Irish-flagged short-sea coaster Arklow Castle is at Workington, Cumbria, having arrived yesterday from Lisbon, Portugal, from where Arklow Shipping has a trade contract to import powdered cement to the UK port, writes Jehan Ashmore
The 5,054 deadweight tonnes (dwt) Arklow Castle is the third ‘C’ class newbuild of a 10-ship order from the Co. Wicklow-based shipowner, built by the Dutch inland shipyard of Ferus Smit in Westerbroek, near Groningen in the northeast of the ‘lowlands’ nation. The 2017-built vessel's hull has an 1A ice class notation, and propulsion is derived from a 1740 kW MaK engine with a single ducted propeller.
Also having been at the Cumbrian port yesterday was Ceg Galaxy, of the Great Glen Shipping of Corpach, Fort William, Scotland, whose Latvian-flagged general cargo ship was bound to Wicklow while offshore of Barrow-in-Furness. This is the homeport of James Fisher & Sons, which, among its diverse portfolio, operates a tanker fleet with newbuilds announced recently for James Fisher Everard.
The port in northwest England is also where Irish Ferries seasonal high-speed craft HSC Dublin Swift is nearing the end of its winter lay-over period, with sailings to Holyhead resuming in the spring, on 16 April. Sharing the same quay is the trainee tall ship, Pelican of London, a familiar visitor to ports across the Irish Sea, notably Dun Laoghaire Harbour.
As of this morning, Ceg Galaxy was nearing Wicklow with an arrival made during the lunch hour to the Irish east coast port that trades notably in round timber (logs) for the construction sector. In addition, packaged timber from Scandinavia serviced by Scot Line vessels. One of its timber traders, Scot Pioneer, registered in Inverness, is at Warrenpoint, Co. Down, this morning, and its next port of call is Belfast Harbour.
Currently berthed near Harland & Wolff shipyard is Wilson Hanstholm of Norwegian operator Wilson ASA of Bergen, whose first of 14 new builds based on two deadweight threshold series, Wilson Eco I, was launched at the end of the year. Their fleet is a common sight in Irish ports, likewise of Arklow Shipping, albeit with the exception of its largest 'S' class deep-sea twin bulk-carriers operating generally outside Europe, where an historic call took place to Dublin Port and the Port of Cork in 2017 by the 33,905 deadweight tons (dwt) Arklow Spirit.
Afloat last week also tracked Ceg Galaxy (see Sligo story) head for Ardrishaig, Loch Gilp, and west Scotland when offshore of the Point of Ayre, the northernmost tip of the Isle of Man. Along this northwestern stretch of the coast, the Ceg Orbit, having loaded wheat at Liverpool and bound for Belfast, went aground at Cranstal between Ayre and Ramsey in 2021.
After refloating, it was sold six months later, renamed Leila, and reflagged; however, the same ship is now the recently renamed Snaefell River, following its acquisition by WS Mezeron of Ramsey, from where the Isle of Man-flagged short-sea trader arrived at its new owner's homeport in December. Its previous owner, based in Finland, Scandinavia, saw the trader sail on a delivery voyage but from the Baltic Sea port of Paljassaare west of Tallinn, Estonia.
Snaefell River, it would suggest, given its recent movements, has finally taken over the role of the sales-listed predecessor, Silver River, of over 40 years trading, as the veteran vessel dating to 1968 has not been out of Ramsey since Friday.
Whereas the newcomer freighter on Sunday was underway, and as of the early hours of today, it returned to the Manx port, completing a short-sea passage from Glasson Dock, Lancashire. This Manx-England route is one of two ‘liner’ services that WS Mezerson operates, the other being to Belfast to where the Snaefell River at the time of writing is underway off the Point of Ayre.
