the entrance and there are numerous small islands within the bay.

Galway Port FAQs

Galway was founded in the 13th century by the de Burgo family, and became an important seaport with sailing ships bearing wine imports and exports of fish, hides and wool.

Not as old as previously thought. Galway bay was once a series of lagoons, known as Loch Lurgan, plied by people in log canoes. Ancient tree stumps exposed by storms in 2010 have been dated back about 7,500 years.

It is about 660,000 tonnes as it is a tidal port.

Capt Brian Sheridan, who succeeded his late father, Capt Frank Sheridan

The dock gates open approximately two hours before high water and close at high water subject to ship movements on each tide.

The typical ship sizes are in the region of 4,000 to 6,000 tonnes

Turbines for about 14 wind projects have been imported in recent years, but the tonnage of these cargoes is light. A European industry report calculates that each turbine generates €10 million in locally generated revenue during construction and logistics/transport.

Yes, Iceland has selected Galway as European landing location for international telecommunications cables. Farice, a company wholly owned by the Icelandic Government, currently owns and operates two submarine cables linking Iceland to Northern Europe.

It is "very much a live project", Harbourmaster Capt Sheridan says, and the Port of Galway board is "awaiting the outcome of a Bord Pleanála determination", he says.

90% of the scrap steel is exported to Spain with the balance being shipped to Portugal. Since the pandemic, scrap steel is shipped to the Liverpool where it is either transhipped to larger ships bound for China.

It might look like silage, but in fact, its bales domestic and municipal waste, exported to Denmark where the waste is incinerated, and the heat is used in district heating of homes and schools. It is called RDF or Refuse Derived Fuel and has been exported out of Galway since 2013.

The new ferry is arriving at Galway Bay onboard the cargo ship SVENJA. The vessel is currently on passage to Belem, Brazil before making her way across the Atlantic to Galway.

Two Volvo round world races have selected Galway for the prestigious yacht race route. Some 10,000 people welcomed the boats in during its first stopover in 2009, when a festival was marked by stunning weather. It was also selected for the race finish in 2012. The Volvo has changed its name and is now known as the "Ocean Race". Capt Sheridan says that once port expansion and the re-urbanisation of the docklands is complete, the port will welcome the "ocean race, Clipper race, Tall Ships race, Small Ships Regatta and maybe the America's Cup right into the city centre...".

The pandemic was the reason why Seafest did not go ahead in Cork in 2020. Galway will welcome Seafest back after it calls to Waterford and Limerick, thus having been to all the Port cities.

© Afloat 2020