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Displaying items by tag: Code for Cruise & Ferry Ports

#Cruise&FerryCode - It was at the European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) recently held in Dublin, that the Code of Good Practices for Cruise and Ferry Ports was launched.

The code which is available (here to download) has been developed by ESPO together with Cruise Europe (see conference report) Cruise Baltic, Cruise Norway, MedCruise and Cruise Britain. The organisations have since September 2014 been part of the Cruise and Ferry Port Network.

The aim of the code is to formulate a series of good practices (also as a download) to face the challenges that European cruise and ferry ports are dealing with nowadays.

The five main challenges identified are the port-city relationship, infrastructure, cooperation, relation with the cruise and ferry lines and security. Besides sharing these practices among port authorities, the code can also be seen as an instrument to enhance the dialogue with all stakeholders involved in the cruise and ferry sector. Moreover, this code must inform policy makers and the wider public about the characteristics, challenges and bottom-up initiatives taken by European port authorities.

The code comes with a dynamic online inventory of concrete examples of the good practices outlined in the code. This inventory will be updated continuously and will turn the code into a living document.

Stavros Hatzakos, Chairman of the Cruise and Ferry Network said.“It is an honour to present this first outcome of the Cruise and Ferry Port Network. The cruise and ferry business is an important activity in European ports. Next to the 3.8 billion tonnes of goods that are passing through European ports each year, there are more than 400 million people passing through these same ports. The making of this code has shown the network to be a unique node of knowledge and of exchange of good practices at the service of every port in Europe that wants to improve its performance in the cruise and ferry business and for every port, who is a newcomer in the business.”

Isabelle Ryckbost, ESPO Secretary General added “Even if many ports in Europe are handling both freight and passengers, we see that passenger handling ports demand a specific approach in many areas: be it in infrastructure, where it is important to develop the right “look and feel” for your port; or in the relations with the city where the seasonality of passenger traffic obliges the port to work closely with the city to reduce externalities; or as regards security, where the port wants to ensure a high level of security while being customer friendly. The code also shows how a continuous dialogue with the lines and with the wide range of stakeholders involved in the business can enhance performance and improve the image of the sector”.

Published in Cruise Liners

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