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Container shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk has diverted 26 of its own vessels around the Cape of Good Hope in the last 10 days or so, while only 5 more were scheduled to start the same journey according to detailed breakdown by Reuters.

The operator Maersk based in Denmark will sail almost all their vessels travelling between Asia and Europe through the Suez Canal. The move from now takes place while diverting only a handful of vessels around Africa, a Reuters breakdown of the group's schedule showed today.

Asides Maersk, other major shipping companies, including MSC, the world's biggest container line and Hapag-Lloyd, stopped using Red Sea routes and also the Suez Canal earlier this month according to Reuters. This followed incidents carried out by Yemen's Houthi militant group which began targeting vessels and thus disrupting international trade.

The container operators’ instead rerouted ships around the African continent via the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa to avoid attacks. This led to charging customers extra fees coupled in adding further days or indeed weeks to the time it takes to transport goods from Asia to Europe and across the Atlantic Ocean to North America with calls to east coast ports.

It was however announced by Maersk on 24 December to say it was preparing a return of containerships to the Red Sea, citing a US-led military operation to deploy naval vessel to the region and protect such vessels.

Maersk also yesterday released sailing schedules that showed ships were headed for the Suez Canal and this is to take place in forthcoming weeks. RTE News has more.

Afloat adds the Swiss-based MSC has a container fleet total of 800 vessels combined with a 22.50 TEU capacity (annually as estimated by Maersk in 2022).

As of May 2023, Maersk was operating 682 container ships with a combined capacity of around 4.13 million TEUs. While, Hapag-Lloyd offers a fleet with a vessel capacity 2.0 million TEU, as well as a container capacity 2.90 million TEU.

Published in Ports & Shipping

Marine Leisure & Aquatic Tourism

Domestic coastal tourism expenditure was approximately €698 million in 2018, while domestic marine tourism generated €381 million.

Activities such as walking/ running along the coast, swimming and beach visitations are among the most popular activities for domestic visitors on both day and overnight trips.

While participation rates in pursuits such as bird and wildlife watching in coastal areas and visiting nature reserves, etc. in coastal areas were lower, these activities did see the highest frequency of both day and overnight trips for those active in these activities. 

According to the National University of Galway (NUIG) research the average expenditure per coastal day trip in 2018 was calculated at €95. The equivalent for coastal overnight trips was €310. The estimated water-based activity expenditure per person per trip across the sample was €56 rising to €73 for the subsample that actually undertake waterbased activities on their coastal visits. The results also indicate that domestic tourists undertake the majority of their marine activities on the West and South coasts of Ireland and that there are notable differences in participation rates across age groupings, social classes and by family makeup.

A domestic tourist is defined in this report as a person who spends at least one night away from home on their trip. Total expenditure by domestic tourists in coastal areas was estimated to be €698 million in 2018, which represents 35% of the total expenditure by domestic tourists (using the broader Fáilte Ireland measure for domestic tourists that includes business trips equating to 10.92 million in total trips and €2,006 million in total revenue).

The marine-related activity expenditure, or what might truly be referred to as domestic marine tourism, is estimated to generate revenue of €381 million with €172 million being spent on water-based activities. Marine tourism makes up an estimated 19% of total domestic tourism expenditure.

Marine Leisure Tourism - FAQ

Coastal tourism refers to land-based and water-based tourism activities taking place on the coast for which the proximity to the sea is a condition including also their respective services. Coastal and Marine Tourism & Leisure are seen as one of the Blue Economy (BE) sectors that can help unlock the potential of multi-use of space at sea by engaging with Blue Growth (BG) sectors such as Aquaculture and Marine Renewable Energy among others.

Sports: sailing, surfing, diving and fishing Heritage: Unesco coastal villages, archaeological sites of interest, biospheres and historical points of interest Arts: coastal museums, art galleries, museums, wrecks Education: Eco-tourism, field courses, NGOs. Food: Seafood restaurants, Seafood festivals

NUI Galway carried out a survey of domestic residents in Ireland in 2019 as part of a survey entitled "Valuing and understanding the dynamics of Ireland's Ocean Economy". The purpose of the household survey was to profile the domestic market for single-day trips (leisure) and overnight trips (tourism) for coastal and marine-related activities in Ireland. The results of the survey are also used to estimate what proportion of an Irish resident's total domestic tourism expenditure is in coastal areas (coastal tourism) and what proportion is spent on undertaking marine-related activities (marine tourism).

The NUI results highlight the important contribution that Ireland's marine and coastal resources make to the leisure experiences of the general population and the importance of the domestic tourism market to local coastal economies. The analysis indicates that domestic coastal tourism expenditure was approximately €698 million in 2018, while domestic marine tourism generated €381 million. Activities such as walking/ running along the coast, swimming and beach visitations are among the most popular activities for domestic visitors on both day and overnight trips. While participation rates in pursuits such as bird and wildlife watching in coastal areas and visiting nature reserves, etc. in coastal areas were lower, these activities did see the highest frequency of both day and overnight trips for those active in these activities. Satisfaction with the available marine-related leisure facilities was also found to be very high across all activities.

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