Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Irish Port and Shipping News
File photo: The unfinished Scottish Western Isles ferry Glen Sannox was launched on Clydeside in 2017 at Fergusons shipyard, two years before the complex was nationalised.
On Clydeside a troubled shipyard was "forced into administration" by the Scottish Government without giving the private sector time to save it, a dossier compiled by its former owner has claimed. Ferguson Marine, the last yard in Scotland still handling non-defence…
Work has continued ever since to reopen the historic UK Appledore shipyard (Afloat adds which built its last vessel in 2018 for the Irish Naval Service), but as of yet, no date for any reopening has been announced.
Councillors in Devon have urged the UK Government to hurry up and get a deal over the line to reopen Appledore Shipyard. Despite a union-led protest march, a 9,500-strong petition and the efforts of local MPs, the north Devon shipyard…
File image of a ship docked at Dublin Port
The European Maritime Law Organisation’s Spring Seminar 2020 will take place in Dublin on Friday 27 March. A packed programme with something for everyone interested in the maritime law sector is promised for the seminar, in association with A&L Goodbody…
Speaking at the European Shipping Week (ESW2020) conference the ESPO Chairman Eamonn O’Reilly: “As ports we should not get in the way of shipping and innovation. we need a goal based approach.”
The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) has published its Position Paper on the European Green Deal objectives in ports. The publication yesterday of EPSO's position paper fits into the European Shipping Week (ESW), currently taking place in Brussels. In the…
Lyubov Orlova pictured in St John’s, Newfoundland in 2012 before it was lost in the Atlantic en route to be scrapped
Ireland needs to appoint a Secretary of State’s Representative to deal with any future maritime or shipping incidents similar to the beaching of the MV Alta, a maritime expert advises. Captain Neil Forde, a maritime consultant with Marine Hazard Ltd,…
Alta aground and in an unstable condition on an inaccessible stretch of coastline west of Ballycotton, Co. Cork
Fuel in small amounts has been found in tanks belonging to the grounded cargo ship, MV Alta, but there is no cargo on board. That is according to an initial report by marine contractors who boarded the vessel at low…
Cargoship Alta aground on rocks west of Ballycotton, Co. Cork
Underway is an environmental assessment on the cargoship that washed up on the Cork coast over the weekend. Cork County Council is investigating if oil or other hazards could leak into the coastal waters around Ballycotton Bay. The ship had…
The Express 1 docked at Greenore Port last September
Two ships that regularly carry livestock from Ireland to the Middle East and North Africa have had their licences revoked over their operator’s low performance rating. According to The Guardian, it emerged that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the…
Tanker Thun London departing the Milford Haven Waterway in Wales (a proposed UK Free-Port). The 20,499 cargo capacity newbuild launched last year is from a series of chemical tankers ordered by a Swedish lake based shipping group, which are regular callers to Dublin Port where the new vessel is berthed today.
Ports in the UK, once designated as freeports, will have no domestic taxes levied on any goods within them, according to a Multimodal news update. Taxes will only be levied when a product leaves the freeport, and enters the rest of…
Alta aground on the Cork coast on Sunday 16 February
Ballycotton Sea Adventures is reporting that a cargo ship abandoned at sea for more than a year has run aground on the Cork coastline during Storm Dennis, writes Tom MacSweeney. An initial Irish Coast Guard inspection of the 'ghost ship'…
UK Free Ports: Many of the 30 ports believed to be preparing bids for free port status are in UK northern areas won by the Conservatives. Above: File photo of containership Nicolas Delmas AFLOAT adds when operating between Irish and UK ports in addition connecting continental mainland Europe.
On the west coast of Ireland the little known Shannon Airport unknowingly started a trade revolution back in 1959 when it became the world’s first free trade zone. Skip forward six decades and Brexiteers are holding up this small town…
Workers Afloat adds at the west Scottish shipyard, Fergusan Marine at Port Glasgow which is building the new hybrid (CalMac) ferries. The First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is seen at the last yard on the Clyde during a visit yesterday to reveal that the firm is the preferred tenderer for a &pou
The First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon announced the price of a disastrous contract for a pair of CalMac ferries before it was finalised, MSPs have heard. As The Herald reports, the billionaire Jim McColl said the First Minister publicly…
Is there a viable buyer ready for Appledore Shipyard? AFLOAT adds the facility in north Devon, completed building its last vessel LÉ George Bernard Shaw. The final of the OPV90/P60 Class last year was commissioned by the Irish Naval Service.
In the UK the Government has been accused of ‘dither and delay’ following claims a viable buyer has been lined up for Appledore shipyard for four months. The GMB Union, according to NorthDevon Gazette, (yesterday, 31 January) criticised the Government…
Next month the European Shipping Week takes place in Brussels, Belgium
The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) is co-organising an event on decarbonisation of shipping as part of the European Shipping Week (ESW). The event organised in conjunction with the European Community Shipowners' Association (ECSA) will take place in 19 February…
Cargo ships berthed at Warrenpoint Port on Carlingford Lough
Headquartered in Newry, Co. Down is Re-Gen WTE (Waste to Energy) Ltd which has agreed a new long-term licence with Warrenpoint Harbour Authority (WPHA) The company, The Irish News reports, which specialises in covering energy from rubbish that normally ends…
The Danica Hav docked in Gdansk, Poland in 2016
A captain found drunk in charge of his ship in Belfast docks has been fined £500, as the Belfast Telegraph reports. Fifty-eight-year-old Oleg Okolobvich was arrested after fellow crew were forced to step in to avoid the cargo vessel Danica…