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Displaying items by tag: Denis O'Brien

Four people were reportedly injured when a superyacht owned by Irish media mogul Denis O’Brien listed while being relaunched from a dry dock in Italy.

According to Boat International, the 90-metre Nero was in the process of being moved out of the dock at Amico & Co in Genoa yesterday (Tuesday 10 September) when a support panel apparently gave way, causing the vessel to list dangerously in the dock on its port side.

It’s not yet known what damage has been caused to the popular charter yacht, part of the 1920s-inspired Corsair range, which was purchased by Denis O’Brien in 2014 for around €40 million and underwent a significant refit in Barcelona in 2016.

A statement from Döhle Yachts, which manages Nero, says the yacht listed at a 30-degree angle but "did not contact the dock wall and appears to have suffered only minimal damage".

The statement added that there was no risk to the environment and "no serious injuries" were sustained, with all crew safely disembarking after the incident, which is under investigation.

This story was updated on Thursday 12 September to include the statement from Döhle Yachts.

Published in Superyachts

#DublinPort - Billionaire businessman Denis O'Brien is behind an ambitious plan to make Dublin Port an international shipping services hub for the maritime industry, as The Irish Times reports.

The scheme has been presented to Dublin City Council as part of its call for submission on rezoning land in Dublin's Docklands area, already home to the Irish Financial Services Centre (IFSC).

It appears that the plan put forward by a company called ISSC Dublin - of which O'Brien is understood to be a financial backer - aims to do for shipping what the IFSC did for the international finance sector.

The Irish Maritime Development Organisation (IMDO) and IDA Ireland are also said to be involved in the ambitious project, which has the potential to create thousands of jobs.

The Irish Times has much more on the story HERE.

Published in Dublin Port

#QUAYCAPITAL - Businessman Denis O'Brien has spent about €1 million on the purchase of two campshire warehouses, fronting the south quays of the Liffey in Dublin's Docklands quarter.

The campshires are the stretches of land between the quay and road on both the north and south quays in Dublin, which in times past, were thronged with warehouses during the days when cargoships used to sail this far up the Liffey.

Mr O'Brien is expected to spend almost as much again on the upgrading and refurbishment work before renting the buildings as restaurants or for other retail uses.

The detached buildings at Sir John Rogerson's Quay date from the 1880s and were handed over to Nama after the Government decided to dissolve the disgraced Dublin Docklands Development Authority.

Selling agent CBRE said most of the considerable number of inquiries it received about the former BJ Marine warehouses came from the catering industry because of their unique quayside location in an area where a large number of professional workers are employed.

"There is obviously a growing demand for services in what has now become a vibrant business district," says Niamh Sheehan, who handled the sales. For more on this story, the Irish Times has a report.

Published in Waterfront Property

Esailing & Virtual Sailing information

The concept of e-sailing, or virtual sailing, is based on a computer game sailing challenge that has been around for more than a decade.

The research and development of software over this time means its popularity has taken off to the extent that it has now become a part of the sailing seascape and now allows people to take an 'active part' in some of the most famous regattas across the world such as the Vendée Globe, Route du Rhum, Sydney Hobart, Volvo Ocean Race, America’s Cup and some Olympic venues too, all from the comfort of their armchair.

The most popular model is the 'eSailing World Championship'. It is an annual esports competition, first held in 2018 and officially recognised by World Sailing, the sports governing body.

The eSailing World Championship is a yearly competition for virtual sailors competing on the Virtual Regatta Inshore game.

The contract to run the event was given to a private company, Virtual Regatta that had amassed tens of thousands of sailors playing offshore sailing routing game following major offshore races in real-time.

In April 2020, the company says on its website that it has 35,000 active players and 500,000 regattas sailed.

Virtual Regatta started in 2010 as a small team of passionate designers, engineers, and entrepreneurs gathered around the idea that virtual sailing sports games can mix with real races and real skippers.