#CruiseLiners - Dublin Port welcomed its millionth cruise liner passenger to the capital this morning (Friday 27 September) since numbers were kept 20 years ago.

As Business & Leadership reports, Diane Taylor from Newfoundland in Canada disembarked from the Carnival Legend - the 100th cruise liner to berth in Dublin Bay this season - to much fanfare on shore.

Greeted by Dublin's Lord Mayor and tourism and port officials, Taylor was presented with flowers and provided with a chauffeur-driven VIP tour of the city and €1,000 spending money for her and her husband Doug.

Lord Mayor Oisín Quinn declared: "Today, Dublin has become the cruise capital of Ireland."

The 2013 season has been a bumper year for the Irish cruise industry nationwide, now worth €200 million annually to the economy, with a 50% hike in passenger numbers in some ports. Indeed, cruise passenger numbers are expected to quadruple over the next 10 years.

#DublinPORT - Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar has announced Dublin Port Company will pay an additional dividend of €8m to the State during 2013, bringing the company's total dividend to €15m.

The decision to pay the second special dividend was taken by the Board at its meeting of 1st July 2013 and followed on from a request from the shareholders at the Company's Annual General Meeting that it consider making an additional contribution in line with requests made generally of the State commercial sector.

Responding to this announcement, the Minister said: "I am delighted that Dublin Port is in a position to make this special additional dividend of €8m, on top of the normal dividend payments of €7m already made this year.

"As part of the National Ports Policy which I launched earlier this year, all of our State commercial port companies were asked to set up a clear dividend policy. Arising from this, Dublin Port has set out to the Department its dividend policy for the coming years.

Today's special dividend payment forms part of that. In future years, Dublin Port has committed to making a dividend payment of 30% of distributable profits.

"The fact that Dublin Port is capable of making such a significant return to the Exchequer is testament to the Board, management and employees of this vitally important State asset and I thank the Company for this special dividend contribution."

Lucy McCaffrey, the Company's Chairperson said: "I am delighted that it is possible this year for Dublin Port Company to be in a position to look after the interests of our shareholder to the extent that we have".

The decision to declare the additional €8m special dividend was taken after consideration of the other calls on the Port's cash, particularly our need to invest for the future.

Dublin Port Company is profitable and has a relatively low debt burden and remains in a position in the coming years to fund major infrastructural investment.

"Our commitment to our shareholder and to investing for the future parallels our ongoing commitment to control and reduce expenditure and keep Dublin Port competitively priced for our customers."

The Irish Nautical Trust has announced plans for the creation of a 'Cargo Maritime Village' on Charlotte Quay, Grand Canal Basin in Dublin 4.

The Irish Nautical Trust (established in 1986) has a dual mandate of preserving our national nautical heritage and the creation and support of employment and enterprise in the South Inner City.

Cargo Maritime Village in Dublin is both a response and solution to the economic downturn with its low cost, low risk ethos and will create new opportunities for local businesses say promoters. The idea is to turn old shipping containers into functioning spaces on short term leases providing incubator units for small marine related businnesses and should act as a catalyst to the wider community.

Designed by Ciaran Adamson Design, this unique development will be a collection of brightly coloured shipping containers with glass frontages and circular windows set on the quayside of Dublin's iconic Grand Canal Basin.

As part of this multipurpose development there will be:

• An Educational Training Center aimed at teaching Sea & Shore Safety and maritime skills to local youth.
• Workshops.
• Small Business Incubator and Retail Units.
• Maritime Gallery.
• Aqua Sports such as Surf Dock, Wakedock and Flagship Scuba.
• Café / bistro.

Cargo Maritime Village aims to become part of the fabric of local life by adding colour, creativity and life to Charlotte Quay.

The facility is expected to be up and running by summer of 2014 subject to planning permission and when complete it is expected to create thirty new jobs in the local community.

For further information contact: Jimmy Murray [email protected]

Tel: 01 668 9802

#CruiseLiners - The 'floating university' MV Explorer is due to dock at Dublin Port tonight 20 September, according to The Irish Times.

Last year the cruise liner, which operates as part of the University of Virginia's Semester at Sea study programme, visited the west coast and Galway - though it had to drop anchor in Galway Bay as the 590ft long vessel was too large to enter Galway Harbour. 

As previously reported, the Explorer during that same visit to Ireland had also paid a visit to Dublin Port.

Due to arrive tonight around 11pm, the Explorer is bringing 575 students from 20 different countries to Dublin Bay for a three-day stay before heading off to Morocco, Ghana, Argentina, Brazil - and even Cuba in a first for the programme, pending US approval.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

#CarnivalCruises- The 293m long Carnival Legend docked in Dublin Port this morning prior to making a repositioning trans-Atlantic cruise next week, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Carnival Legend arrived overnight from the Greenock, the cruise port for Glasgow which too welcomed the US owned Carnival Cruise Lines vessel which set off on a 12 day round-trip cruise from Dover. She has been operating cruises from the Kent ferryport which was her UK 'homeport' during this season.

On her visit to Dublin Port, the 2,100 passenger vessel berthed at Ocean Pier. She represents one of the more than 100 cruiseships visiting the capital, this compares to last year's total of around 90 such vessels.

Carnival Legend with her customary winged funnel design, pays tribute to some of the world's greatest legends throughout the ages.

Take a dip in the Camelot and Avalon pools, wish for magic at Club Merlin Casino, and taste something savoury at the Truffles Restaurant. There's more than one way to dine at Lido Deck's Unicorn Café, and at The Golden Fleece Steakhouse, the great multi-course meal is not a myth.

This evening she departs Irish shores to coninue her cruise which ends back in the UK. On the repositioning cruise to the US passengers are to disembark in New York.

The 'Big Apple' is one of her US homeports as are Tampa, Florida and on the west coast in Los Angeles, California. Her cruising grounds are to the Caribbean, Panama Canal, Tahiti and Fiji Islands.

#FlightFest - Though the weather forecast isn't looking great for the day, organisers of FlightFest on the River Liffey say the full schedule is proceeding as planned for this Sunday 15 September.

The once-in-a-lifetime aviation celebration, in conjunction with The Gathering 2013, will see more than 30 aircraft - old and new - take part in a spectacular low-level fly past to dazzle onlookers in Dublin's Docklands

Thousands are expected to line the quays between the Custom House and Dublin Port for the event on Sunday afternoon from noon till 6pm - which is set to feature the world's largest commercial airliner, the Airbus A380. The full running order of displaying aircraft is available HERE.

As reported yesterday on Afloat.ie, Dublin Bay Cruises is offering a special sailing up the Liffey to get an even closer view of the fly past at the East Link Bridge.

FlightFest is also set to be the last 'farewell' for retiring Naval Service vessel LE Emer, which will be on official patrol duties on the day.

#AdventureSailing- HMSTC Arctic Express and Discoverer are a pair of UK adventure expedition sail-training craft (STC) for members of the armed forces who are to visit Dublin Port over the weekend, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The vessels are operated by the Joint Services Adventurous Sail Training Centre (JSASTC) which is a sail training establishment situated in Gosport opposite the Royal Navy's premier naval base in Portsmouth.

The mission statement of the JSASTC is "to develop the personal qualities essential to members of the Armed Forces through adventurous sail training in the Service environment".

The purpose of JSASTC is to develop the character and leadership qualities essential to members of the Armed Forces through offshore sailing in the Service environment.

The objectives achieved by providing Sail Training Craft (STC), skippers, instructors, engineering and logistic support and sail training courses is to train personnel of the three armed services so that they are able to support and ultimately lead, adventurous sail training expeditions in service yachts, both in UK and abroad.

An example of an overseas adventure expedition was the deployment of the HMSTC Discover that saw the 22 metre (67ft) sail training craft make passage from Halifax Canada via Greenland crossing the Atlantic to Iceland and Greenland.

From Greenland the vessel sailed to Norway via Jan Mayan. From Tromso she sailed to Bergen via the Lofoten Islands before finally sailing to her homeport of Gosport via Denmark and The Netherlands.

#CruiseLiners – Dublin Port has two cruiseship callers today, Thomson Spirit (1983/33,930grt) and Ocean Princess (1999/30,277grt) both are approximately the same in tonnage terms, yet they are starkly different in design, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Thomson Spirit had sailed from Belfast and flying the Thomson Cruises brand which celebrates 40 years having been founded by Canadian entrepreneur Roy Thomson who began cruises in the Mediterranean.

She is on a 13-day British and Irish itinerary with calls to Leith (Edinburgh) Kirkwall, Portree, Holyhead, Cobh, Torquay and Le Havre.

Ocean Princess sailed from Falmouth and she is one of the former Renaissance Cruises octet of 'R' class cruiseships commissioned as their R4. She is now operated by Princess Cruises, one of the many cruise brands of the US based Carnival Cruise Corporation.

The R Class were built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique, St. Nazaire, and they have an emphasis in that cabins have individual balconies, which is increasingly the norm, particularly at the higher end of the market. Passenger areas and open decks are mostly situated above these accommodation decks.

Thomson Cruises have a fleet of five vessels which asides Thomson Spirit includes her one-year younger sister Thomson Celebration. Together they started careers for Holland America Lines (HAL) operating for the North American cruise market.

They too were built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique, with Nieuw Amsterdam (Thomson Spirit) entering service followed by Noordam (Thomson Celebration).

Upon reflection the pair compared to modern newbuilds are more inclined towards the liner era in design and layout in that they have considerably more open deck space, featuring two pools. Plus a full wraparound boat deck that incorporates not just the stern but views for passengers overlooking the bow.

The lifeboats are set much further apart rather than confined in enclosed deck spaces as found on Ocean Princess.

Arguably Thomson Spirit has only one 'full-length' passenger deck and a further three shorter decks above set within her superstructure which is highly unusual these days.

The internal layout also reflects a more traditional arrangement of facilities as the main passenger areas are concentrated along three central decks. While accommodation is located above and below these decks, which combined total seven cabin decks.

Holland America Lines present-day Nieuw Amsterdam is a cruiseship of the 'Vista' class built in Italy. Variations of the Vista series each of around 90,000 gross tonnes, include P&O Cruises Arcadia and Cunard Line's Queen Elizabeth. Both vessels made anchorage visits off Dun Loaghaire Harbour this season.

#CruiseLiners – German cruise operator, Passet Kreuzfahrten's Delphin (16,214grt) is visiting Dublin Port today, the small former Soviet cruiseship is berthed just short of the East-Link Toll Lift bridge, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The cruise set off from Oban and terminates in Dover, with interim ports of call among them to Belfast, Douglas, Cobh (tomorrow) and Torquay in England's West Country.

Appearance wise, the near 500-passenger capacity Delphin has an attractive and well proportioned profile and which reflects moreso of ferry design as explained below.

She was the leadship of the Belorussiya class series built by Wärtsilä Turku Shipyard, Finland during 1975–1976 for the Black Sea Shipping Company of the Soviet Union.

Unusually, for a cruiseship she was fitted with a stern-vehicle door where her 'garage' could accommodate more than 250 cars. The stern-vehicle ramp is clearly evident in this photograph of the Byelorussiya as she was named during her era of Russian ownership.

It is somewhat apt that the vessel is moored at this berth in Dublin Port, as the North Wall Extension is also equipped with a linkspan vehicle ramp used by P&O Ferries Liverpool route vessels.

#FrenchNavy - The French Navy 'Tripartite' class mine warfare vessel Croix du Sud (M646) which has a hull constructed of composite polyester resin is to visit Dublin Port today, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The Tripartite class is a design collaboration of the French, Belgium and Dutch navy's. She displaces 615 tonnes and the vessel entered service in 1986.

Crew complement comprises of 5 senior officers, 32 officers and 12 trainee cadets.

She is scheduled to dock this morning and berth along Sir John Rogersons Quay and this evening be joined by a German Navy sail training vessel, the Asta.