The Norwegian Star, the largest-ever cruise ship to drop anchor in Lough Foyle, arrived spectacularly at 7am, marking the end of the 2023 cruise season for Foyle Port.

The ship has a gross tonnage of 91,740 and a length of 296m, with 3,200 guests and crew aboard. The ship is on a 10-day voyage around Ireland, starting from Southampton and taking in some of the Emerald Isle's most breathtaking sights, including Glengarriff, Cork, Waterford, Dún Laoghaire, Belfast, Killybegs, and Greencastle.

Eagle-eyed Afloat readers would also have seen Norwegian Star when she berthed in Dublin Bay on October 5th.

Foyle Port provides easy access to the historic city of Derry-Londonderry and some of Ireland and Northern Ireland's most beautiful natural areas. Passengers enjoyed excursions to the Ulster American Folk Park, Giant's Causeway & Dunluce Castle, Inishowen Peninsula & Doagh Famine Village, Glenveagh National Park, and tours of Derry.

Independent guests were able to explore the local area of Greencastle.

To celebrate the ship's debut call, a traditional plaque exchange took place between the Norwegian Star's staff, Captain Divorce Pulitika, and General Manager Tony Winkler, and representatives from Foyle Port, Fáilte Ireland, and the Mayor's Office. Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council Cllr Patricia Logue expressed her delight at welcoming the passengers from the Norwegian Star to the North West region

A Record Year for Foyle Port

Foyle Port in Derry-Londonderry has announced a record-breaking year for its cruise operations, with 18 ships and over 16,000 passengers and crew having visited.

Over half of the visitors were from the US, with the UK, France, Canada and Germany following closely behind. Bill McCann, Harbour Master and Operations Director of Foyle Port, welcomed visitors from some of the world's most prestigious cruise lines, including Azamara Cruises, Oceania Cruises, Regent Seven Seas, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, Crystal Cruises, Silversea Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line.

The port also received maiden calls from eight ships, including Explora I from MSC Group’s luxury cruise brand, Explora Journeys, and the newly refurbished Renaissance from French cruise line, Compagnie Française de Croisières. Foyle Port offers a unique opportunity for visitors to experience both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in one visit, making it a popular destination for tourists. With its stunning coastlines, beautiful countryside, sandy beaches, museums, and vibrant culture, the region has a lot to offer.

The Harbour Master is optimistic about the future of Foyle Port’s cruise operations, stating that the region’s rise in demand is a positive sign for the upcoming 2024 cruise season.

Foyle Port welcomed the impressive new cruise ship Explora I to Lough Foyle on its first-ever visit to the island of Ireland on Thursday.

The luxury liner, which was built and delivered by Fincantieri at the Monfalcone shipyard in Italy, is owned by Explora Journeys, a new luxury division of MSC Cruises.

The maiden voyage of Explora I set sail on August 1st from Copenhagen and visited Lough Foyle as part of its inaugural UK and Ireland voyage. To mark the occasion, delegates from Fáilte Ireland, Donegal County Council, Go Visit Inishowen, Visit Derry, Hamilton Shipping, and Foyle Port exchanged plaques with the ship's captain, Serena Melani.

Plaque Exchange onboard Explora I on 31st August 2023. From left to right: Lisa McLaughlin, Trade Liaison Manager, Go Visit Inishowen; Leo McParland, Managing Director, Hamilton Shipping; Matt Doherty, Business Development Officer, Visit Derry; Catherine Crawley, Visitor Services Officer, Visit Derry; Captain Serena Melani, Explora Journeys; Martin Harley, Cathaoirleach, Donegal County Council; Louise Denvir, Cruise Marketing Executive, Foyle Port; John McLaughlin, Chief Executive, Donegal County Council; David Leonard, Wild Atlantic Way Officer, Fáilte Ireland; Harbour Master Captain Bill McCann, Foyle Port

Mayor of Donegal County Council, Cllr. Martin Harley, expressed his delight in welcoming this luxury cruise ship to Donegal on its first visit. He said that showcasing Donegal and the North West region's natural, unspoiled beauty will pay dividends in the future, and they look forward to many of today's visitors returning to their region in the years ahead.

Foyle Port's Harbour Master, Captain Bill McCann, expressed his honour in welcoming the guests and crew of this extraordinary ship on their first visit to the island. He believes that the North West is a cruise destination with an unrivalled offering, with guests visiting incredible locations of natural outstanding beauty, including the Inishowen Peninsula, UNESCO World Heritage site the Giant's Causeway, Glenveagh National Park, and Ireland's only intact Walled City, Derry-Londonderry.

Janine Moore, Commercial Development Manager for Intercruises, expressed her excitement in working on the shoreside experiences and collaborating with both the Explora team and their local destination colleagues in Greencastle to realize Explora's vision with a successful shoreside operation.

Explora I anchored in Lough Foyle on 31st August 2023

Foyle Port will host six cruise ships this week, two of which will visit on Saturday. Azamara Journey and Noble Caledonia's Island Sky will come alongside in the commercial Port at Lisahally.

Two cruise ships in one day will be another first for the Port. By the end of the 2023 cruise season, Foyle Port expects to have welcomed over 14,000 passengers and crew, with visitor nationalities ranging from the US, Australia, France, Brazil, Israel, and Germany, to name a few.

The doubling of cruise visits to the region in 2023, with seven of the 17 ships being inaugural calls, shows the growth of cruise tourism to the North West.

A doubling of cruise ships this season are to call to Foyle Port, the gateway port of the north-west which welcomed its first caller which took place on the 12th May.

As the Seabourn Ovation entered Lough Foyle, this marked the start of the 2023 cruise season to the port which will welcome more than twice the number of cruiseships compared to last year.

The luxurious 210m Seabourn Ovation has a capacity of 600 guests and 450 crew members. Guests of the Seabourn Cruises ship explored the North West as part of a 14-day round trip from Dover, England.

Foyle Port’s Chief Executive, Brian McGrath said, “We are thrilled to begin our 2023 cruise season with the welcome arrival of the Seabourn Ovation. We are delighted to have doubled our cruise calls this year with 15 ships and a total of 10,600 passengers from now until October."

He added "It’s fantastic to see the demand in leisure vessels returning following what has been a very challenging time for the industry and we look forward to welcoming international visitors to our beautiful North West shores.”

The port will receive maiden calls from eight ships this year, including the newly refurbished Renaissance making her inaugural voyage under French cruise company, Compagnie Française de Croisières.

Luxury cruise line Explora Journeys is set to launch a brand-new cruise ship, Explora I, on 17th July and will visit Foyle Port in its second ever week of cruising.

Other prestigious cruise lines scheduled to call at the port include Azamara Cruises, Oceania Cruises, Regent Seven Seas, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, Crystal Cruises and Silversea Cruises.

The port is located in Derry-Londonderry which is Ireland’s only completely intact historic Walled City, home to award-winning museums and some of the greatest outdoor festivals in the world.

Foyle Port also provides a starting point for some of Ireland’s and Northern Ireland’s most magnificent areas of outstanding natural beauty including County Donegal’s Wild Atlantic Way and County Antrim’s Causeway Coastal Route.

It has been announced that Foyle Port will be the lead sponsor of a major cross-border conference which An Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD will address later this month.

As the Derry Journal reports, The Centre for Cross Border Studies’ Annual Conference will take place on 29 and 30 September at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Dundalk.

The conference focus will be on Commitment, Resilience and Perseverance: New challenges and approaches to cross-border cooperation, mobility, and relations, exploring important issues in cross-border cooperation across two days, bringing together government officials, policy experts and leaders in academia and civic society.

The Taoiseach will deliver a keynote speech on 29 September focused on the Government’s commitment to work with all communities on the island to build consensus around a shared future, underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement.

The British Ambassador to Ireland, Paul Johnston, and civil rights activist Bernadette McAliskey will also address the conference.

The potential of Foyle port is one of a number of projects which NUI Galway and Ulster University will develop under the Government’s North-South Research programme.

The two universities will work in partnership on the Atlantic Innovation Corridor as part of a €4 million project to advance understanding of the region and foster sustainable innovation.

The corridor is a cross-border collaboration that involves a series of research work programmes on sustainable regional development for the north-west of the island, the west and mid-west.

University of Limerick and Galway Mayo Institute of Technology are co-partners on the research.

It will focus on themes such as rural entrepreneurial ecosystems, business scaling, female entrepreneurship, digitalisation, freight connectivity and mental health.

The four-year project was announced this week by Taoiseach Michéal Martin and Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris.

Exploring international freight transport connectivity through the northwest of the island, including rail connectivity and the potential of Foyle port is one of a number of research areas identified.

The collaboration will also work on: a mentoring scheme for female entrepreneurs in the region; identifying economic growth bottlenecks and how to take action; and business masterclasses for growth.

Other areas will include mental health promotion; digital skills development, transformation and policy interventions in rural and peripheral regions; and the impact of Brexit and Covid on female entrepreneurship.

Establishing the region and the partnership as an internationally recognised centre of excellence for “impactful research” is also listed as a project theme.

“This investment in large-scale social science research will create a resource for the region and the country.” Professor Jim Livesey, NUIG vice president for research and innovation and principal investigator for the Atlantic Innovation Corridor, said.

“Our collaboration will produce engaged research that will help guide us through the transitions, digital, green and energy, that are before us,” he said.

“Alongside the well-documented environmental factors of sustainable development, this unique partnership aims to explore and address human considerations including the responsiveness of communities and sectors to mobilise for collective action and innovation.”

“From our progressive campus in Derry~Londonderry, we are uniquely placed to contribute to this three-city regional collaboration, incorporating research that can contribute insights, inform policy and drive forward practical solutions for the benefit of individuals, organisations and communities,” Professor Liam Maguire, Ulster University pro vice-chancellor for research said.

The North-South Research Programme is a collaborative scheme funded through the Government’s Shared Island Fund.

It is administered by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) on behalf of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.

Plans to develop a multi-million euro deep water terminal for cruise ships at Greencastle (Co. Donegal), remain on course says the boss of Foyle Port, Brian McGrath.

According to the Derry Journal, Mr. McGrath said the port has estimated the massive infrastructure project is likely to cost between €30m and €50m.

Foyle Port had been ready to proceed with a detailed design for the new berthing facility just as the coronavirus pandemic arrived on these shores, Mr. McGrath told members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.

“We had identified Greencastle as a natural deep water harbour. It lends itself very naturally to exploiting our tourist productions on both sides of the border.

“So consistent with [Irish] government policy and Executive policy what we were trying to do was to look to plug the gap that exists in the north west,” he told TDs, senators and MPs.

Much more here on this cross border development. 

It has been announced that Foyleport had a record £10 million in turnover despite the uncertainty posed by Brexit.

The Derry harbour, reports The Irish News, recorded an operating profit of £1.9m during 2018/19, marking its seventh year of consecutive growth.

The record turnover followed the port's handling of record levels of animal feed and fertiliser.

It means that all three of the north's ports have reported growth in the past year.

In June, Warrenpoint Port said its turnover rose by 5.5 per cent to £6.1m during 2018.

Further reading on the story can be found here. 

#FoylePort - Chris Hazzard the Ports Minister says a new departmental ‘Brexit Planning Team’ has been actively engaging with the authorities at Lisahally since the end of the summer.

As the Derry Journal writes the Minister said talks will continue as London proceeds with the process of withdrawing from the European Union.

“In August of this year I took the decision to establish a dedicated Brexit Planning Team within my department,” Mr Hazzard revealed.

“Since its formation, the team has actively engaged with numerous key stakeholders, including the Belfast Harbour Commissioners and the British Ports Association, of which Belfast, Foyle, Warrenpoint and Larne Ports are members.

For more on what the Ports Minister had to say, the newspaper has more here.

#FoylePort – Londonderry Port and Harbour Commissioners have announced that shipping through the port increased by 27% over the past year leading to before tax profits of over £1.2m.

Chairman of Londonderry Port and Harbour Commissioner Mr Garvan O'Doherty announced an excellent set of results for the year 2012 – 13 at the harbour commissioners recent annual general meeting.

Mr O'Doherty described the past year as a momentous one for the Port. "I was particularly proud of our role in the Clipper and Return of Colmcille events in the summer of 2012 and 2013. The development of marina infrastructure in the city centre – on time and on budget – provided a platform for the Clipper event which will live long in the memory of our citizens.

He added "Through Clipper and The Return of Colmcille, we worked alongside the key stakeholders in the city, and demonstrated that tapping into the potential of the Foyle helps to showcase the best this city has to offer."

"Over this period, the port's profile has been further enhanced by our sponsorship and support of City of Culture events such as the Return of Colmcille pageant – for which we provided technical marine support – and Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, which transfixed huge crowds here this summer. These events have greatly cemented the Port's reputation and we have also been proud to play a role in developing the marine aspects of what is now a formidable infrastructure for future tourism and economic development."

The recent announcement of £80 million of inward investment by Evermore Renewable Energy into the Port's land bank marks a major step forward for the Commissioners and the North West region, added Mr O'Doherty. "The location of the project at our Foyle Port facility is a major endorsement of the Port's ability to deliver large scale projects for the Region. It is also a validation of the Commissioners' decision, some years ago, to invest heavily in Port fixed assets and broaden its range of activities."

Outlining the annual results in greater details, Port Chief Executive Brian McGrath said the accounts contained in this annual report "reflect on ever improving operational performance with turnover of £6,412,615 with profit on ordinary activities before taxation of £1,225,218. This represents a significant increase in turnover driven by a 27% increase in tonnage handled. We are particularly grateful to all our customers and staff for their ongoing support."

"This is the last report which will be presented under the current Chairman's leadership. On behalf of the Commissioners we wish to publicly thank Garvan for his dynamic leadership and passion for the work of the Port and Harbour.

His fifteen years' service as Commissioner, Deputy Chairman and Chairman marks a distinguished career in Public Service and he leaves a strong legacy for the future."