#GuinnessTanks – More than a week after cargoship Myrte docked in Dun Laoghaire Harbour, the massive fermentation tanks were yesterday transported in a nighttime convoy to the Guinness St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin, writes Jehan Ashmore.
Another shipment is scheduled to arrive in the harbour towards the end of this weekend and also from Rotterdam. On this occasion, cargoship Keizersborg (1996/6,142grt) operated by Dutch owners Wagonborg Shipping, will be bringing in the second of three batches of the gleaming stainless steel cylinders.
Each of the 30 ton cylinders measure 22m long x 6.6m wide and 5.4m in height and some of them are capable of holding just under 1m pints!
As for the 122m long Myrte (2008/6,120grt) she took the honour as the first commercial vessel, excluding the fastcraft HSS Stena Explorer, to call to the harbour with a consignment of cargo, not seen since the early 1990's.
During that timeframe, the Danish flagged reefer Nordland Saga (1989/2,469grt), which then was a relative newbuild, had also berthed alongside Carlisle Pier.
The vessel registered in Frederickshavn differed to the 'Guinness' project cargo carrying vessels, in that she was fitted with deck-mounted cranes. As such mobile road cranes will again be deployed in the task of unloading the giant tanks onto the Carlisle Pier, where in recent years the former mailboat ferry terminal was demolished.
Carlisle Pier to date has served at times as storage space for yachts and currently has car-parking facilities, yet there are plans to build a landmark Diaspora Centre as part of the harbour's 'master plan'.
