A brand new Irish flagged cargoship having completed sea trials in the North Sea, has been delivered to shipowner Arklow Shipping, with the vessel having called to northern Spain yesterday is this evening bound for the Mediterranean, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Following conclusion of successful trials based out of the Dutch port of Eemshaven earlier this month, the newbuild Arklow Racer which in December was launched at Royal Bodewes shipyard is now trading. The newbuild is the first in a new series of seven 6,800 T dwat cargoships and demonstrates ASL ability to continue with a steady expansion by ordering new tonnage so to meet market demand.

The 105m multi-cargoship Arkow Racer not only represents the leadship of the new ‘R’ series but is a successor of a previous generation of ‘R’ series ships given names with the letter ‘R’ suffix. The original Arklow Racer, was one of 16 built between 2002-2007 but from another Dutch shipyard, Barkmeijer Stroobos, however only a quartet of these smaller 4,933 dwat vessels remain in service.

Afloat has examined photos of the newbuild Arklow Racer and among some easily identifiable features, is a hatch cover gantry crane which when not in use is fixed into a position ahead of the wheelhouse. Aft of the crew accommodation superstructure is a centrally mounted deck crane and nearby but offset to starboard is a free-fall lifeboat.

It was on Thursday when Afloat tracked the new Arklow Racer make a western bound passage when offshore of Folkstone, a former English Channel ferryport that linked ports in northern France. Among those ferryports is Dunkirk (West) from where ferry operator DFDS link Dover and Rosslare Europort.

The Arklow Racer (of 4,267 gross tonnage) having departed Dunkirk (East) for Pasajas, is where the ship made an arrival to the port through a confined rocky entrance.

Likewise of Folkstone, this small Spanish port was also a former ferryport and during the early 1970’s when a P&O subsidiary, Southern Ferries operated a UK-Iberian route. For marketing purposes, Southern Ferries gave the Spanish port of nearby San Sebastian which linked Southampton.

P&O (Portsmouth) Ferries returned onto the Bay of Biscay, using Irish Continental Group's (ICG) chartered-in Pride of Bilbao to serve its Spanish namesake port in 1993 until closing in 2010, however Brittany Ferries snapped up the route by reopening the following year.

The former ICG owned cruiseferry returned to its original operating region of Scandinavian until recently acquired by Italian operator Moby Line to serve in the Mediterranean where Arkow Racer is bound having departed Pasajas this afternoon for Sagunto. This next port of call is nearby of Valencia.

It should be noted, ASL have diverged into car ferry operations, with the Co. Wicklow shipowner having previously been involved in Cross River Ferries in the centre of Cork Harbour.

The service continues under owner-operator, Doyle Shipping Group, using a pair of former Isle of Skye (CalMac) ferries that were introduced when the river crossing was opened in 1993 to provide a year round shuttle service.

The five-minute hop across the Lee offers a major short cut in Cork Harbour.