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Displaying items by tag: Waterford Port

The Southeast of Ireland is set to benefit from the arrival of 21 cruise vessels to the Port of Waterford this season.

The cruise tourism season, which operates from April to October, will, says the Port of Waterford, offer the regional economy a boost to the tune of €2,550,000 over the course of welcoming 21 cruise visits with a total of 25,755 visitors on board and some 12,049 crew.

The cruise calls will be welcomed at both the Port of Waterford at Belview and the picturesque Dunmore East harbour, operated by the Department of Agriculture and the Marine.

Visitors from each of the vessels will alight at Belview and enjoy travel to the top attractions across the Southeast and at Dunmore East, they will travel ashore via tender boats, where they will then continue to enjoy 1,000 years of history in 1,000 paces at the Waterford Treasures Museum collection in the city’s Viking Triangle, marvel at the making of Waterford Crystal, enjoy the UNESCO World Heritage site at the Copper Coast, explore ancient Abbeys such as Rock of Cashel, and see which lords lived in the likes of Kilkenny Castle and discover the story of Ireland’s Great Famine learning how our emigrated from Ireland aboard the Dunbrody Famine ship at New Ross.

Harbour Master Capt. Darren Doyle says, “We are delighted to welcome visitors from all over the world to the Southeast region during our cruise business season. At the Port of Waterford we look forward to facilitating this vital tourism revenue stream for the entire Southeast region and continue working with all of the key stakeholders to promote the wonderful visitor destination that is this corner of Ireland’s Ancient East.”

The first vessel is set to arrive on the 28th of April, and it is ‘The Maud’, which will carry some 528 passengers and 300 crew who will enjoy discovering the gems of the Southeast region. The season will also see the gigantic ‘Celebrity Apex’ visit twice during the summer carrying some 3,405 passengers and 1,320 crew members.

Published in Ports & Shipping
Tagged under

The Norwegian expedition cruise liner, Maud, arrived in Waterford Port this morning, the first cruise vessel in over two years, due to Covid pandemic disruption.

It is the maiden voyage of the vessel, from the Norwegian cruise line company Hurtigruten. She arrived from the Isle of Man with over 500 passengers on board and 300 crew members. The vessel is named after one of the most famous Polar vessels -Roald Amundsen's 'Maud' - from 1917.

Waterford Harbour Master Capt. Darren Doyle said 27 cruise vessels will call to Waterford by the end of September with a total of 35,000 passengers and 16,000 crew members. “This will deliver a much-needed boost to the regional tourism economy of €3.5m.”

The Maud is scheduled to make nine more visits to Waterford this Summer.

The Celebrity Apex, which cost $900 million to build is scheduled to make her maiden visit in June and return in July and in August with over 3,000 passengers on each occasion.

Published in Cruise Liners
15th February 2015

Waterford Port Seeks New CEO

#waterfordport – Ireland's 'oldest' port is seeking to recruit an enthusiastic, dynaminc leader for the role of CEO when the current Chief Excecutive retires this year. Waterford Port has advertised the role in today's Sunday Business Post.

The port plays a pivotal role in the economic life of the south–east. 

More details about the job from Ellen Roche of PricewaterhouseCoopers on 01 7926703

 

Published in Ports & Shipping
Tagged under

Ireland's Trading Ketch Ilen

The Ilen is the last of Ireland’s traditional wooden sailing ships.

Designed by Limerick man Conor O’Brien and built in Baltimore in 1926, she was delivered by Munster men to the Falkland Islands where she served valiantly for seventy years, enduring and enjoying the Roaring Forties, the Furious Fifties, and Screaming Sixties.

Returned now to Ireland and given a new breath of life, Ilen may be described as the last of Ireland’s timber-built ocean-going sailing ships, yet at a mere 56ft, it is capable of visiting most of the small harbours of Ireland.

Wooden Sailing Ship Ilen FAQs

The Ilen is the last of Ireland’s traditional wooden sailing ships.

The Ilen was designed by Conor O’Brien, the first Irish man to circumnavigate the world.

Ilen is named for the West Cork River which flows to the sea at Baltimore, her home port.

The Ilen was built by Baltimore Sea Fisheries School, West Cork in 1926. Tom Moynihan was foreman.

Ilen's wood construction is of oak ribs and planks of larch.

As-built initially, she is 56 feet in length overall with a beam of 14 feet and a displacement of 45 tonnes.

Conor O’Brien set sail in August 1926 with two Cadogan cousins from Cape Clear in West Cork, arriving at Port Stanley in January 1927 and handed it over to the new owners.

The Ilen was delivered to the Falkland Islands Company, in exchange for £1,500.

Ilen served for over 70 years as a cargo ship and a ferry in the Falkland Islands, enduring and enjoying the Roaring Forties, the Furious Fifties, and Screaming Sixties. She stayed in service until the early 1990s.

Limerick sailor Gary McMahon and his team located Ilen. MacMahon started looking for her in 1996 and went out to the Falklands and struck a deal with the owner to bring her back to Ireland.

After a lifetime of hard work in the Falklands, Ilen required a ground-up rebuild.

A Russian cargo ship transported her back on a 12,000-mile trip from the Southern Oceans to Dublin. The Ilen was discharged at the Port of Dublin 1997, after an absence from Ireland of 70 years.

It was a collaboration between the Ilen Project in Limerick and Hegarty’s Boatyard in Old Court, near Skibbereen. Much of the heavy lifting, of frames, planking, deadwood & backbone, knees, floors, shelves and stringers, deck beams, and carlins, was done in Hegarty’s. The generally lighter work of preparing sole, bulkheads, deck‐houses fixed furniture, fixtures & fittings, deck fittings, machinery, systems, tanks, spar making and rigging is being done at the Ilen boat building school in Limerick.

Ten years. The boat was much the worse for wear when it returned to West Cork in May 1998, and it remained dormant for ten years before the start of a decade-long restoration.

Ilen now serves as a community floating classroom and cargo vessel – visiting 23 ports in 2019 and making a transatlantic crossing to Greenland as part of a relationship-building project to link youth in Limerick City with youth in Nuuk, west Greenland.

At a mere 56ft, Ilen is capable of visiting most of the small harbours of Ireland.

©Afloat 2020