Two local giants, Mahain and Binne, from old Irish folklore are the names of the cranes at Cork Port’s Ringaskiddy container terminal, chosen by Crosshaven Boys’ National School.

The two names were voted most popular, as part of a recent local schools competition ‘Name the Cranes’, by the Port of Cork Company. The names represent the two 50 metre cranes at the Cork Container Terminal (CCT), in Ringaskiddy.

Port of Cork Company launched the ‘Name the Cranes’ competition in March, for the two 50-metre cranes at the Cork Container Terminal.

The the two new 50 metre cranes under construction at the Cork Container Terminal (CCT) in Ringaskiddy Photo: Bob Bateman

Local primary school pupils in the harbour area were asked to name the cranes. 800 students in 12 local harbour community schools took part. The top three names were chosen by pupils were put to a public vote on Facebook to choose the winning names.

Mahain and Binne were significant winners, leading with over half of 1,000 votes cast.

The names chosen by Crosshaven Boys’ National School are based on a local story from 1892, told by Robert Day. A giant called ‘Mahain’ is said to have thrown two stones from Monkstown - one landing in Ringaskiddy and the other in Crosshaven. Another giant called ‘Binne’, lived across the water in Currabinny and cast a stone into Crosshaven village where it came to rest on the foreshore near Crosshaven House.

The winning class of Crosshaven Boys’ N.S. will receive a very special guided boat trip around Cork Harbour, €1,000 worth of sport or art supplies and will be invited to cut the ribbon at the Official Opening of CCT, later this year. Runner-up schools, Star of the Sea Passage West, who put forward the names ‘Ardú and Ísliu’ and Ringaskiddy National School who suggested ‘Rocky and Spike’, also received €1,000 worth of art supplies for their school.

The names Mahain and Binne will be printed on each crane in the coming weeks. 

Speaking on the new names, Business Development Support Manager, David Browne said, “It is important to us to involve the local community and the up and coming generation in this new era for the Cork harbour community and wider region. Connecting local folklore with the cranes creates a lovely story, and the two 50 metre giants, Mahain and Binne, couldn't be more fitting names.”

The cranes are a landmark feature of the new CCT, which has been developed following an €86 million investment and recently became operational.

As the Irish Examiner reports, Cork City Council is set to spend millions buying the Port of Cork’s city-centre quays to help facilitate one of the largest docklands regeneration schemes in Europe. 

The local authority and the commercial semi-State company have reached an “agreement in principle” that will see the council acquiring around 1.5km of quayside along the city's north and south docks following the relocation of the port company’s city centre operations to its expanded facilities downstream at Ringaskiddy.

Neither side has commented on the purchase price but it is understood that the figure will run to several million euro — significantly below the estimated €26m that was offered by the city at the height of the property boom when the port was planning its relocation downstream.

The agreement, which it is understood was signed off last Friday, now paves the way for detailed negotiations between both sides on the heads of the agreement. 

Both parties have agreed to establish working groups to hammer out the detail.

Much more from the newspaper here. 

In addition below is a Statement from Conor Mowlds, Chief Commercial Officer, Port of Cork Company which was issued yesterday (Wednesday 25th May 2022)

Contrary to reports in the media today, the Port of Cork Company (PoCC) has not signed a contract with Cork City Council to acquire the Port of Cork City Quays.

As per our media statement yesterday, we have agreed to enter into talks with Cork City Council to develop a Heads of Agreement, to eventually relocate port activity downriver from the City Quays. A key point of this agreement will be to ensure that PoCC continues to facilitate trade within the City Quays, and we wish to reassure our clients, our staff and stakeholders that there will be no handover of the quays until proper infrastructure, including the construction of the M28, is in place.

The Port of Cork Company maintains its support for the Cork Docklands redevelopment potential. It remains an objective that all Port City Centre business will relocate downriver towards Tivoli, Marino Point and Ringaskiddy, however this future development will only take place with consultation with all relevant stakeholders.

The €86 million new container terminal at Ringaskiddy is to be brought into operation tomorrow by the Port of Cork company.

Conor Mowlds, the Port’s Chief Commercial Officer says this will be “a monumental milestone, the largest investment in our 250-year history. It’s a pivotal project in our strategic efforts to enhance and future proof our offering which will position Cork as an international gateway for trade.”

The weekly Maersk’s Costarican service will be the first to use the new facility in the lower harbour area, according to the Port Company.

Brittany Ferries is doubling its service from Cork to France.

In addition to the regular Saturday sailing to Roscoff there will be an additional midweek service overnight on Wednesdays as part of a three-year deal signed today between the French ferry operator and the Port of Cork company.

Cork Port CEO Eoin McGettigan said the deal marks a 45-year connection and, after a challenging two-year pandemic, is a welcome return to tourism and ferry travel.

Tourism Ireland CEO Niall Gibbons predicted a €4m. boost to local tourism and stressed the importance of ferry services to an island nation. Absolutely critical for Ireland, he said. In 2019, the last major tourism year before the pandemic there had been 557,000 visitors from France to Ireland.

Brittany Ferries President, Jean-Marc Roué, said tourist traffic was 55 to 45 per cent in favour of French holidaying in Ireland. Early bookings are up over 35 per cent on 2019, the last year of ‘normal’ operations due to Covid.

The new deal was announced aboard the MV Arorique at Ringaskiddy. It will sail the midweek service, with the Pont Aven, the company’s flagship again operating on Saturdays.

Sailings will operate from this month until October.

Rotterdam based Value Maritime has secured a contract from shipping operator BG Freight Line (see previous story) to install its Filtree and carbon capture system on two feeder vessels, BG Onyx and BG Ruby.

Chartered from German shipowner HS Schiffahrt, these ships are scheduled to be retrofitted in the summer.

Upon completion of the upgrades, the ships will continue to sail in North-West Europe (where BG Freight's 'feeder' links call to UK and Ireland via Dublin Port and the Port of Cork)

They will emit less carbon and use Value Maritime outlets across the region to reuse carbon on land.

Value Maritime’s Filtree includes a Clean-Loop system and Carbon Capture feature.

Ship Technology has more on the contract to the container company which is a subsidiary of Peel Ports Group, the UK's second largest ports operator.

A number of vacancies are currently open for roles with shipping companies based on the South Coast.

In the Port of Waterford, shipping services firm Maritime Expert Ireland is recruiting for cargo surveyors in liquid and dry bulk cargos.

Candidates will work on a rotational basis and the position requires extensive travel. During the ‘on’ period, they will be based in a company apartment in Holland, Belgium or Germany.

The role requires a marine or port background, and cargo surveyor experience is beneficial. The nature of the job requires a certain standard of physical condition.

A full European driver’s licence is a must, as is a TIC (formally IFIA) certificate (or the willingness to obtain one).

Successful candidates will have the ability to work well on their own but still be a team player. They will have a proactive, can-do mentality, as well as an excellent customer-focused attitude and good communication skills.

They must also not be afraid of heights, water and confined spaces, the company emphasises.

Applicants should sent their CV and cover letter to [email protected]

Meanwhile, Hamilton Shipping is recruiting for a port agency assistant based in its busy Port of Cork office.

The role will require boarding vessels such as dry bulk, oil tankers, cruise vessels and naval ships.

Applicants must be of a good standard of education, and ship agency or allied shipping experience is preferred. A full clean driving licence is a prerequisite.

Out-of-office-hours work and weekend work on a rota basis will be involved. From time to time the port agency assistant may be required to work at other company sites.

Interested parties should send their CV to [email protected]

After a transatlantic voyage of 12 days originating from the Canadian port of Halifax, the French cable-laying ship Ile d'Aix is berthed in Cork Harbour.

The 150-metre ship can load 3,500 tons of cable and carry 90 people. 

The ship is connected with renewable energy projects and has previously carried out projects in the Celtic Sea. 

Operated by Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, Ile d'Aix is enroute to the French port of Calais.

The massive North Sea Giant ship that berthed at Marino Point in the Port of Cork at the weekend is among the largest and most advanced subsea construction vessels ever built.

The Norwegian flagged offshore supply ship docked over the weekend and at 153 metres long and a sight to behold. 

Today, the North Sea Giant is heading north up the Irish Sea to perform demanding roles in a wide variety of marine operations in deep and ultradeep waters.

Its carrying capacity is 12705 t DWT and her current draught is reported to be 7.2 metres. Her length overall (LOA) is 153.6 meters and her width is 30.6 metres.

Check out this timelapse video (below) as two super-structures are moved effortlessly onto the quayside at Cork Container Terminal.

In 2020 the Port of Cork took ownership of two Ship to Shore (STS) Gantry Cranes for the new state-of-the-art Port facility, Cork Container Terminal in Ringaskiddy in Cork Harbour. The cranes were built by Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd in Killarney, County Kerry and were assembled onsite under the supervision of expert Liebherr engineers.

A Ship to Shore Gantry Crane is the single most important piece of equipment in any container port, used to lift containers from ship to land and vice a versa.

These new STS cranes are fitted with the latest energy-saving Liebherr Liduro drives, power management systems and safety features available in today’s STS crane markets. The cranes will have an outreach of 45m, a back reach of 15m and a lift height over rail of 32m. With a safe working load of 54 tonnes in weight (40 tonnes under spreader) these cranes will ensure the Port has the lift and reach capacity to cater for the largest container vessels which will visit Cork Container Terminal in the coming decades.

Once operational, Cork Container Terminal will deliver the fastest, most reliable, and cost-efficient container service available to local businesses as well as Ireland’s international exporters.

Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd. is part of the Liebherr group and supplies container handling equipment to ports and rail terminals worldwide.

The Port of Cork Company (PoCC) has reported that its financial performance for 2020, albeit lower than that of 2019, was ahead of the expectations set earlier in the year against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ports of Cork Company including Bantry Bay Port Company reported a total consolidated traffic throughput of 10.5 million tonnes in 2020 compared to 10.1 million in 2019.

These strong traffic volumes were due in part to the commencement of two new shipping services from Ringaskiddy, Cork in 2020, and an 81% increase to 1.3 million metric tonnes (2019: 0.73 million metric tonnes) at Bantry Bay Port Oil storage at the Zenith Energy Whiddy Island Storage facility, while Bantry Bay Port Oil Storage increased throughput at Whitegate Oil Refinery decreased slightly.

While traditional LOLO container volumes trended lower, the overall volumes of containers handled by the Port increased by 4% to a record 250,209 TEU (2019: 240,186 TEU’s). This growth which trended toward new shipping modes in response to Brexit and the commencement of a direct Con-Ro service from Ringaskiddy to the Belgian Port of Zeebrugge. The Port also reported that Dry bulk cargo, primarily Agri Products (animal feed, cereals & fertilizers), increased by 2.5% to 1.42 million tonnes (2019: 1.39 million tonnes) which was welcomed.

The overall volumes of containers handled by the Port of Cork increased by 4% Photo: Bob Bateman

Port of Cork Company consolidated turnover for the year 2020 amounted to €33.7 million (2019: €37.7m), a decrease of 10.47% or €4m., the profit after taxation for the financial year amounted to €4.7m (2019: €6m).

Conor Mowlds, Chief Commercial Officer of the Port of Cork

Conor Mowlds, Chief Commercial Officer, Port of Cork said: “In this year of Brexit, the Port’s trade in 2020 reduced during the Covid 19 pandemic, with the areas most impacted being Cruise traffic and the reduced passenger ferry sailings. However, Container traffic, bulk trade, Whitegate Oil Refinery and Whiddy Oil Storage facility all continued to trade successfully in 2020, which was ahead of our expectations. From the beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic, the Port was designated an essential service and thanks to the work of our entire team we were able to keep imports and exports moving, without any delays in our operations”.

He continued: “The Covid 19 pandemic ensured that 2020 was a challenging year for the company, both financially and from an operational perspective. The Port of Cork Company turnover for 2020 was €33.7 million (2019: €37.7m), a decrease of €4m. The impact on the tourist industry worldwide was particularly stark, and in our case, it resulted in the loss of 98 Cruise Liner calls, a primary factor in our reduced turnover. In addition, Brittany Ferries Ro-Pax services were severely impacted due to Covid 19 passenger travel restrictions”.

While the immediate future remains challenging as Ireland slowly emerges from the pandemic, new routes established last year such as CLdN weekly Con-Ro Service direct to Zeebrugge and the unique ICL weekly direct transatlantic service to the US (East Coast), add to the Port’s capacity to carry export goods estimated to value in the region of €20 billion, and imports to the value of €10 billion, underpinning the importance of the Port’s contribution to the national recovery.

The Port of Cork Company is looking forward to the awaited completion of its newly developed Cork Container Terminal in Ringaskiddy, the continued growth of its presence in the Con-Ro space with the introduction of Grimaldi service to Belgium, and remain optimistic about the return of cruise to Cork sometime in 2022.