#TradingCowes – A pair of short-sea traders based at Cowes, Isle of Wight have called to two Irish east coast ports that are some 30 nautical miles apart, writes Jehan Ashmore.
Vedette is docked in Dublin Port while at Wicklow the caller is the Velox. The cargoships are operated by Faversham Ships Ltd whose fleet of conventional & low air draft coastal vessels are suitable for dangerous cargoes, loading / discharging aground.
The origins of the UK shipping company stem from the acquisition of the small coaster Conformity from F.T. Everard & Sons, no longer in existance. Their ships were a familiar sight on Irish waters, notably those painted with pale yellow hulls.
The 86m Vedette (2001/3,800dwt) flying the Isle of Man flag had sailed across the Irish Sea from Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula west of Liverpool. She is berthed at the Deepwater Berth from where typical trades are scrap-metal.
The single hold general cargoship Vedette was built by Damen Shipyards, Bergum in the Netherlands. The same yard constructed the Irish flagged Huelin Dispatch (2012/3,760dwt) for Captain Frank Allen’s Dundalk Shipping Ltd.
The 89m tween-deck Huelin Dispatch is to the yard’s own design, the Combi Freighter 3850 series. After completing a survey in the dry-dock at Dublin during 2015 (since closed) the vessel is now into the second year of a renewed charter to Jersey based Channel Island Lines. She serves routes to the mainland base port of Southampton, conveying containers as well as hazardous shipments
During the drydocking of Huelin Dispatch, Faversham Ship’s Velox (2000/3,333dwt) the second caller to the Irish east today, was chartered-in to CIL to maintain serving Jersey and Guernsey. This also Dutch built short-sea trader from the Tille Shipyard in Kootsertille, has a slightly longer hull of 91m. She has occupied the same berth at Packet Pier from where Bounder had loaded cargo last weekend.
There are more connections with the Low Countries as the Cowes based shipping company has chartering operations through Faversham Ships Holland B.V. They are based in Capelle aan den Ijssel.
