#ArklowAnchorage - Along Leinster's eastern seaboard, Afloat tracked newbuild Arklow Clan that made a maiden call albeit offshore of the shipowners homeport of the Co. Wicklow harbour town, writes Jehan Ashmore.

According to Arklow Shipping Ltd (ASL) with headquarters on the North Quay, the 5,054dwt short-sea trader laden with cargo had called last Friday for operational reasons. The Arklow registered 'C' class cargoship has an overall hull length of almost 87m and from within a single-hold that has a maximized volume capacity of 220.000 cubic feet.

Arklow Clan was launched in the Netherlands in April and since entering service, this maiden call off Arklow is given in context of anchoring in Arklow Bay. Earlier this year a fleetmate Arklow Fame made a rare in port call for repairs. It is more than 50 years ago since several families among them the Tyrrells established ASL in 1966.  

The occasion by the Irish flagged Arklow Clan took place during a voyage from Bremerhaven, Germany to Garston, UK. As can be seen in the above photo, the laden ship sits deep in the water, this is demonstrated given only the upper lighter shade of the green coloured hull is visible. Unlike the rest of the hull below the waterline where there is a lower darker shade of green and below the hold level is that of the boot-topping painted red. This is an area between the water lines of a ship when fully loaded and when unloaded.

For an example of boot-topping, see photo of fleetmate bulk-carrier Arklow Spirit that had a part-cargo on board. The 2013 built ship that trades deep-sea made a maiden call to Dublin Port last month.