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

Who designed the Ilen?

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

Where does the name Ilen get her name?

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.

What is Ilen built from?

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

What are the dimensions of the lIen?

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

How did the Ilen get from Baltimore to the Falkland Islands in 1926?

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.

How much did the Ilen cost in 1926?

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

What roles has Ilen performed in her lifetime?

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.

Who from Ireland rediscovered the Ilen in the Falkland Islands?

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.

What condition was Ilen in when she was found in the Falkland Islands?

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

How did the Ilen come back to Ireland?

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.

Who restored the Ilen?

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.

How long did it take to restore Ilen?

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.

What is the role of the Ilen today?

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.

What is so good about Ilen’s relatively small size as a sailing cargo ship?

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

Displaying items by tag: d'Amico Group

13th April 2016

d’Amico Group is 'Green Shipowner of the Year 2016'

d'Amico Group, the Italian company which has a dry-cargo subsidiary headquartered in Dublin, has won Green Shipowner of the Year

#GreenAward - The d'Amico Group, the Italian maritime transport company has won the "Green Shipowner of the Year" 2016 for commitment in implementing on its fleet a system able to reduce the environmental impact and constantly monitor the performance of energy consumption. The company's dry-cargo subsidiary, d'Amico Dry domiciled in Dublin, operates a range of modern tonnage.

The award ceremony was held in Copenhagen during the Green Ship Technology (GST) Conference last month. The award from the GST rewards the most innovative technology put into use since January 2015, which shows a benefit to the marine environment and recognizes the most efficient and sustainable shipping group worldwide.

“We are really proud of this award, rewarding our commitment in reducing the marine environmental impact. Thanks to the introduction of innovative technologies on our ships and to the new eco-ships

investment plan, we have been able to pass the energy efficiency international standards, building a best practice globally recognized in the world of shipping”, said Paolo d’Amico, Chairman of d’Amico Group.

On the new eco-ships, d'Amico have introduced the latest generation of electronic engines that, combined with a revisited hull bottom form able to maximize water flow, significantly increased propulsive energy compared to old generation ships.

"Caring for the environment cannot be limited to the purchase of new eco-vessels, it has to necessarily involve management of the whole fleet instead. A constant monitoring of vessels, thanks to highly
advanced sensors on board, which allow to track consumption and performance in real time, led to a deeper responsibility assignment of the crew on environmental issues”, stated Domenico Savio Taiano, HSQE Director of d'Amico Group. Besides these engineering solutions, which already allow considerable reduction of fuel consumption and emissions (CO2, SOx and NOX), d’Amico Group established a Performance Monitoring Department, standing out among the first shipowner companies, specialized in transporting dry and liquid bulk cargos, able to create a department focused on monitoring the whole fleet performance exclusively.

"Since our special commitment towards the marine environment - explained Fabio Tagliavia, Technical Director of d'Amico Group - we promptly believed in this advanced system able to monitoring consumption and performance, in order to achieve continuous improvements in reducing emissions, in a context where every kWh used efficiently is a contribution to the society and the environment".

The jury that selected the projects comprised Craig Eason (Deputy Editor, Lloyd's List), George Papagiannopoulos (Common Progress), Lars Robert Pedersen (COO, BIMCO), Mark Cameron (COO, Ardmore Shipping), Hanna Lee Behrens (Norwegian Shipowners' Association). d’Amico Group has always settled among its “core values” a strong commitment to the environment. The environmental policy and the plans on sustainable development are, and will still be, important pillars of the strategy of the Group.

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Transport Minister Welcomes d’Amico’s Continued Commitment to Maritime Ireland

#dAmicoGroup - Minister for Transport Paschal Donohue met the owners of the D'Amico Group, Cesare d'Amico and Paolo d'Amico, along with their senior management team in Dublin earlier this week according to the Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO).

The Minister welcomed d'Amico's continued commitment to investment in Ireland and interest in the development of the Irish maritime sector.

Minister Donohue stressed the Government's commitment to the growth of the Maritime Industry in Ireland, as encapsulated in the Harnessing Our Ocean's Wealth strategy.

The strategy sets out an ambitious programme of growth ultimately aiming to double the sector's contribution to Ireland's GDP and the Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO) is working to achieve the commercial targets laid out in the strategy.

d'Amico was one of the first international shipping companies to open up offices in Ireland after Ireland introduced a competitive Tonnage Tax regime in 2003. As previously reported on Afloat.ie, an independent report of the tax regime was launched in October.

The d'Amico Group are now part of the fabric of the Irish Maritime industry and continue to grow their presence in the market.

The IMDO were intrinsically involved in encouraging the d'Amico Group to first open up premises in Ireland in 2004 and continue to support the growth of their investment in Ireland.

D'Amico group currently employs around 40 people in their Dublin office and more than 1,500 globally. The jobs at the Dublin office are highly skilled and have been recruited directly in Ireland.

In addition d'Amico, provide training berths on their vessels to Irish cadets training at the National Maritime College in Ireland.

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Dublin-Based d’Amico Group Introduce New Dry-Bulker Tonnage

The d'Amico Group, an international shipping company based in Dublin has acquired two handy-size dry-bulk newbuilds from a shipyard in South Korea this week, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Cielo di Dublino (photo) and her newer sister Cielo di San Francisco which was 'christened' on Tuesday by Mrs. Sandra Murphy, wife of Mr. Glenn Murphy, Director, Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO). Together the vessels cost around US $60 million.

The new vessels were built at the Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) in Ulsan. The facility is one of the largest shipbuilding facilities in the world and since 1996 HMD has built around 500 ships and of a diverse variety. To see a cyber yard tour click this link.

Speaking at the ceremony Mr. Murphy commented: "d'Amico Group are one of a leading number of firms that are driving investment in this sector in Ireland which is contributing to new employment and growth opportunities".

Entry of the new dry-bulkers marks another important chapter in the d'Amico Group's development since it established its Irish office in 2002, as the vessels are managed from its Dublin office under the Irish Tonnage Tax (ITT) regime.

Four more newbuilds are under construction in Korea, scheduled for delivery in 2012, and two under construction in Japan which are due in 2013. The latter ships represent a further investment in excess of US $310 million to the Italian company that began and grew as a family business in 1936.

To read more about this logon to the IMDO website and also www.damicoship.com

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