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Displaying items by tag: Record Profits

Norwegian based small-bulker shipping giant Wilson ASA of Bergen has turned in a booming second quarter result with its fleet of over 100 owned vessels under 8,500 dwt.

The Oslo-listed owner and operator is keen to use some of the money on fleet renewal in the form of secondhand purchases, but no newbuildings are on the horizon, chief financial officer Stig Vangen.

“Last year was already a very good year and this year we are already almost at the same result level of full-year 2021,” he said to TradeWinds which has more here. 

Afloat adds that on an annual basis, Europe's largest short-sea operator, Wilson ASA transport about 15 million tonnes dry cargo throughout the continent and with approximately 10,000 port calls a year.

As a fully integrated shipping company, they handle in house: chartering and operations, ship management, marine accounting, crewing, purchasing, legal and insurance. This involves employing about 2,000 staff employees with a head office in Bergen and branch offices strategically located in Europe.

Their blue-hulled cargoships ranging from 1,500-8,500dwt commonly trade in Irish waters. Among them Wilson Blyth (3,713dwt) which in 2015 made a most unusual call to Dun Laoghaire Harbour to enable a project cargo bound for the Guinness St. James Gate Brewery in Dublin. 

The Wilson Blyth which recently sailed to Dublin Port from Rouen, France, has departed the capital's port this afternoon bound for El Ferrol, Spain.

Afloat has also identified another example of their extensive fleet operating in Irish waters, the Cork Wilson (4,450dwt) as pictured above aptly at the ship's namesake port city when berthed at the South Quays nearby to the former R&H Hall silo.

The 1998 built cargoship at just shy of 100m length overall, also features on the front cover of the Wilson quarterly report (download in Norwegian), with the vessel seen on the same occasion during the call to the Port of Cork.

Further research reveals that other Irish Ports form the ship names of the following cargoships; Wilson Dunmore, Wilson Dundalk, Wilson Dublin and Wilson Drogheda respectively. In addition they are all of the 3,000dwt plus category. 

Published in Ports & Shipping

A Dubai-based owner of P&O Ferries has reported record-breaking profits just months after sacking 800 of its UK-based workers without notice.

DP World, which is ultimately owned by the Dubai royal family, said in March that firing 786 P&O seafarers and replacing them with much cheaper agency workers was the only way to ensure the “future viability” of the historic ferry business.

However, on Thursday Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, DP World’s chair and chief executive, announced the company had increased its first-half revenues by 60 per cent to $7.9 billion (€7.8bn) and profits had risen by more than 50 per cent to a record $721 million.

“We are delighted to report a record set of first-half results with … attributable earnings [profits] rising 51.8 per cent,” he said in the company’s earning’s statement on Thursday. “Overall the strong first-half performance leaves us well placed to deliver improved full-year results.”

Further coverage The Irish Times has on the seafarers sackings which included those working on the Irish Sea.

Published in Ferry

It was another record performance achieved at Shannon Foynes Port Company (SFPC) as the western port revealed its annual report for 2018.

According to SFPC, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were €6.8million. As for operating profits in the period they remained exceptionally strong at €4.8million, €1.2million or 34% higher than five years ago, 2014. Revenue increased by 4.9%.

The company’s main ports on the Shannon Estuary, Foynes and Limerick, again achieved record tonnage levels, with an 11.7% increase in throughput. However, overall tonnage throughput was down by 5.5% to 10.7million due to a reduction of activity at privately managed terminals on the estuary.

This is the sixth year in succession that general cargo terminals have increased year on year.

Tonnages at Foynes and Limerick terminals for 2018 are some 50% higher at end 2018 than at end 2013 and exceed previous historically high tonnage levels experienced during 2006 by 11.2%.

To read more click the download here. 

Published in Shannon Estuary

#ports&shipping - A record-breaking 50% rise in profits has been announced by Foyle Ports and the news has led to the company's "strongest financial performance" in its 162-year history.

The Irish News reports that the Derry port reported its fifth year of consecutive growth at its Annual General Meeting, with record operating profit of £2.2million generated from a turnover of £8.6 million for the 2016/2017 period.

As documented previously the port re-invests all its profits to improve the business and upgrade facilities and last year capital investment totalled £3.6 million. This included state of the art tug boat to safeguard the future shipping operations in Lough Foyle. To date over £30million has been re-invested as part of the long-term capital expenditure programme.

For further reading on the financial performance of the north-west port, click here.

Published in Ports & Shipping

#SFPCrecordProfit – Record profits at Shannon Foynes Port Company were announced in their annual report for 2013, which revealed record operating and gross profits.

SFPC is Ireland's second largest bulk port company and operates six ports on the Shannon Estuary, including Limerick Port.

This is the company's fourth successive year in achieving record operating profits, showing a 35 percent increase in Operating Profit at €4.1m, up from €3.1m in 2012.

The Limerick Leader has more on this to report, by clicking HERE.

 

Published in Ports & Shipping

Ireland's offshore islands

Around 30 of Ireland's offshore islands are inhabited and hold a wealth of cultural heritage.

A central Government objective is to ensure that sustainable vibrant communities continue to live on the islands.

Irish offshore islands FAQs

Technically, it is Ireland itself, as the third largest island in Europe.

Ireland is surrounded by approximately 80 islands of significant size, of which only about 20 are inhabited.

Achill island is the largest of the Irish isles with a coastline of almost 80 miles and has a population of 2,569.

The smallest inhabited offshore island is Inishfree, off Donegal.

The total voting population in the Republic's inhabited islands is just over 2,600 people, according to the Department of Housing.

Starting with west Cork, and giving voting register numbers as of 2020, here you go - Bere island (177), Cape Clear island (131),Dursey island (6), Hare island (29), Whiddy island (26), Long island, Schull (16), Sherkin island (95). The Galway islands are Inis Mór (675), Inis Meáin (148), Inis Oírr (210), Inishbofin (183). The Donegal islands are Arranmore (513), Gola (30), Inishboffin (63), Inishfree (4), Tory (140). The Mayo islands, apart from Achill which is connected by a bridge, are Clare island (116), Inishbiggle (25) and Inishturk (52).

No, the Gaeltacht islands are the Donegal islands, three of the four Galway islands (Inishbofin, like Clifden, is English-speaking primarily), and Cape Clear or Oileán Chléire in west Cork.

Lack of a pier was one of the main factors in the evacuation of a number of islands, the best known being the Blasket islands off Kerry, which were evacuated in November 1953. There are now three cottages available to rent on the Great Blasket island.

In the early 20th century, scholars visited the Great Blasket to learn Irish and to collect folklore and they encouraged the islanders to record their life stories in their native tongue. The three best known island books are An tOileánach (The Islandman) by Tomás Ó Criomhthain, Peig by Peig Sayers, and Fiche Blian ag Fás (Twenty Years A-Growing) by Muiris Ó Súilleabháin. Former taoiseach Charles J Haughey also kept a residence on his island, Inishvickillaune, which is one of the smaller and less accessible Blasket islands.

Charles J Haughey, as above, or late Beatle musician, John Lennon. Lennon bought Dorinish island in Clew Bay, south Mayo, in 1967 for a reported £1,700 sterling. Vendor was Westport Harbour Board which had used it for marine pilots. Lennon reportedly planned to spend his retirement there, and The Guardian newspaper quoted local estate agent Andrew Crowley as saying he was "besotted with the place by all accounts". He did lodge a planning application for a house, but never built on the 19 acres. He offered it to Sid Rawle, founder of the Digger Action Movement and known as the "King of the Hippies". Rawle and 30 others lived there until 1972 when their tents were burned by an oil lamp. Lennon and Yoko Ono visited it once more before his death in 1980. Ono sold the island for £30,000 in 1984, and it is widely reported that she donated the proceeds of the sale to an Irish orphanage

 

Yes, Rathlin island, off Co Antrim's Causeway Coast, is Ireland's most northerly inhabited island. As a special area of conservation, it is home to tens of thousands of sea birds, including puffins, kittiwakes, razorbills and guillemots. It is known for its Rathlin golden hare. It is almost famous for the fact that Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, retreated after being defeated by the English at Perth and hid in a sea cave where he was so inspired by a spider's tenacity that he returned to defeat his enemy.

No. The Aran islands have a regular ferry and plane service, with ferries from Ros-a-Mhíl, south Connemara all year round and from Doolin, Co Clare in the tourist season. The plane service flies from Indreabhán to all three islands. Inishbofin is connected by ferry from Cleggan, Co Galway, while Clare island and Inishturk are connected from Roonagh pier, outside Louisburgh. The Donegal islands of Arranmore and Tory island also have ferry services, as has Bere island, Cape Clear and Sherkin off Cork. How are the island transport services financed? The Government subsidises transport services to and from the islands. The Irish Coast Guard carries out medical evacuations, as to the RNLI lifeboats. Former Fianna Fáíl minister Éamon Ó Cuív is widely credited with improving transport services to and from offshore islands, earning his department the nickname "Craggy island".

Craggy Island is an bleak, isolated community located of the west coast, inhabited by Irish, a Chinese community and one Maori. Three priests and housekeeper Mrs Doyle live in a parochial house There is a pub, a very small golf course, a McDonald's fast food restaurant and a Chinatown... Actually, that is all fiction. Craggy island is a figment of the imagination of the Father Ted series writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews, for the highly successful Channel 4 television series, and the Georgian style parochial house on the "island" is actually Glenquin House in Co Clare.

Yes, that is of the Plassey, a freighter which was washed up on Inis Oírr in bad weather in 1960.

There are some small privately owned islands,and islands like Inishlyre in Co Mayo with only a small number of residents providing their own transport. Several Connemara islands such as Turbot and Inishturk South have a growing summer population, with some residents extending their stay during Covid-19. Turbot island off Eyrephort is one such example – the island, which was first spotted by Alcock and Brown as they approached Ireland during their epic transatlantic flight in 1919, was evacuated in 1978, four years after three of its fishermen drowned on the way home from watching an All Ireland final in Clifden. However, it is slowly being repopulated

Responsibility for the islands was taking over by the Department of Rural and Community Development . It was previously with the Gaeltacht section in the Department of Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht.

It is a periodic bone of contention, as Ireland does not have the same approach to its islands as Norway, which believes in right of access. However, many improvements were made during Fianna Fáíl Galway West TD Éamon Ó Cuív's time as minister. The Irish Island Federation, Comdháil Oileáin na hÉireann, represents island issues at national and international level.

The 12 offshore islands with registered voters have long argued that having to cast their vote early puts them at a disadvantage – especially as improved transport links mean that ballot boxes can be transported to the mainland in most weather conditions, bar the winter months. Legislation allowing them to vote on the same day as the rest of the State wasn't passed in time for the February 2020 general election.

Yes, but check tide tables ! Omey island off north Connemara is accessible at low tide and also runs a summer race meeting on the strand. In Sligo, 14 pillars mark the way to Coney island – one of several islands bearing this name off the Irish coast.

Cape Clear or Oileán Chléire is the country's most southerly inhabited island, eight miles off the west Cork coast, and within sight of the Fastnet Rock lighthouse, also known as the "teardrop of Ireland".
Skellig Michael off the Kerry coast, which has a monastic site dating from the 6th century. It is accessible by boat – prebooking essential – from Portmagee, Co Kerry. However, due to Covid-19 restrictions, it was not open to visitors in 2020.
All islands have bird life, but puffins and gannets and kittiwakes are synonymous with Skellig Michael and Little Skellig. Rathlin island off Antrim and Cape Clear off west Cork have bird observatories. The Saltee islands off the Wexford coast are privately owned by the O'Neill family, but day visitors are permitted access to the Great Saltee during certain hours. The Saltees have gannets, gulls, puffins and Manx shearwaters.
Vikings used Dublin as a European slaving capital, and one of their bases was on Dalkey island, which can be viewed from Killiney's Vico road. Boat trips available from Coliemore harbour in Dalkey. Birdwatch Ireland has set up nestboxes here for roseate terns. Keep an eye out also for feral goats.
Plenty! There are regular boat trips in summer to Inchagoill island on Lough Corrib, while the best known Irish inshore island might be the lake isle of Innisfree on Sligo's Lough Gill, immortalised by WB Yeats in his poem of the same name. Roscommon's Lough Key has several islands, the most prominent being the privately-owned Castle Island. Trinity island is more accessible to the public - it was once occupied by Cistercian monks from Boyle Abbey.

©Afloat 2020