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Shipyards
The new Cross River ferry to be built at Cobh (Rushbrooke) at the former Verolme Cork Dockyard  (V.C.D.) site in the background, will be a significant development, as Afloat highlights the last ship to be built in the Republic took place at V.C.D. with the Irish Naval Service flagship L.E. Eithne in 1984.  As for the last ferry built at V.C.D., it was the much larger Leinster for former state-owned operator B+I Line when completed in 1981.
The vital ferry link for Cobh and Passage West, located in lower Cork Harbour, where thousands of people use the cross-river service, can look forward to a brand-new experience from next year, reports CorkBeo As a new custom-built hybrid ferry…
What a Performance, as the Irish Sea freight ferry at Navantia UK, Harland & Wolff, Belfast, has been repainted in full CLdN colours, with a newly applied grey hull replacing the blue of former owner Seatruck.
Navantia UK’s Harland & Wolff, Belfast, shipyard has recently completed the dry-docking of CLdN’s Irish Sea ro-ro freight ferry Performance for its scheduled 15-year survey, writes Jehan Ashmore. This took place at the facility’s Belfast Dry Dock, where a programme…
Archive Access — Archivist Siobhan McLaughlin presents historic Harland & Wolff ship plans to visitors, showcasing newly accessible drawings including Titanic designs at the Ulster Folk Museum.
National Museums Northern Ireland has opened the Harland & Wolff ship plans archive to the public for the first time. The collection is now housed at the Cultra Collections Store at the Ulster Folk Museum. The archive contains hundreds of…
Breaking ranks: Harland & Wolff’s Belfast yard removed from EU-approved ship recycling list, leaving Ireland without a certified facility under strict EU environmental and safety rules
The EU has removed Belfast shipyard Harland & Wolff from its list of approved ship recycling facilities. As The Currency reports, high environmental and safety standards are set by the EU in relation to yards approved for dismantling and recycling…
The Ferguson Marine shipyard on the Clyde is to expand its apprenticeship programme
A Scottish shipyard on the Clyde said it is expanding its apprenticeship program following the announcement that it could build four more vessels. The yard is Ferguson Marine, the government-owned shipyard that was nationalised in 2019. Kate Forbes, the deputy…
The Scottish Government is to bolster shipbuilding on the Clyde for the construction of two passenger ferries for Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac)’s west coast network. In addition to a pair of vessels for Marine Scotland.
The Scottish government intends to award a Clyde shipyard with contracts to build four vessels. This will directly provide a five-year pipeline of work for Ferguson Marine, the Port Glasgow shipyard that was nationalised in 2019. The newbuild package includes…
‘Dressed overall’ - To mark the occasion of its maiden arrival to Scotland, the newbuild MV Isle of Islay arrived on the Clyde after a 4,400‑mile delivery voyage from the eastern Med.
The newest ferry in Scotland has arrived on the Clyde following a 4,400‑nautical‑mile delivery voyage from a shipyard in Turkey. The 5,851-ton newbuild MV Isle of Islay, which is to serve CalMac, was handed over from the Cemre shipyard, made…
Starting today is the National Apprenticeships Week, and Navantia UK has announced 90 apprentices to be hired in 2026. The shipyard group has a target of hiring 500 apprentices by 2030 across four shipyards—Appledore, England; Arnish and Methi, both in Scotland; and Belfast, where the above apprentices are in the training classroom at Harland & Wolff.
Shipyard firm, Navantia UK has set a target of hiring 500 apprentices by 2030 to support the business’s expansion in shipbuilding, engineering and in supplying the offshore energy industry. Following last year's purchase of Harland & Wolff’s assets, Navantia UK …
Cost overruns: Scotland’s First Minister says too much as construction continues on the delayed new build ferry Glen Rosa, the second of twins for CalMac’s Arran route, Firth of Clyde.
Across the North Channel, Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney, MSP, has deemed the cost of the much-delayed newbuild CalMac ferry, the Glen Rosa, as ‘unacceptable.’ As IrelandLive reports, the 7,040-ton ferry under construction by the government-owned Ferguson Marine shipyard in…
The much-delayed second twin newbuild for the Arran route on the Firth of Clyde, MV Glen Rosa, faces further rising costs and also opposition from Scottish MSPs.
It was “very disappointing,” said Scotland’s Deputy First Minister, that the costs have risen again for the completion of a new CalMac ferry that is both over budget and late in delivery.   The comment by the Scottish MSP Kate…
The newest vessel for Cork-based Irish Mainport Group, Geo Master of 41.5m, was officially launched at a Dutch shipyard where the DP2 survey vessel of 498 tons will serve the N-Sea Group operating integrated total subsea solutions for the international oil & gas and renewable industries. Above is its twin, Geo Ranger, which was also completed by the same Dutch yard.
A proud milestone took place for Irish Mainport Holdings as a newbuild survey vessel was officially launched at a shipyard this month in the Netherlands, writes Jehan Ashmore. The launch event of the Geo Master was held on the 9th…
The first of twin newbuilds, MV Isle of Islay, to serve the southwest Scottish isle, has been formally handed over to CMAL, having been built in Turkey at the Cemre shipyard, Yalova. It is to enter CalMac service in the spring. A further pair are under construction to serve in the Outer Hebrides.
A much-delayed newbuild, MV Isle of Islay, the first of four ferries being built by a Turkish shipyard for CalMac, has been formally handed over. The new 5,851-ton ferry, which is to serve its island namesake off southwest Scotland, BBC…
A Dublin based subsidiary of d’Amico International Shipping S.A., signs contract with an Asian shipyard for two new medium range 40,000 dwt product tanker vessels costing US$ 43.2 m each. Above the Cielo du Ulsan, one of 29 double hulled tankers from the DIS’ fleet.
d’Amico International Shipping S.A., an international marine transportation company operating in the product tanker market, announces that its operating subsidiary d’Amico Tankers D.A.C. (Ireland) has signed a shipbuilding contract with Guangzhou Shipyard International in China. The Dublin-based ship operating subsidiary…
The Scottish shipyard saga continues with yet another delay with issues of the second of twin newbuilds, Glen Rosa, from the government-owned yard in Port Glasgow, Inverclyde, which was due to have delivered the ferry in 2018 to serve the Isle of Arran on the Firth of Clyde. The ferry is seen during its launch last year.
The second of the much-delayed and over-budget CalMac ferries has been put back again, with its Scottish shipyard, Ferguson Marine, saying it will not now arrive until late next year. It had been hoped that the 7,040-ton newbuild twin Glen…
A traditional steel cutting ceremony took place at Appledore Shipyard in North Devon, England, marking the first of three Fleet Solid Support (FSS) ships for the UK’s Royal Fleet Auxiliary, which is to serve the Royal Navy.  The 216 m newbuild was revealed as RFA Resurgent, and its bow is to be constructed at the yard as part of the FSS program, which will involve final assembly at the iconic Harland & Wolff, Belfast shipyard, also part of Navantia UK. AFLOAT highlights that previous owners of Appledore shipyard had built six of the Naval Service’s current 8-vessel fleet, the ‘Roisin’ OPV 80 class and successor ‘Becket’ OPV 90 ships.
At Appledore Shipyard, England, which built the last vessel for the Naval Service, the yard now owned by Navantia UK carried out a traditional steel cutting ceremony for the first of the FSS trio of vessels, which is to serve the…
The keel-laying ceremony of the newbuild ferry for Scottish operator Western Ferries took place at the Merseyside shipyard, Cammell Laird. The ferry is named the Sound of Scalpay.
On Merseyside, at the shipbuilder in Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, the keel-laying ceremony for the first of two new Western Ferries newbuilds took place for the Scottish operator. The car and passenger ferry on Tuesday has also been named the MV…

Shipyards

Afloat will be focusing on news and developments of shipyards with newbuilds taking shape on either slipways and building halls.

The common practice of shipbuilding using modular construction, requires several yards make specific block sections that are towed to a single designated yard and joined together to complete the ship before been launched or floated out.

In addition, outfitting quays is where internal work on electrical and passenger facilities is installed (or upgraded if the ship is already in service). This work may involve newbuilds towed to another specialist yard, before the newbuild is completed as a new ship or of the same class, designed from the shipyard 'in-house' or from a naval architect consultancy. Shipyards also carry out repair and maintenance, overhaul, refit, survey, and conversion, for example, the addition or removal of cabins within a superstructure. All this requires ships to enter graving /dry-docks or floating drydocks, to enable access to the entire vessel out of the water.

Asides from shipbuilding, marine engineering projects such as offshore installations take place and others have diversified in the construction of offshore renewable projects, from wind-turbines and related tower structures. When ships are decommissioned and need to be disposed of, some yards have recycling facilities to segregate materials, though other vessels are run ashore, i.e. 'beached' and broken up there on site. The scrapped metal can be sold and made into other items.