Of the five merchant ships Afloat tracked last night in the Celtic Sea, each were bound for different ports throughout the Irish Sea, having all departed from three near mainland continental nations, writes Jehan Ashmore.
Upon closer monitoring, the five vessels comprised three general cargo ships, a ro-ro freight ferry, and a containership.
What all these ships had in common was that they departed ports from neighbouring nations, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, which is commonplace given Ireland has strong, vital trade links with these nearest EU member states.
Three were bound to the following ports: Dublin, Drogheda in the Republic, and Warrenpoint, Co. Down. While, of the remaining two, they were heading for the other side of the Irish Sea to Liverpool, close to Wales, and Silloth, in the north-west of England, near Scotland.
The five ships in relatively close succession, led by Plato, a small general cargoship of Norwegian operator Wilson ASA of Bergen, was approaching the St. Georges Channel. It was bound for Drogheda Port having departed Terneuzen in the Netherlands on Monday, and the short-sea trader is due to make an arrival at the Co. Meath port this morning.
Astern was BG Freight Line’s (part of Peel Ports Group) new build, BG Orange, sporting its orange hull. It is one of four in a class, they are BG Red, BG Blue, and BG Green, respectively. Each of them has hull colours as reflected in their names. The 1,380 TEU (twenty equivalent) unit capacity BG Orange was bound for Liverpool, having yesterday departed another Dutch port, the largest at Rotterdam (Maasvlakte), and the near 170m newbuild is due to arrive on Merseyside this morning.
Of recent months, all but BG Blue, have been observed also operating to Dublin, as part of a ports network serving liner feeder services linking Ireland, England, and Scotland, and connecting to northern continental Europe and the rest of the world.
Luxembourg-headquartered CLdN’s ro-ro freight ferry, Hermine, was bound for the Irish capital and had also departed yesterday, but from Zeebrugge in Belgium. It arrived in the early hours of this morning, at the port’s Alexandra Basin, where the first of three stages of the Dublin Port Masterplan 2040 was completed, and currently work is ongoing with the final (3FM) project to increase capacity.
Returning to the Netherlands theme, is the Lady Habarka, which, it is understood, was en route from France at a Breton port (and since Saturday when underway from Rochefort) to Warrenpoint, Co. Down. The short-sea trader, also sporting an orange hull, is operated by Wijnne Barends and is to arrive at the port on Carlingford Lough this morning.
With a port of registry at Delfzijl, the Dutch port (near the border with Germany) is the Lady Habarka's homeport, which Afloat has featured on numerous occasions with coverage of new builds for Arklow Shipping. They are towed from inland shipyards along the canal system to the port that leads to the North Sea.
As for the final fifth ship, Wilson Grimsby also of Wilson AS of Bergen, which operates the largest short-sea dry-cargo fleet in northern Europe (see Sligo story), competing with Arklow Shipping with their joint Irish and Dutch flagged dry-cargo fleet. Among them is Arklow Castle, which crossed the Irish Sea from Workington (south of Silloth) to anchor in Dublin Bay before the coaster entered the port yesterday, and also berthed ahead is the BG Green.
Potentially, Arklow Castle sailed light (in ballast), having discharged powdered cement on its contract to import from Portugal, as Afloat previously reported. The Irish-flagged vessel's next port is Setúbal in the same Iberian Peninsula nation.
Likewise of Lady Habarka, Wilson Grimsby was also from France, having on Tuesday departed Rouen on the River Seine, was heading for the northern half of the Irish Sea, bound for Silloth on the Solway Firth. It is expected to arrive early tonight.
