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Displaying items by tag: Lifeboat safety

#Detention - Among the reasons cited for the detention of a cruiseship in Dublin Port which has remained docked for almost three weeks, Afloat can now reveal chiefly concerned the condition of the ship's lifeboats, writes Jehan Ashmore.

According to the ship's agent, repairs have been made to the slewing mechanism of the lifeboats of the Maltese flagged motoryacht M.Y. Variety Voyager which was detained on August 1st. Also arising were issues over crew safety training.

The 72 passenger megayacht operated by Greek based Variety Cruises, had arrived in the capital on June 27 following a call in the UK.

The detention of the 2012 built ship was imposed by the Paris MoU, the authority responsible for eliminating the operation of sub-standard ships. This led to the cancellation of the cruise resulting in passengers forced to vacate the 68m vessel and be flown out of the country.

Last week a reinspection took place of Variety Voyager and today is been repeated by the maritime authorities. This is to ensure various regulatory bodies among them the International “Safety of Life At Sea” (SOLAS 2010) regulations are met on board the cruiseship. 

The reinspection will determine weather or not the detained cruiseship with a crew of up to 33 is to be granted permission to finally depart the port later today.

In addition since the detention took place, it is understood Variety Voyager has shifted berths twice to free up berths for other visiting cruisecallers. The ship's current location is at Sir John Rogersons Quay in the capital's old docklands which is situated much closer to the city centre.  

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