Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Liebherr Container Cranes

#ShippingCRANES- Since Friday, the Stade, a 7,850 tonnes multi-lift cargo vessel has been at anchorage off Fenit Harbour, Co. Kerry, awaiting to berth, so to load container components from the Liebherr plant in Fossa, Killarney, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Due to weather conditions, the 146m long vessel which had sailed from Zeebrugge, is not expected to moor alongside Fenit Pier until tomorrow morning, weather permitting.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the international crane manufacturer's Irish based plant, has an order from the New Zealand south island port of Lyttelton, for four straddle-container carriers, due for delivery in mid-2013.

The export of container cranes are the port's only major commercial customer. Last August  the port handled its largest ever vessel, the heavylift ship HHL Valparasio (2010/17,634grt) which departed with two ship-to-shore container cranes bound for the USA.

Published in Ports & Shipping

#SHIPPING CRANES – In what is believed to be the largest ship ever to dock in Fenit, Co. Kerry, the heavylift ship HHL Valparasio (2010/17,634grt) departed this afternoon with two ship-to-shore container cranes bound for the USA, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The Liberian flagged heavylift ship is transporting the cranes to Elizabeth Port, in New Jersey and were manufactured by Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd based in Fossa, outside Killarney.

The Swiss family owned business has been operating with its Irish base since 1958 and has a workforce of 560 employees. The manufacturing facility is part of a global group with more than 35,000 employees in more than 130 companies, in which the company was established in 1949 by founder Hans Liebherr.

As HHL Valparaso departed Fenit pier, two tugs assisted the 168m long vessel which had previously made her outward bound trans-Atlantic voyage from Norfolk, Virginia. On board was cargo of grain which was unloaded in Dublin Port earlier this month.

The two-year old vessel (P2 class) is owned by German operator Hansa Heavy Lift GmBH based in Hamburg and she was built by the Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group in Shanghai, China. The vessel belongs to a fleet of 21 multipurpose heavy-lift freighters engaged in the heavy-lift and project market.

The ships' on board cranes have  harnesses of a combined lift capacity of 1,400 tons and facilitate the loading and discharging of cargoes around the world – independent of the local infrastructure.

With today's crane cargo which forms the only major business running out of Fenit, which has operated as a commercial port since 1887, the Co. Kerry harbour has had 12 such shipments in 2012. According to Liebherr a further seven such exporting cargo-calls are scheduled for the rest of this year.

Published in Ports & 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