#BulkerSisters - Arklow Spirit last night returned to anchor in Dublin Bay to await orders while another bulk-carrier occupies the same berth to where the Irish flagged ship is one of a pair of the largest registered in the State, writes Jehan Ashmore.

As Afloat.ie previously reported Arklow Spirit on Monday made a maiden call to Dublin Port. The 182m long bulker registered in the Co. Wicklow port had discharged animal feed from Brazil via Cork (Ringaskiddy). A sister Arklow Spray, also of 33,905dwt are the largest ships listed on the Irish Shipping Register that are owned by an indigenous company, Arklow Shipping Ltd.

Arkow Spray the newer of the sisters dating to 2014 and built from the same South Korean yard, is currently docked in the USA at the Port of New York.  The bulk-carrier docked at a berth off the East River that is reached by the Hudson River, had arrived in recent days from Providence, Rhode Island.

Normally both ASL bulk-carriers are to be found operating on global deep-sea shipping lanes compared to serving in domestic waters as in the case of Arklow Spirit. It is otherwise commonplace to have short-sea traders call to Dublin having operated within north-western Europe. It should however be noted that ASL's smaller 14,990dwt bulkers of the 'M' class trade within Irish waters too given Arklow Marsh made a recent call also to the capital.  

As for the Dublin docked bulk-carrier referred in the introduction, this is the Cape Moreton a Hong Kong flagged ship that is berthed in Alexandra Basin. The bulker is marginally smaller in terms of both dwt (32,875) and in length overall at 179m. What is common though is that the trio of bulkers have the same number of cargo holds, five and served by four deck-mounted cranes.

Cape Moreton completed in 2010 is operated by Pacific Basin, one of the world's leading owners of modern Handysize and Supramax dry bulk ships.

The company is headquartered and listed in Hong Kong, an autonomous territory of China. The shipping company was established a decade before the handover of the former British colony to China took place in 1997, has currently a fleet of more than 250 vessels trading on a global basis.

This year Pacific Basin opened a commercial office in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.